![]() ![]() The company says this is as close to listening to the master recording as a streaming service can get.Īmazon also offers tracks at 24-bit/192 kHz quality as part of its Amazon Music HD service. Tidal goes one step beyond HiFi to its Master tier, which offers a bit rate of 9,216 kbps, a 192,000 Hz sample rate, and a 24-bit depth. ![]() This is also likely what we’ll see from Spotify when the HiFi service launches later this year. That’s designed to match CD-quality sound almost exactly. The company’s HiFi files offer a 1,411 kbps bitrate, 44,100 Hz sample rate, and a 16-bit depth. Right now, Tidal is one of the biggest players in the high-res streaming audio market. Who else is offering this kind of service? It also affects the frequencies that the tracks can produce. They influence the dynamic range or the contrast between the quietest and loudest parts of the music. So, a 24-bit depth file would have considerably more information than a 16-bit version.Ĭombined, these variables determine crucial audio traits. This is called sample rate and it’s typically either 44,100 Hz or 192,000 Hz.īit depth measures how much digital information is contained in each one of those samples. You’ll often see sample rate and bit depth mentioned together because they’re inherently linked when it comes to audio quality.Īn analog audio wave is a smooth curve and a digital recording needs to record samples of it thousands of times per second in order to replicate a sound with constant playback. To put that number into perspective, CDs have a bitrate of 1,411 kbps, which obviously retains much more of the original recording information when compared to a lossy MP3.īitrate isn’t the only thing you’ll have to consider when trying to determine the quality of an audio file. In the early days of MP3′s rise, 128 kbps reigned, in large part due to the prevalence of file-sharing services like Napster operating on slow connections, and relatively small storage capacity on playback devices. That rate represents the maximum sound performance you can squeeze out of the MP3 format, which is “lossy” and has to jettison some information from the original recording in the interest of saving space and maximizing playback compatibility. ![]() If you max out Spotify’s current quality settings, your tracks will play back at 320 kbps. More information translates into better quality sound, but it also requires more computing power during playback and larger file sizes for streaming music. We'll post again when we hear more.The difference in quality comes down to a stat called bitrate, which measures how much digital information is contained in every second of music. Then you'll be able to listen to Spotify HiFi on your streaming device and your Spotify Connect enabled devices, although many of these may require an update to enable the new service. (unless their competition's no-extra-charge for lossless forces Spotify to add HiFi to the Premium tier). You'll need to upgrade from Spotify Premium to Spotify HiFi - and the cost of this is not yet clear, but it's likely to be a tier above their current Premium plan. Are we one of them? Previously their staged rollouts have focused on the US and Europe first of all, but we're crossing fingers for a global launch. Spotify have said it's launching in 'select markets' first. Will it launch in Australia at the same time as Europe / USA? The plan at this stage is for Spotify HiFi to be CD quality, lossless audio - so not hi-res audio but still a significant step up from the lossy MP3 compression Spotify currently uses. At present their MP3 streaming maxes out at 320kbps, which is fine for casual listening but those of us with quality audio systems want to get as much out of them as possible - hence the excitement! Spotify HiFi delivers CD-quality sound through the use of lossless codecs. We can't help thinking that Apple Music and Amazon Music both adding lossless audio at no extra cost has put a spanner in the works for Spotify - nixing their plans to make Spotify HiFi a step above Premium at an extra cost. The Verge also reports that Spotify have already re-encoded their music files with the lossless codec, and that Spotify employees have access to Spotify HiFi. ![]() The industry changed and we had to adapt.”, he said. “We are going to do it, but we’re going to do it in a way where it makes sense for us and for our listeners. But in more positive news Spotify's Co-President Gustav Soderstrom recently told The Verge that it is definitely still coming: We were hoping for an announcement at Spotify's Stream On event in March this year but that didn't happen either. Now here we are in May 2023 and still no Spotify Hi Fi. Spotify announced Spotify HiFi way back in February 2021, but with no release date other than 'some time in 2021'. ![]()
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