Where is Spotify Hi-Fi? And do we still want a lossless Spotify tier?

[What Hi-Fi?]

With Amazon, Tidal and Qobuz flying the flag for hi-res streaming, has the moment passed for the music service?

Where is Spotify Hi-Fi? And do we still want a lossless Spotify tier? : Read more

 

[Deleted member 2457]

With Amazon, Tidal and Qobuz flying the flag for hi-res streaming, has the moment passed for the music service?

Where is Spotify Hi-Fi? And do we still want a lossless Spotify tier? : Read more

I still use Spotify all the time and one of the main reason is because it’s free!

 

[GriffinN]

With Amazon, Tidal and Qobuz flying the flag for hi-res streaming, has the moment passed for the music service?

Where is Spotify Hi-Fi? And do we still want a lossless Spotify tier? : Read more

If spotify added FLAC, I'd cancel Tidal in a heartbeat. It's the only reason I have tidal. Spotify has way more features plus podcasts.

Plus they don't put two artist with the same name on the same page and say both their albums are made by the same person... (COIN)

 

[CyberAthlete]

Hello everyone! If Spotify starts streaming Hi-Fi audio, I will ditch Amazon HD. Spotify has the friendliest interface, easiest playlist management, best ability to discover new tracks, algorithms to suggest songs that are pretty much exactly what you're looking for any given playlist, edit playlist track listing on the fly and the best live recorded catalog of any streaming service.

 

[Joseph Cotten]

Why would anyone mention a "maximum bitrate threshold for MP3" in relation to an OGG stream? Does Spotify no longer stream in higher quality OGG (at the same bitrate, OGG contains more original information)...?

I'd rather have WHF do an actual comparison of the Apple, Tidal, Qobuz, and MP3 codecs with Sotify's implementation of OGG than quote bitrates that do not mean anything without explanation of the compression.

 

[CyberAthlete]

I think you should do that yourself and be the judge yourself. All hi-fi sites will always and every time state that all HD Music streams sound much better than Spotify. I subscribe to both Spotify and Amazon HD. I'll do some listening tests on my end.

 

[AyEye]

I really hope Spotify do put the work in to add lossless streaming. I'd be happy to pay double for my family plan. I've had both Quobuz and Amazon Music HD but Amazon's interface is just terrible, it feels like an 'app' sitting over an old web client made by two different teams who don't talk to each other, it's just naff. And unfortunately Quobuz just doesn't have the catalogue or anywhere near the same calibre of discovery features. And I don't want anything to do with Tidal's Lossy MQA format. Spotify are the best service out there and I'll just continue to use my hard copies when wanting quality and put up with 'Very High Quality' Compressed OGG for the time being and keep hoping, for years to come.

 

[DBB]

I really hope Spotify do put the work in to add lossless streaming. I'd be happy to pay double for my family plan. I've had both Quobuz and Amazon Music HD but Amazon's interface is just terrible, it feels like an 'app' sitting over an old web client made by two different teams who don't talk to each other, it's just naff. And unfortunately Quobuz just doesn't have the catalogue or anywhere near the same calibre of discovery features. And I don't want anything to do with Tidal's Lossy MQA format. Spotify are the best service out there and I'll just continue to use my hard copies when wanting quality and put up with 'Very High Quality' Compressed OGG for the time being and keep hoping, for years to come.

Exactly this. I've done loads of tests of Amazon, Qobuz and Tidal and Amazon just about edged out Qobuz, due to the larger library and more personalised recommendations. The Amazon app is pretty terrible though, and the lack of support for external DACs on Android is annoying.

I found Tidal to be the most like Spotify in terms of app UI, music discovery etc but, like you say, can't be done with all that MQA nonsense. Plus there are nowhere near as many hi res songs and albums as there are on Amazon or Qobuz.

Qobuz sounded the best for me of the three but there were gaps in the catalogue. I requested for a few albums to be added but heard nothing further about it a few weeks later.

If Spotify had FLAC or, even better, hi res FLAC, I'd ditch the others in a heartbeat. I use Freeyourmusic to copy my Spotify playlists over to Amazon, but I'd rather not have to do that.

 

[RobinHiFi]

Suspect that these companies Made a deal: the other parties Pay or Spotify gets another way of compensation if Spotify holds off using high end bite rate. That way everybody in stream business wins except the consumer. Seems clear to me. That is why we don’t understand... if Spotify starts with supporting high end hi-fi, the others have No business what so ever.

 

[Dexter]

I had been a subscriber to Spotify, but dropped it for a couple of reasons, one being no lossless Hi-Fi quality. There are other reasons too. I tried Tidal. Loved the sound but found that it was lacking in song availability. Simply put, it didn't have many of the tracks I wanted that other services did have. The thing to keep in mind is everything sounds different according to the platform you are using and devices. Spotify, Apple Music, and Tidal sound great on Windows and my iPhones. Deezer and Amazon Music HD/Ultra HD lacked that sound quality, even though they were both in Hi-Fi lossless, on my computer, and I would even go as far as to say they both sounded like crap in my car ( Apple Car Play). Another reason, which is what eventually brought me back to Apple Music, was my purchase of the new Apple Watch (series 5). I got it so that I could have the freedom of not having to take my phone with me everywhere I went. Since my watch has cellular, it was very convenient for me to go places without having to take my phone. Even though both Spotify and Deezer have apps for Apple watch, you still have to have your iPhone with you to be able to listen to music, receive phone calls, etc... This defeats the whole purpose of having an Apple Watch, at least for me. Tidal doesn't even have an app for it, at least not the last time I checked. Tidal, Apple Music, and Spotify all sounded great in my car. Amazon Music HD was horrible in my car and mediocre on the computer.

 

[Dexter]

I owe Amazon HD an apology. I didn't realize that I was listening with the normalization on. I don't know why these apps always install themselves with the normalization set to on by default. After turning it off, everything changed. Listening to it with my Bose headphones, I can really hear the quality. Next test will be in my car. I still need Apple Music for the watch, but if all goes well, Amazon HD will be what I use in the car. Don't believe I will even bother going back to Spotify.

 

[JohnnyWeems]

I use Spotify for many years for the reason that it is free. If Spotify launches a hi-res service, I will definitely subscribe to Spotify Premium and cancel my Tidal subscription. Also stop using my Audkit Spotify music converter, though Tidal and AudKit are both great. Spotify should take the lossless tier into consideration. That should attract many Spotify free users to pay for its premium plan.