Spotify's HiFi tier could finally be about to launch

For the last four years I have been trying out Amazon, Tidal, and Apple in bouts of frustration to get lossless. But I always end back with Spotify, like a bad relationship you cannot get out of. Spotify’s total package of application interface, Connect feature, copious curated playlists, and music discovery algorithms is unmatched IMO.

Amazon was a major frustration with what has to be the worst ever application. Tidal Connect was a big fail as it is not nearly as reliable as Spotify Connect, and Apple Music was probably the best of all three for me, but the music discovery and curated playlists were bad, which is surprising for a techy AI company. These services' SQ did not offset the negatives.

Spotify lossless, even if only 24-bit/44.1 kHz, is the icing on the cake for me. Being FREE is the cherry on top. I am checking multiple times a day, looking for that "Lossless" capability. The waiting is the hardest part!

Spotify lossless, even if only 24-bit/44.1 kHz, is the icing on the cake for me. Being FREE is the cherry on top.

So true. I simply upgraded my plan from Duo to Family. Surprisingly, I am the only one who has Lossless currently. The rest of my family does not have it - and I keep checking their devices daily.

I am checking multiple times a day, looking for that "Lossless" capability. The waiting is the hardest part!

I even upgraded their iPhones to iOS 26, because that was the way I got my update on iPad. Strange thing is that, that same evening I updated my Android Phone and Windows desktop Spotify App and checked the setting - it was still not there. Then I used the iPad Spotify Connect (after changing it to Lossless) to stream to the Desktop App and did not hear any difference. Out of curiosity, I logged into the Windows desktop and opened Spotify setting - and lo and behold - the Lossless setting was available. Once I changed it to "Lossless" and started playing, it did not even take 10 seconds to notice the difference. So you will notice in my posts above that initially I said that Lossless was not available on "audio server", and then after a few minutes, I posted that it was available.

i agree with Christianb5s4 - 

Spotify is great for UI, playlist creation, playlist sharing, content, and recommendations. I also have been using Qobuz but prefer ease of use with Spotify. I like the 2-stage random play setting which I don't see on Qobuz.

Now if only Spotify comes thru on a lossless level, I can also enjoy that on my 2-channel main audio setup

This thread was started two years ago and the discussions about Spotify high rez go back at least a decade.  Does anyone know why it took them so long?

Does anyone know why it took them so long?

I think it was the licensing issue with the content providers. Maybe that is the reason we saw some recent price hikes?