Spotify Hi-Fi lossless is (finally) here!

I’ll admit, I wasn’t sure Spotify would ever actually pull the trigger on lossless – it felt like one of those features they dangled forever. Seeing 24-bit/44.1kHz finally live is kind of surreal. I’m curious how it stacks against Tidal or Apple’s take, though. For me it’s less about chasing specs and more about whether I actually feel the difference in day-to-day listening. Anyone already A/B-tested it with proper headphones?
 
Will also need an exclusive mode on the windows platform for use with an external DAC to allow bit-perfect - at least that's how I use Tidal
I will make a new trial subscription with spotify to see how it sounds though.
 
I doubt as much of their catalogue is mastered well enough to take advantage of it as they make out though - quite a lot of music I listen to on Spotify the source is rarely that much better than 128kbit MP3 anyhow.
 
Rroff said:
I doubt as much of their catalogue is mastered well enough to take advantage of it as they make out though - quite a lot of music I listen to on Spotify the source is rarely that much better than 128kbit MP3 anyhow.
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Took the words right out of my mouth.

Give me a well mastered high bitrate mp3 with decent dynamic range over a poorly remastered compressed (in range) FLAC…

I obviously prefer FLAC and rip any discs to it but it’s not the biggest factor from experience.
 
alex24 said:
Took the words right out of my mouth.

Give me a well mastered high bitrate mp3 with decent dynamic range over a poorly remastered compressed (in range) FLAC…

I obviously prefer FLAC and rip any discs to it but it’s not the biggest factor from experience.
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I don't quite understand your comment. The article says it is lossless, so compressed or not, all the audio data is still there ready to be unpacked. Whereas as we know with mp3 it 100% has to throw away audio data to save on space. Doesn't matter if it is a high bitrate MP3 or not, it still looses something. Or are we getting into the weeds here about what humans can actually hear / perceive? Is that what you mean?
 
That's why I said (in range). I'm talking about the dynamic range of the original recording/mastering and music production, not the audio format itself. Although fwiw I think unless you have great equipment, and even for some if you do, high bitrate mp3 and FLAC might be a bit tricky to tell apart.
 
Quite like Spotify, great for convenience, if you like something new on Spotify, go out and buy the album.

HiRes doesn't bother me as the majority is a rip off aimed at mentally ill consumers. But 320kbps or lossless flac is fine for casual listening as it still allows you to hear into the mixing and variations in mastering.

Just a shame I have not worked out how to ensure that the audio output is equal, the variation in loudness between old and new recordings is nippy.
 
I think it was an in app notification I got last week that said lossless was coming soon but not yet fully rolled out.
 
I've yet to see anyone from UK have this, quite a shambles really
 
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