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

[timiambeing]

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!

** please don't lump this suggestion with the main one on lossless downloads, that's a different idea entirely guys!

[timiambeing]

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).

[timiambeing]

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!

[cl2solutions]

You would be surprised at how much Spotify jumping to 1,411kbps will scare other streaming services to improve their products. It’s a greater value for Spotify’s audience than you make it out to be.

[adam2434]

Wow!  I actually gave up on Spotify lossless and have been using Tidal for several months.  This is great news!

I would love to ditch Tidal and have a Spotify HiFi family plan as our only music streaming service.

Suggestions for Spotify:

1) Enable lossless on Chromecast devices, including Chromecast Audio.

2) Create a stream quality badge in the app that displays the format (for example, FLAC 16/44.1) and also have a stream quality indicator on connected devices using Spotify Connect.  For example, Tidal streams on Denon/Marantz Heos equipment display the proper FLAC format in the Heos app and on monitors connected to Heos equipment.

Edit: Duh, meant Spotify HiFi family plan above!

[hans-jürgen]

Wow, finally... It will be interesting to see if Apple and YouTube follow them now, their biggest competitors. The smaller streaming sites already offering FLAC streaming need to hurry up indeed with improving their service. For example Deezer announced last Friday per email to HiFi customers that the yearly subscription will be 45€ less than before, only 135 € for 12 months now. And they offer 70m songs in FLAC format in their catalogue now, 73m in total. Desktop HiFi users are still waiting for gapless playback though, also Family members who want to listen to HiFi sound. 😉

[tanchinmeng81]

hifi coming this year. but duno got mqa or not

[Dismiss]

Effin' finally. Doesn't matter if they don't have Master quality or whatever, cd quality is good enough to listen to on a decent sound system. Combined with Spotify Connect, podcast support and social features, now Spotify will become the most complete platform out there. I will definitely switch back to Spotify once this becomes available in my country, even though they're talking about "select markets", so I'm guessing there's still some disappointment to be had.

[user-removed]

This will scare Apple the most as Spotify has huge integration will a lot of hardware with Spotify Connect. 

Apple has what? Bluesound? 

I'm all in on this  .

By the way , I have been subscribing to Tidal for years but I know that's Spotify's music discovery and playlists are far superior.  Tidal MQA is overrated as many 16/44 files sound better than the MQA files. 

[StevenSGT98]

A concern I have is that in the announcement and q&a so far, everything has been about lossless over a connect enabled device (speakers). I haven’t seen or heard anything about Windows or Mac apps and wasapi/asio for external dac users. Maybe it just wasn’t stated yet as it’s early on, but the push seems to be to those investing in connect devices. Fine. However, for those who have systems in place, if a direct path to the dac isn’t provided, it would leave out several who are pushing for lossless in the first place. 

Time will tell.

[Blueshound24]

Agreed 100%!

I'm surprised this hasn't been discussed yet. 

If wasapi/asio for external dac users is not provided it would be worthless and a hard pass for me. 

"StevenSGT98" 

" A concern I have is that in the announcement and q&a so far, everything has been about lossless over a connect enabled device (speakers). I haven’t seen or heard anything about Windows or Mac apps and wasapi/asio for external dac users. Maybe it just wasn’t stated yet as it’s early on, but the push seems to be to those investing in connect devices. Fine. However, for those who have systems in place, if a direct path to the dac isn’t provided, it would leave out several who are pushing for lossless in the first place."

[Jodokus]

Very important detail indeed StevenSGT98! Tidal has played out this part the way it should, let’s hope Spotify takes this seriously. 

[apecat]

I'm delighted that Spotify is finally promising a lossless option. I've been waiting for this for about a decade now.

What I also find satisfying in a nitpicky sense, is the distinct lack of mention of MQA.

Just a couple of reminders
 

1. Actual hi-res is hugely wasteful in delivery formats and also detrimental to audio quality, if anything https://archive.is/GJkvu

2. MQA is neither hi-res, nor lossless, but it definitely is a rent seeking scheme with awfully misleading marketing and insane fans. Hopefully Spotify won't be wasting money on royalties for these charlatans https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/reviews/mqa-a-review-of-controversies-concerns-and-cautions-r701/