It’s been so long since Spotify announced a lossless HiFi tier that many assumed the streaming giant had simply scuttled the feature, but now there are hints that HiFi may still launch, and perhaps relatively soon.
According to a post on Reddit, a longtime Spotify user who had recently ditched the service for Apple Music claims they got a survey teasing a new plan–“Spotify Platinum”–that boasts HiFi, among other features.
As first reported by 9to5Mac, the survey says Spotify Platinum includes “everything” in the $9.99-a-month individual plan, as well as:
HiFi
Studio Sound
Headphone Tuner
Audio Insights
Library Pro
Playlist Pro
Limited ad-Spotify podcasts
As you might guess from the “Platinum” moniker, the (purported) new plan wouldn’t come cheap: think $19.99 a month, or double the cost of Spotify’s individual Premium plan.
According to the Redditor, the survey asked whether they would switch back to Spotify ‘in the next 30 days” for Platinum or another Spotify plan, suggesting that the new tier could launch in the near future.
Spotify first announced Spotify HiFi way back in February 2021, calling it a way for Spotify Premium users to “upgrade their sound quality” to a “CD-quality, lossless audio format.” Spotify promised that HiFi would arrive before the end of 2021.
But Spotify was beaten to the punch by Apple, which rolled out lossless and hi-res music streaming plus spatial audio in May 2021, for no extra charge over its standard Apple Music plans.
On the same day that Apple made its announcement, Amazon Music said it would drop the premium charge for its own lossless, hi-res, and spatial audio offerings.
Spotify has been mostly silent about its Spotify HiFi plans following its initial announcement, although in a January 2022 statement, it said “we don’t have timing details to share yet” about a launch date.
It’s not clear what several of the potential features listed in the leaked survey would do. “Studio Sound” could be a reference to hi-res (24-bit) audio, versus the CD-quality (16-bit) sound that Spotify tapped for HiFi. Or it could mean spatial audio, a feature that Spotify has yet to mention as far as Spotify HiFi is concerned.
We’ve reached out to Spotify for comment.
Author: Ben Patterson, Senior Writer
Ben has been writing about technology and consumer electronics for more than 20 years. A PCWorld contributor since 2014, Ben joined TechHive in 2019, where he covers smart speakers, soundbars, and other smart and home-theater devices. You can follow Ben on Twitter.