Update December 24, 2021: It has been ten months since Spotify HiFi was announced, but still nothing is known about the extra costs of the HiFi subscription. Also, the release date has still not been revealed, while Apple Music subscribers have been able to enjoy lossless music for months. The plan was to “later in 2021” to go live with Spotify HiFi, but with a few days to go there is little chance that this deadline will be met. Or the Netherlands and Belgium joining is also not yet clear, as it will only be “in selected markets” will start. Spotify previously promised to give “more details soon”, but it has still not come to that. In May, a HiFi button appeared in the app for a short time, with an explanation of the functions. But it disappeared again shortly afterwards.
Want to listen to music without loss? Then you are currently better off with Apple Music. Moreover, you do not pay anything extra for it, which means that Spotify's future HiFi payment bundle prices itself a bit out of the market. The Verge asked Spotify about the current situation, but received no answer.
The following is our original article from February 22, 2021.
Spotify has a free version, but also Spotify Premium (for individual) and Spotify Family for you and your family members. Today, the streaming service announced during the Stream On event that Spotify HiFi will be added. Spotify has been working on this for years and now the plans have been officially revealed, although many details are still unclear.
Spotify HiFi Announced
Spotify HiFi lets you play music in ‘CD quality in the lossless audio format’ listen. Currently, Spotify uses a bitrate of 320kbps, but with lossless audio this can go up to 1.411kbps. That means music sounds better and you may hear details of songs that you didn't hear before. Spotify HiFi comes as an extra option on top of Spotify Premium. So you have to pay extra for it.
Further details about Spotify HiFi are scarce at the time of the announcement. The company has not announced what the additional price will be or when it will be available. Spotify HiFi should in any case be made available in ‘certain markets worldwide’, so it remains to be seen whether it will be available (directly) in the Netherlands.
According to Spotify, it will be available on all devices that you can listen to Spotify, including Spotify Connect speakers. Spotify would also work with speaker manufacturers to make the feature as widely available as possible.
In recent years there have been some tests with a high-quality version of Spotify, but now the plans have been officially announced for a wider rollout. Other streaming services often already offer versions with higher sound quality. A well-known example is Tidal Hi-Fi, which is available for €19.99 per month. Apple Music does not have a version with higher sound quality.
Also read our comparison of streaming music services for iPhone and iPad.