The whole “be able to upgrade” bit is indicative that this would be an optional upgrade. ”Beginning later this year, Premium subscribers in select markets will be able to upgrade their sound quality to Spotify HiFi and listen to their favorite songs the way artists intended.” The company also promised the music would be available in CD-quality, which typically means 16-bit resolution with a 44.1kHz sample rate. As far as I know, the company didn’t explicitly say that there would be a price bump, but it was described as an “add-on” the language suggested as much: When Spotify announced its HiFi tier, it seemed all but certain it would come with a higher price tag than its Premium tier. But from where I’m standing, those dots aren’t too hard to connect. I’m not sourcing any insider knowledge, just connecting the dots. So why the near-year-long silence? If you ask me, there’s at least one likely explanation: Spotify was caught off-guard by Apple and Amazon both announcing lossless music at no additional cost in May, and had to scramble to rethink its hifi strategy.įirst things first, I want to make clear that this entire article is speculation and opinion, and there’s every possibility I could be flat out wrong. Unless Spotify is being coy, “in the future” isn’t likely to mean “soon.” We reached out to Spotify for comment on this update but had not heard back by the time of publication. In other words, the feature will launch eventually, but the fact that Spotify isn’t even able to provide a rough timeline for arguably its most anticipated feature doesn’t look good.
But we don’t have timing details to share yet.” We feel the same, and we’re excited to deliver a Spotify HiFi experience to Premium users in the future. “We know that HiFi quality audio is important to you. Instead, Spotify provided an update on its community forums that suggests HiFi i isn’t close to launching. Even if most people can’t tell the difference between lossless and high-bitrate compressed music, it indicated Spotify was paying more attention to sound quality.Īt the time, Spotify said that HiFi would launch “later this year” and that it would have “more details to share soon.” Yet we’ve started a whole new year, and Spotify HiFi is still nowhere to be seen.Ī few days ago, the company made one of its first comments about lossless since its original announcement.
With the introduction of lossless audio, Spotify would increase its credibility among audiophiles, not just casual listeners. Spotify Hifi’s announcement in February of 2021 seemed poised to shake up the streaming industry.
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