Spotify HiFi is the popular music streaming service's long-anticipated entry into lossless (CD-quality) streaming. The tier was announced over three years ago (but teased as many as seven years ago) and promised to launch by the end of 2021... and yet it still isn't here.
It is definitely still coming, Spotify keeps re-confirming, though it could now simply materialise as a 'Music Pro' add-on as opposed to a whole new tier per se. It is looking ever likely that 24-bit hi-res audio quality is on the cards, too: a step up from the 16-bit 'lossless' (CD quality) initially promised, and in line with the many hi-res streaming services out there.
When it does finally arrive, it should (fingers crossed) be worth the wait for loyal Spotify subscribers who value audio quality. Indeed, Spotify says that "high-quality music streaming" has consistently been one of its users' most requested new features. It is certainly Spotify's biggest drawback; our in-house review experts recently revisited our Spotify review and concluded that "it falls behind the sound-prioritising pack... we’re no longer willing to throw the world’s most popular streaming service a bone in light of their music discovery and catalogue edging its rivals".
The idea is that Spotify HiFi (as we shall keep calling it for now) will allow Spotify Premium subscribers to 'upgrade' their membership – either to a pricier plan or via an add-on that will, according to the ever-churning rumour mill, also grant extra playlist, podcast, headphone and interface features.
However, Spotify is yet to share concrete details such as price, launch date and full device compatibility. Recent leaks continue to paint a highly possible picture of what might prevail, though, so below we have pieced together all the latest Spotify HiFi news, leaks and rumours...
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Spotify HiFi release date and launch delay
- Spotify announced HiFi tier in February 2021, promising a launch that year
- CEO attributes the three-year delay to licensing negotiations
- Could materialise as a 'Music Pro' add-on for an extra $5/month
- CEO says higher-quality Spotify is "in early days"; release date unknown
After years of waiting for Spotify HiFi to show up after an initial teaser in 2017, we began to wonder whether it would ever get the green light. On 22nd February 2021, the company officially announced Spotify HiFi to the world at its 'Stream On' event and promised to launch Spotify HiFi "beginning later this year". That phrasing led us to believe it would be nearer the end of 2021 rather than imminently, and as the year drew to a close our fingers remain crossed that Spotify HiFi would indeed be the streaming giant's Christmas present to us all.
A leaked video followed, giving us a glimpse of the HiFi offering, and since then unearthed app code has suggested a few twists and turns in the Spotify plan. But since then we have waited. And waited. And waited. We are now, of course, in the back end of 2024 and there is still no Spotify HiFi. Yes, it's late.
So what has happened?
In January 2022, Spotify responded to the endless queries on its Spotify Community Forum with this statement: "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."
This was cemented by CEO Daniel Ek's subsequent comments to investors and analysts. During an earnings call in February 2022 – almost a full year after Spotify HiFi was announced – he failed to confirm if the service would even launch in 2022. He said the service was caught up in licensing negotiations, and added that Spotify was in "constant dialogue" with music labels about bringing the feature to market. From a technology perspective, better-quality Spotify has supposedly been ready to go for years; it's the economics of it all that Spotify is still apparently working out.
Hopes were high that it would launch imminently when a Reddit user spotted a HiFi icon in their Spotify iOS app. There was a leaked video, posted online by another Reddit user, that seemed to offer a brief tour of the streaming giant's much-anticipated lossless audio tier, too. But again, to no avail.
After months of dormancy in the Spotify rumour camp, it was awoken in March 2023 by a Reddit user who, upon cancelling his Spotify Premium account to switch to Apple Music, claims to have been sent a survey by Spotify mentioning a hypothetical premium tier called... Spotify Platinum. Hmm. The survey reportedly asked user u/nearlymind if they would consider switching to Spotify Platinum in the "next 30 days" for features that include 'HiFi' and various others including 'Studio Sound', 'Headphone Tuner', 'Library Pro' and 'Playlist Pro', for a rather steep monthly fee of $19.99.
Spotify HiFi and Platinum haven't been the only names floating around, either. Last June, a Bloomberg report reported that the new tier was being referred to as Spotify Supremium, and this was backed up by source code revealed on Reddit. The report claimed that in addition to higher-quality audio, the tier would also offer expanded audiobook access.
But here we are in 2024 with a report (The Verge, April 2024) that the Supremium name has been nixed in favour of packaging the high-res streaming as a 'Music Pro' add-on instead, alongside other features such as headphone optimisation and advanced mixing tools.
Whatever it turns out to be called, the bottom line is that higher-quality streaming is still coming. Spotify co-president Gustav Söderström told The Verge last year that offering lossless audio was still the plan, though he stopped short of giving any kind of timescale on when it would be available. "We’re going to do it in a way where it makes sense for us and for our listeners," Söderström said. "The industry changed and we had to adapt." This is no doubt referring to Apple, Amazon and most recently Tidal deciding to offer lossless, hi-res streaming at no extra cost since Spotify announced its HiFi tier.
