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It’s been more than two years since Spotify announced in February 2021 plans to launch its HiFi service later this year, but it hasn’t happened. And that… hasn’t happened yet.
What’s in the Giant Green Streaming Giant have Instead, it recently announced a new AI DJ feature (currently live in the US and Canada, and coming soon to the UK) and a redesigned homepage (think TikTok meets Netflix). is. that’s about it.
After being away from the team for a while, I returned on Monday and was pleased to see that my colleague Mark Wilson adopted a resolution I made last October. Bravo. This glacial pace from Spotify calls for such action.
A little background info: In October, after canceling their Spotify Premium subscription (via Reddit user u/nearlymind, etc.), members will be asked to complete a survey on whether they would consider returning to Spotify Premium. It was reported that you received the email. A streaming service with a “Platinum” product for $19.99 a month (that is, twice the cost of Spotify Premium for him) that includes HiFi.
The carrots Spotify dangled before survey respondents included “lossless” CD-quality audio, studio sound, headphone tuners, Audio Insights, Library Pro, Playlist Pro, and exclusive Spotify podcasts.
Responses to the survey didn’t seem particularly positive, as Spotify Platinum is still nowhere to be seen.
Ok, but at least HiFi, why not Spotify?
This is strange because according to Spotify, high-quality music streaming is consistently one of the most requested new features by its loyal users (listeners who have long been capped at 320kbps).
So, according to what we know so far, how good is HiFi? CD quality is 1,411kbps, otherwise stated as 16-bit/44.1kHz – a huge leap indeed .
Apple Music and Amazon Music casually announced this at no extra cost to subscribers in May 2021, but that’s not the end of this particular story.
Apple Music went a few steps further. Not only did Apple give away his entire catalog in CD quality for free, but he also gave me two catalogs. taller than Resolution tiers at no extra charge: Lossless (up to 24-bit/48kHz, or 2,304 kbps) and Hi-Res lossless (up to 24-bit/192kHz, a whopping 9216kbps), all using Apple’s ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio) codec. Impressive. I hope you agree.
And before we get to the content of Dolby Atmos and spatial audio, the Cupertino giant’s own set of new AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Max or AirPods 3 and Headtrack 5.1, 7.1 or object-based immersive audio.
How good does Spotify HiFi look now? Not much.
Despite the ever-improving social aspects of Spotify (combining the most-streamed artists into personalized festival lineup posters was a neat touch, it’s also very well suited for Instagram interactions). was). I’m not canceling Apple Music because of the price.
Don’t beat Spotify HiFi before it comes out, but…
Of course, we’d love to check when (and if) Spotify HiFi arrives. My ears are always my guide, regardless of bitrate, file type or codec.
Spotify’s promised “studio sound” and “headphone tuner” features are interesting, and I would argue that few challenge Apple Music’s suite of features (and the Apple Music Classical app is the last). ). Apple Music users get one month of free listening at no extra cost (but be aware of one annoying limitation).
But hi-res audio, and generally better audio, feels like a race Spotify can’t beat. Using Apple Music Sessions as an example, this was clearly Apple’s reaction to Spotify Sessions (almost subtle, isn’t it?). The problem was that Apple Music provided these live recordings over Spatial Audio.
Still, Spotify’s popularity continues.According to Statista (opens in new tab)Spotify had 205 million premium subscribers worldwide as of the last quarter of 2022, up from 180 million in the corresponding quarter of 2021. want Challenge high resolution. It doesn’t seem necessary…
And there is not yet Spotify does not promise Dolby Atmos-enhanced music.
As I said before (but I’ll continue to mention it), as far as I’m concerned, the solution discussion is important. Nothing technically justified by Spotify calling it a “HiFi” resolution is as good as Apple Music’s Lossless offering.
To be more granular: Hi-Res music is defined as music files with a sampling frequency and/or bit depth equal to or greater than a CD specified at 16-bit/44.1kHz. Therefore, although CD-quality audio is sometimes called Hi-Fi (or lossless if the original was recorded at CD resolution – if no “loss” occurred in the recording process), that resolution is easily identifiable by Apple Music. be defeated. If you need wired headphones and possibly a DAC to hear properly.
There were some signs that Spotify HiFi was about to launch late last year, including a screenshot of the Spotify HiFi logo in the app and a Spotify HiFi onboarding video leaked by a Redditor, but all to no avail. I did. And even if Spotify HiFi finally debuts in his 2023 (which I doubt), he’s not going to cancel Apple Music.
In my humble opinion, Apple Music is still one of the best music streaming services, along with Qobuz (review coming soon) and Tidal.
After all, I don’t think Spotify Premium subscribers care enough about audio fidelity to double their monthly music spend.I do I’m not willing to pay the same price for a lower quality file. I simply believe that Apple Music is a smart money destination.
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