AudioNervosa
Systemic Development => Digital Audio Devices => Streaming Players => Topic started by: malloy on April 13, 2021, 09:53:55 PM
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A bit of old news, but is anyone else excited for this? I personally am. Most of the music I listen to is on Spotify (80s metal, 80s new wave, Asian pop, jazz, etc.).
Also, Spotify is the only music streaming service my rig does :lol: (assuming the Sony can do it once it is offered).
It's supposed to be offered in select areas late 2021.
https://newsroom.spotify.com/2021-02-22/five-things-to-know-about-spotify-hifi/
Already some people are trying to act smart with the "Can you really hear hifi/lossless" challenges. I tried to listen to the test but could not stand the music and abandoned it. Sounded like some very compressed pop/rock. I doubt if "The Killers" should even be used as a reference for these tests. At least two of their albums are notorious for being overly compressed.
I also doubt if Billie Eilish (she of the reviled whisper pop-singing fame that I spoke of in an earlier thread) should even be talking about Hifi sound and is certainly not someone any person in audio circles such as this one would pay attention to.
But it is what Spotify has to do to drum up interest in their product offering, especially to capture the younger demographic who buy her brand of music.
https://thenextweb.com/news/before-you-pay-for-spotify-hifi-try-to-pass-this-lossless-audio-test
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Talk about showing up at the party a day late and a dollar short?
A "Hi res" service that goes all the way up to CD quality"? Welcome to the 1980s and "perfect sound forever."
But I guess this is more of a marketing thing than a technical advancement.
Spotify customers have been perfectly fine with the service running at MP3, because the certainly have other options for buying higher res streaming if they really wanted it. It will be interesting to see how many of them will actually be willing to shell out any extra coin for better sound.
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I was looking for the pricing on the new level. Must have missed it. For what I listen to, Spotify is likely a poor choice. I did take the yearly option of Qobuz recently, so that saved me a bit. Will be interesting to see if that sells...
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I could not find any pricing info either.
Spotify, at $9.99 a month is not that much cheaper that them of the higher res alternatives in the market right now, so the can't jack the price too much higher. But in this world inertia is a powerful thing. I am sure that there are a lot of folks out there that do not want to leave Spotify because they have it set up the way they like it, are comfortable with the interfaces and have favorites and playlists built that wouldn't transfer to another service. While we as audiophile seek out change as part of our nervosa, for most people "if it ain't broke , don't fix it" is more the way they roll. So it will be interesting to see if having the ability to move up without changing anything else is enough of an incentive for average consumers to consider better sound.