Just months ago, in July 2024, Ek described a higher-quality Spotify as being "in early days" on an an earnings call. “The plan here is to offer much a much better version of Spotify,” he said. “Think something like $5 above the current premium tier. So it’s probably around a $17 or $18 price point, but sort of a deluxe version of Spotify that has all of the benefits that the normal Spotify version has, but a lot more control, a lot higher quality across the board, and some other things that I’m not ready to talk about just yet."
Ultimately, we are still without a Spotify Hi-Fi release date – 2024? 2025? At this rate, your guess is as good as ours!
When it does come, it should land in several markets. In the original blog post, the company said: “Beginning later this year, Premium subscribers in select markets will be able to upgrade their sound quality to Spotify HiFi and listen to their favorite songs the way artists intended.”
Spotify is currently available in some 180 markets and 60 languages, so chances are Spotify HiFi will land in different territories at different times. The good news for subscribers in the US and Europe is that Spotify typically launches new features in those key markets first.
We had wondered whether the Spotify HiFi release date could also depend on the type of device you use. Spotify HiFi was initially set to deliver higher-quality streams through Spotify Connect, so could newer Connect-enabled devices (such as the PlayStation 5) get the HiFi upgrade before certain older devices? Perhaps there will be some hardware discrepancy, but considering the delay and the fact that rivals offer hi-res through at least their own mobile and desktop apps, we assume Spotify HiFi will be available beyond simply Connect casting.
Spotify HiFi price predictions
- "Probably around a $17 or $18 price point", says CEO
- Rivals offer hi-res streaming for $11
Several rival music streaming services already offer hi-res streaming at around £11 / $11 / AU$13 per month. In 2021, Apple announced it was bringing lossless CD-quality and hi-res streams to all Apple Music subscribers – and for no extra cost. That spurred Amazon, who already had a hi-res offering, to align its pricing with Apple shortly after. And Tidal – one of the originators of hi-res streaming and historically a comparatively pricey option – finally followed suit earlier this year, reducing its subscription fee to price-match its competitors. Qobuz is another competitive hi-res streaming option.
Therefore, while Spotify's popularity and consequent existing subscription base could see Spotify HiFi front the pack before long, its price will no doubt be a key factor in its uptake.
A Bloomberg report in June 2024 reported that Spotify HiFi will add an extra $5 to whatever tier (Free or Premium) the user is currently subscribed to. This tallies with Ek's quote in July (“Think something like $5 above the current premium tier. So it’s probably around a $17 or $18 price point") – though perhaps suggests the add-on will only be available to Premium subscribers. It also begs the question: will Premium Student and Premium Family subscribers pay less and more, respectively, than $5 for HiFi?
With Spotify's price hike last year and a second one this year, though, most paying subscribers will likely see an approximate 40 per cent uplift in monthly cost compared to 18 months ago. When many of the service's competitors offer hi-res for significantly less (again, typically $11), this seems like a pretty ballsy move.
Will it damage the new Spotify tier's uptake? Probably. But then again, Spotify is effectively the Coca-Cola of music streaming, so there is no reason for it to get into a price war with Amazon, a company with some of the deepest pockets in tech. And hey, over 240 million Spotify Premium users currently happily pay £11.99 / $11.99 / AU$13.99 a month for standard-quality streams despite the fact you can get much better audio for slightly less.
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How about a Spotify HiFi free trial?
Now for a more positive outlook: whatever the monthly fee, some sort of Spotify HiFi free trial is likely to be on the cards – most probably, we would imagine, for both Spotify Premium users looking to upgrade and new Spotify users who may have historically been put off the service due to its lack of higher-quality audio.
After all, the latter bunch, who will have found a high-quality haven in either Tidal, Qobuz Apple or Amazon, may well need teasing away from their probably highly personalised account on their existing service, and a free trial may be the only incentive strong enough to tear them away.
Spotify already offers a one-month free trial (to Premium), as do Apple, Amazon, Qobuz and Tidal. It isn't uncommon for those Spotify-rivalling services to run three-month free trial deals, either, to entice new customers, particularly when Amazon Prime Day and Black Friday sales periods roll around.
Spotify HiFi quality
- Spotify initially promised 'lossless' (16-bit CD-quality) audio
- Now hi-res (24-bit) audio more likely
- Could be 'limited' to 24-bit/44.1kHz; rivals offer up to 192kHz
- No word of spatial audio support
According to Spotify back in 2021 when it first announced the HiFi tier, HiFi subscribers would be able to consume “music in lossless audio format, with CD quality”. Given that the bitrate for lossless, CD-quality audio is around 1411kbps, Spotify HiFi would, in that case, offer a big step up from existing Spotify Premium quality, which maxes out at a rather lowly 320kbps.
