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Spotify to launch 'Hi-Fi' CD Quality Tier.
- Thread starter abdo123
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If they flip flop on the announcement to go lossless "later this year" they should be shunned.
Or they will adopt the "we looked at the science and people actually cant tell the difference so we decided to keep prices low" line. Which could be interesting.
Or they will adopt the "we looked at the science and people actually cant tell the difference so we decided to keep prices low" line. Which could be interesting.
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I keep watching for news about a HiFi launch anywhere...the fact that there has not been any kind of update by now from them kind of flabbergasts me. Good security clamp, I'll say that for them. I've kind of stopped holding my breath on this. The silence is deafening.
SKBubba
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I think they have given up on it and hope people will forget they ever said it. Hope I'm wrong.
Maybe the translation from Swedish went hai wire and they actually ment: “late this year”
I have seen some vague info that it is being tested in select markets.....it really doesn't matter to me, if it can be done at same price, great, but personally wouldn't find lossless worth a premium....
That’s what I’m thinking. If their market share holds up, and they grow as projected, why spend the money? Honestly, only a very few care about lossless vs lossy, and even fewer can tell the difference. I like lossy on principle for my own files, but for streaming, I seldom or never can tell the difference. Let Spotify differentiate itself on its superior UI.
Pearljam5000
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Tidal sounds much better than lossless Apple music, so lossless alone doesn't guarantee sound quality.
Also lossy spotify sounds much worse than Deezer so I assume that even if they'd have lossless quality it won't be so good anyways
Also lossy spotify sounds much worse than Deezer so I assume that even if they'd have lossless quality it won't be so good anyways
DeLub
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Why?
Much better for same files? Sounds like player setting differences or maybe just levels in your system?
Pearljam5000
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Same songs
Don't know why it just didn't sound good
Tidal sounded much better on all the songs I've tried.
That's a mystery then, no reason for same files to sound different. Altho Tidal does screw with things with that junk mqa.....
Presumably broken bit rate conversion could also do that to PCM.
There is a downside to lossless streaming and it is the energy consumption. Cloud computing in its various forms consumes a lot of energy at a time when we should really be cutting down on that if we want to save the planet. There is preciously little evidence that the difference between high bit rate compression and lossless is audible, so if the sonic benefits are imaginary, why do it?
....bbbbut audiophile needs are important!
Sure, if the benefits are real rather than imaginary, and I am not yet convinced. There is no such thing as a free lunch, and all the more so if we include the externalities. For now my idea is that losssless streaming is in the same league as class A amplification. However, I am happy to be convinced otherwise.
For now all I can say is that if I compare Spotify and the CD the CD often wins in case of rock/pop albums, but quite obviously because the Spotify version is from a later mix with more limited DR. With classical recordings I do not easily hear any difference. More research is probably necessary.
For now all I can say is that if I compare Spotify and the CD the CD often wins in case of rock/pop albums, but quite obviously because the Spotify version is from a later mix with more limited DR. With classical recordings I do not easily hear any difference. More research is probably necessary.
Interesting that the BBC tried streaming in FLAC for the Proms season a few years ago, but concluded their previous (and current) AAC at 320kbps was good enough, and there was insufficient benefit to warrant the extra costs/complexity/whatever.
Although I would have preferred if they had continued in FLAC, for no better reason than it's full-fat, no artificial colourings, I have to accept that it sounded no better than what I'd been used to. With Spotify currently, I can detect nothing lacking in their 320 kbps Ogg-Vorbis streams, so although again, lossless would be nice, I can't objectively justify it if it costs more and uses more energy at their servers.
S.
litemotiv
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That's not surprising since the overwhelming majority of people don't have decent speakers attached to their TV's. You can't really base any conclusions on the BBC seeing no benefits in going lossless.
(which doesn't necessarily mean the opposite either ofcourse)
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