SPOTIFY HIFI AUSTRALIA UPDATE
SPOTIFY HIFI AUSTRALIA PRO

With almost 300 million users, Spotify’s reach is comparable to the USA’s entire population. To think otherwise is to underestimate the audiophile world’s insignificance in the broader market. Will we see Spotify integrated by Roon? No. There is little doubt that the blast radius of such a service will be felt right across the audiophile space, most obviously via Spotify Connect. The Swedish service also covers far more of the globe than Tidal and (especially) Qobuz, the latter supplying only a dozen countries with Canada, Scandinavia and Australia/NZ notable black spots.Īnd perhaps most important of all, Spotify has the brand recognition that – Apple aside – rivals cannot touch. With 286 million subscribers, it’s the world’s number one music streaming service, six times the size of Amazon Music and a giant when sat next to rivals like Tidal and Qobuz (who don’t publish subscriber numbers) and Deezer (who do: 7 million). Reaching far beyond audiophile niche interests, Spotify’s announcement puts the issue of better streaming source quality in front of mainstream listeners. In 2021, CD-quality streams still form the backbone of every ‘hi-res’ streaming service: over 90% of Tidal and Qobuz’s ‘hifi’ libraries stream at a maximum of 16-bit/44.1kHz and go no higher.

However, hi-res fanciers need only peek over their garden wall to see that their field of digital audio interest is a niche within a niche. We don’t know yet if ‘HiFi’ means that a small percentage of the Spotify HiFi library will also be made available to stream at rates higher than 16-bit/44.1kHz, as per Amazon HD, Tidal Hi-Fi or Qobuz.

As we’ve argued before, a lossless streaming service effectively puts a CD store in your house (or on your smartphone). CD-quality streaming will see data rates rise to anything between 700kbps and 1400kbps. It is happening.Ĭurrently, Spotify’s Ogg Vorbis lossy-encoded streams top out at 320kbps. Side note: cynics complaining that we have heard all of this before ( and we have) are reminded that this time the news originates from Spotify’s own newsroom. The new ‘HiFi’ tier will offer CD-quality streaming to all Spotify apps – smartphone and desktop – as well as Spotify Connect-able audio devices. Are you a Spotify user holding out for HiFi support? Let us know down in the comments.As bombs landing on the hi-fi/audiophile world go, they don’t get much bigger than this: Spotify is set to launch a lossless streaming tier sometime in 2021. Regardless, Spotify is clearly in a tricky place with its Spotify HiFi promise, and its silence on the matter is certainly not helping. This would presumably be a feature that Spotify would not be able to rival since it does not own the hardware side of things.

SPOTIFY HIFI AUSTRALIA PRO

Spotify had initially said that Spotify HiFi would be an additional cost for Spotify Premium subscribers, but it could be that it was forced to change its plans once Apple added the feature for free.įurther strengthening the integration of its ecosystem, Apple is also rumored to have new AirPods Pro 2 coming later this year that support wireless Lossless playback. The matter has only been made worse by Apple Music’s addition of Spatial Audio and Lossless support last year.Īdditionally, both of these features are available to Apple Music subscribers at no additional cost. Spotify users are obviously, and rightfully, growing frustrated with the company’s silence on the launch of Spotify HiFi.

SPOTIFY HIFI AUSTRALIA UPDATE

We will of course update you here when we can.Īgain, Spotify had originally said that its HiFi feature would launch before the end of 2021 and that it would be an additional cost add-on for Spotify Premium subscribers.

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. In a response, Spotify promised to provide an update to users when it can, but as of right now, it still doesn’t have any timing details to announce in regards to the launch of Spotify HiFi. In a new thread on the Spotify Community website, Spotify users continued to express frustrations with the company’s inability to deliver on its HiFi promise. Now, the company has provided a new “update” on the matter, and it doesn’t instill much hope. As we covered last month, Spotify HiFi is still nowhere to be found as that deadline has come and gone. Spotify first announced its plans to roll out a new Spotify HiFi tier in February of last year, saying that it would launch “in select markets” by the end of 2021.

Spotify hifi australia