Spotify HiFi is official. Virtually 4 years after it was first teased, a CD-quality tier is lastly coming to the world’s hottest streaming service, the inexperienced big has revealed throughout its ‘Stream On’ on-line occasion at this time.
Spotify will be part of the likes of Tidal, Qobuz, Deezer and Amazon in providing lossless streaming “starting later this yr”. Spotify is promising to share extra particulars on Spotify HiFi quickly, such because the all-important worth, gadget compatibility, territories and launch dates.
CD-quality streams can be appropriate with Spotify Connect, permitting Spotify HiFi subscribers to simply play high-quality streams between their cellphone (by way of the iOS and Android apps presumably) or, fingers crossed, their laptop (by way of the desktop app or internet participant) and the mass of Spotify Join-enabled audio system and units in the marketplace.
“We’re working with among the world’s largest speaker producers to make Spotify HiFi accessible to as many followers as attainable by means of Spotify Join,” reads Spotify’s assertion.
Based on Spotify, “prime quality music streaming” has constantly been considered one of customers’ most requested new options. Final summer season, we speculated as as to if it was nonetheless a part of the service’s roadmap and questioned if, with so many providers already providing larger high quality streaming, it will nonetheless be as welcome.
We concluded that “we’d love Spotify, the world’s largest music streaming service, to champion high-quality music. Nevertheless, because of a trio of nice options, together with Amazon flying the hi-res flag for mass-market streaming… we will not say we want it”. Now that it is (virtually) right here, we will not assist however really feel that Spotify can be kind of the entire music service, having crammed that gaping gap. That stated, Spotify hasn’t stated something about ‘hi-res’ streams (usually outlined as something above CD-quality), that are already supplied rivals resembling Tidal, Amazon Music HD and Qobuz.
Value will, after all, come into play – and we surprise how shut Spotify will come to Amazon Music HD (£12.99 ($12.99) for Prime members; £14.99 ($14.99) for non-Prime members). If Spotify can match and even undercut that month-to-month payment, the longer term panorama of music streaming can be very attention-grabbing certainly.
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Where is Spotify Hi-Fi? And do we still want a lossless Spotify tier?
How Spotify saved the music industry but left some genres behind