For the uninitiated, lossless, CD-quality audio files carry more data and are consequently richer in detail. Hi-res audio files carry more data yet again and, yes, offer even more detail. Check out our complete guide on high-resolution audio for a lowdown on what higher bitrates actually mean.
Spotify has yet to reveal the technical details of its higher-quality streams, but when it first teased Hi-Fi way back in March 2017, Premium subscribers were offered 1411kbps streams – i.e. CD quality. That said, the latest reports suggest that Spotify will offer next-level hi-res audio streaming to compete with that offered by Apple, Amazon, Tidal and Qobuz. Those service's hi-res streams max out at 9216kbps (24-bit/192kHz), though most tracks in the libraries have bitrates between 24-bit/44.1kHz and 96kHz.
The latest unearthed app code (April 2024) suggests Spotify streams will max out at 24-bit/44.1kHz. Even more recent leaked screenshots (May 2024) back that up, too, showing support for up to 2117kbps.
Spotify following in its competitors' footsteps to offer hi-res – not 'just' lossless CD quality – seems almost imperative if it wants to stay competitive. If the limit is 24-bit/44.1kHz instead of 96kHz or 192kHz, audiophiles with hugely transparent hi-fi systems could be put off Spotify HiFi, although most people with most audio kit likely wouldn't hear the differences between 44.1kHz and 192kHz streams anyway.
As always, the proof will be in the listening – how the streams actually sound compared to those on rival services – so we will withhold judgement until then.
Elsewhere, Spotify hasn't said whether it will support immersive audio formats, such as 360 Reality Audio, spatial audio and Dolby Atmos Music, as supported by Tidal, Amazon and Apple. With more and more focus on such '3D audio' mixes from music producers, it will be interesting if this is introduced at the same time as higher-quality audio, or whether we will have another wait on our hands, or whether Spotify snubs it entirely. We have found immersive audio streaming hit-and-miss, so its omission might not be the end of the world for Spotify.
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Spotify HiFi device compatibility
- HiFi confirmed to work via Spotify Connect
- We would expect support on Spotify mobile and desktop apps too
Spotify announced in 2021 that its planned CD-quality streams would be compatible with Spotify Connect, which is an easy way of wirelessly playing streams from the native Spotify app on a phone or tablet to a Connect-compatible device over wi-fi. It cuts out convoluted Bluetooth pairing.
Qualcomm's popular, ever-present aptX Bluetooth codecs can stream in CD quality, as can the LDAC codec, so as long as a user's source (say, the Spotify app and the phone it's playing on) and receiver (a Bluetooth speaker or pair of wireless headphones) both support that Bluetooth codec, audio transmission between the two should be pretty close to CD quality. Bluetooth codecs inherently compress audio, however, which has a knock-on effect on the quality you hear, so the uncompressed wi-fi method is typically superior when it comes to wirelessly transmitting higher-quality audio.
The finer details of Spotify Connect compatibility are yet to be revealed, but presumably Spotify HiFi subscribers will be able to easily play high-quality streams between their phone (via the iOS and Android apps) or computer (via the desktop app or web player) and the ever-increasing mass of Connect-enabled speakers, TVs and audio systems on the market. (This is certainly suggested by the leaked screenshots mentioned earlier.)
If Spotify Connect can losslessly (without compression) transmit the rumoured 24-bit/44.1kHz streams upon HiFi's launch, it would be close in capability to the Google Chromecast wireless protocol, which supports up to 24-bit/96kHz and plays ball with Tidal, Amazon and Qobuz. It would give Spotify the edge over Apple Music and the Apple AirPlay 2 protocol, as Apple Music’s hi-res streams supposedly convert from ALAC (Apple’s lossless codec) into AAC (Apple’s lossy codec) at a pretty lowly 256kbps when transmitted over AirPlay 2 – and therefore not losslessly.
Spotify Connect really has become one of the most popular streaming features, so the majority of networked, streaming-savvy devices out there should support the protocol.
"We’re working with some of the world’s biggest speaker manufacturers to make Spotify HiFi accessible to as many fans as possible through Spotify Connect," reads Spotify's early statement.
Could we even see Spotify HiFi launch alongside a high-end Spotify-branded speaker? We'll find out soon enough. In the meantime, here's a rundown of our favourite wireless speakers, many of which support Spotify Connect.
Spotify Connect aside, we would now expect Spotify to offer higher-quality streaming simply through its own native mobile (iOS and Android) and desktop apps as well, as its rivals do.
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