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[All Platforms][Music] HiFi Quality - Lossless Streaming 16bit 44.1khz

I've just started a trial of Qobuz - they offer the standard 320kbps as well as lossless FLAC streaming (and high res downloads if you purchase them) the sound quality is noticeably better and on classical it's just wonderful to get all that resolution through your hi-fi or headphones! The catalogue has a way to go to get to Spotify's level, but they are getting there. The iPad app isn't' too bad (the desktop app is in need of an upgrade but I hear they are putting all their efforts into mobile apps right now).
 
So - lossless streaming - if Qobuz can do it then so can Spotify, they must have the same source - and obviously if you are asking £20 a month then those record labels and distributors take enough notice to make the high res tracks available for streaming. What this all means is soon, very soon, we will get lossless streaming and closely followed by high res downloads - but if Spotify aren't careful it will be Apple who get there first with an audiophile premium offering, and when they do it will be a much harder market place to make money in!

Updated on 2022-01-07

Hey folks,

 

We know that HiFi quality audio is important to you. We feel the same, and we’re excited to deliver a Spotify HiFi experience to Premium users in the future. But we don’t have timing details to share yet.

 

We will of course update you here when we can.

 

Take care.

Comments
David51220

Hello gents, any update on Hi Res quality plan we are all waiting for ? 

jas282
Absolutely none. Switch to Tidal now!
El0h1m

Absolutely not a lossy Tidal's MQA.

Avoid and go Qobuz.

LawLee

Ecoustics Podcast Interview with Dr. Mark Waldrep: Is Hi-Res Audio More Hype Than Reality? - ecousti...

 

“MQA is dead, irrelevant, and should go away now that Apple/Amazon have lossless.” - Dr. Mark Waldrep

Faintandfuzzy
The problem is most people connect Apple lossless through Airplay 2…which
transmits it as 256k AAC…thus no better than Spotify.
i3eyond

Can't wait! 

El0h1m

i3eyond , it's not going to happen any time soon.

You better run and pick an alternative like Qobuz or Deezer (if you are happy with CD quality only).

LirikaSanta

Espero puedan horientarne en este proyecto social

walp

Just came back here to check how 2005 looks like.

LawLee

If you see my earlier post a PhD audio expert made the case that hi-res audio is overhyped. I’ll post it here again

 

Ecoustics Podcast Interview with Dr. Mark Waldrep: Is Hi-Res Audio More Hype Than Reality? - ecousti...

 

He makes some good points. And my anecdotal experience supports that premise. Just because something is processed 24bit, 192kps does not mean that it’s going to be superior sounding. FLAC is just a container. And if there isn’t much data in the container it can still spit out 24bit, 192kps processed output with not much information in it.

 

Many people are using Bluetooth headphones because Apple in their infinite wisdom eliminated the headphone jack. Apple has been leading the industry away from high performance audio for a long time. I owned Apple phones and iPods. I also owned high performance MP3 players by SanDisk, iRiver, Creative Labs, and Archos. The worst fidelity MP3 players were Apple. And the original apple buds were poor fidelity wired headphones. Since they weren’t sealed many people listen to audio at levels high enough to drown out background noise and damage their hearing.

 

In pursuit of battery life Apple’s headphone amplifiers were weak. It actually it caused the headphone industry to develop earbuds that would sound reasonably well on Apple devices, skewing the earbuds fidelity industry. That’s why the whole portable DAC industry got started. Buying a phone for hundreds of dollars and then having to spend another 100 or more dollars for a DAC. Thanks Apple! The whole phone industry followed lockstep in eliminating headphone jacks from phones, which are the principal way people listen to music today.

 

But when Bluetooth came around Apple drove the industry that way. Bluetooth is inherently lossy. Your music which was encoded in MP3 or AAC is reencoded to be transmitted from your phone in either SBC, AAC, LDAC, Samsung Scalable Codec or others. Most of these are limited in terms of their data rate below bit rate received on your phone.

 

So Apple wants the lead the way in hi-res music now? How ironic. Keep in mind most of their streaming devices top out at 24bit, 48kHz.

 

Still Bluetooth is the limiting factor. And it’s true that upstream in your phone you’d like the best possible transmission quality, you then have to squeeze it through the Bluetooth pipe, or I should say straw. So I agree that 320kbs to CD quality is more than good enough for people who are consuming audio using Bluetooth.

 

Since my Yamaha Aventage Receiver has a Bluetooth input I decided to try to transmit music from my Galaxy phone to my receiver using Bluetooth. It sounded horrible. I have what are arguably accurate and well reviewed Bluetooth headphones. I've done critical listening on Galaxy buds, AKG and Sony top of the line Bluetooth headphones. Meh! I'll stick with wired when I'm not working in the yard or exercising.

 

Because my receiver is trying to process that signal to synthesize 5.1 channels of information using DTS it had nothing to work with. Spotify Connect directly to my receiver substantially sounded better.

 

But what sounded best by far was high data rate the lossless files of any type. Spotify connect today here's a convenience factor like Bluetooth. But either because of their data rate or the inherent limitations of Spotify Connect that convenience comes at a cost. A cost I'm not willing to pay.

 

I'm interested in quality. Home theater systems that can do DSP processesing on a stereo or Dolby Atmos stream are like a microscope. It's going to uncover the inherent problems in the source material. So yes, all things being equal. you can hear every step between 320kps Ogg-Vorbis to 16bit, 44.1kHz though 24bit 192kHz.