[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!

[mctesterson]

I wonder how many of the 1,500 (17% of workforce) who are being laid off from Spotify were part of the HiFi / Supremium team?

If it takes Spotify a decade to respond to this request for lossless streaming with a full workforce, how much longer will it take while remaining employees scramble to figure out what knowledge, expertise and responsibilities their departed colleagues were doing?

At least this move is a slam dunk for major shareholders of Spotify, with share prices jumping up.  With that cash infusion, Spotify shareholders can now afford to buy a subscription to any other music streaming service, most of which offer lossless - and even high-resolution! - streaming, including Qobuz, Tidal, and many others.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/spotify-shares-surge-in-premarket-after-ceo-says-firm-is-cutti...

[Webbie007]

The quality is 5 classes lower than Deezer. When will the quality become High Fidelity?

Rising prices ... but low quality.

[IlIIlIIlllIlIIllI]

Maybe the layoffs will help speed up the lossless tier release...

[mctesterson]

Yeah, sure.  It was all those pesky employees who've been blocking the release of lossless tier all this time.  Get rid of the employees working on it and the feature will magically release itself.  Hope springs eternal.

[IlIIlIIlllIlIIllI]

Their way of thinking is so backwards that this could very well be a reason to cut costs and release it. I have tidal plus but I'm eager to switch back... tidal's features don't stand a chance against spotify's

[mololol303]

I'll be just another one complaining but I still want to share my view. I always admired Spotify's algorithms behind music recommendations. I like the Wrapped. I just love the Connect. I kinda like the social aspect of music listening.

I hate that user feedback is not really listened to. It's been over 9 years (closer to 10) since this thread was started. More and more people voted for it. I hate that I cannot use it to reach full potential of my gear. I hate that this is basically the only thing Spotify lacks to be THE perfect service (that and maybe building a freaking native app that doesn't rely on electron...).

I've tried Tidal, Deezer, YouTube music (also back when it was Google music) and I kept going back for various reasons. Tidal didn't have half of my music available, Deezer's app was written by janitors who accidentally got access to a computer, and google... is google. None of these could even approach Spotify's recommendations and have a go at them.

I've now tried Apple music. They have a well polished native app for every platform they support, I can still stream my music to my living room system via airplay or using Apple tv if I want it lossless, All my music is available there. They have lossless, they have hi-res on some tracks in the same tier. I can upload my own bought music from Bandcamp and my own CDs and stream them on any device. The recommendation algo was struggling at first trying to get to know me and my taste (not easy, my wrapped for 2023 has 144 genres, 5.5K different tracks from over 4K artists and all that BEFORE I switched to Apple in August), but as my trial was coming to an end, the recommendations kept (and still keep) getting better and better.

I have been looking back during my trial. I still sometimes am, but I think of going back less and less. Given that lossless is unlikely to ever come to life, I don't think I'll ever go back either. It's a shame, because it was Spotify who convinced me that streaming can be nice, convenient and offer decent quality service in the early days. Apple's replay is not as detailed and cool as Wrapped is. Shared playlists and social aspects of music are not there yet. I won't miss it though. I can still send a link to a playlist, I can still share a song. I may miss connect a little bit but then again I mostly use one device to control my home audio anyways. All the other things are just extras I don't really need.

I don't feel special and I that's because I'm not. And that's why I feel like this input matters. There are others like me. People who don't really need hi-res, but would definitely like CD quality. Those who want to explore music and find something new everyday, but don't need to rely on their friends' feeds to do it. Those who are just tired of corporations taking shortcuts on technicalities and just want to enjoy their music on all their gear and use it to its full potential. Finally, people, who will eventually jump ships and sail away with a service that at least pretends to care for what they want and try to cater to that and actively looks for ways to make its users feel they are getting their money's worth, a service that tries to earn the money, not just get it.

[De-M-oN]

@mololol303

Tidal has now more music than Spotify.

Tidal has also the album:

Samael - Reign Of Light

Spotify doesnt have it.

Also: Not every label allows high quality:

for example: Cradle Of Filth - Bitter Suites to Succubi

is only uploaded to poor 96 kbit/s by the label company.

At Tidal this is clearly visible. But Spotify doesnt tell you about the current codec and bitrate at all which I find very bad too.

A big plus of spotify is that you can add your local music folders though. That feature is HUGE and I love it. This way I can add missing albums the streaming services dont have - or replace that said Cradle Of Filth album with my local available flac version.

Another huge plus of spotify is that you can give an infinite amount of likes. Its bad that it is limited to 10000 liked songs on other platforms. Very bad actually.

If Tidal would improve these 2 things I would be forever happy with tidal.

Lets see who comes first: Tidal with these 2 things improved, or Spotify with lossless 😄

[Samppa3]

From here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/truespotify/comments/18aguyh/spotify_to_lay_off_17_of_employees_read_the_fu...

I found this comment:

"HiFi as a product was ready to launch almost 3 years ago (I was on the team). It got delayed then shelved due to leadership failures & negotiation stalemates with licensing. Most of that original team left a while ago at this point, unfortunately."

[petsy48]

Thanks for the effort Samppa3. They're loss and Qobuz's gain. Lol!!

[PaulMac]

Another happy Qobuz user here. Really refreshing to use a platform that is solely focused on music with a sound quality that puts Spotifys to shame.

Also a nice little community growing in Qobuz Club.