SoundCloud today announced that users on the SoundCloud Go+ subscription plan will now gain access to lossless audio streaming at no additional cost.
SoundCloud Go is the company's enhanced streaming service, with three tiers that start at free with 120 million tracks to stream; $4.99/month with 120 million tracks, offline saving, and ad-free streaming; and SoundCloud Go+ with everything in the previous tiers plus 30 million "premium" tracks and high quality audio.
When you discover a track on SoundCloud, it’s all about connecting as closely as possible to the creator’s sound and vision. With high quality audio streaming now part of your SoundCloud Go+ subscription, you can experience what’s new, now and next in music on a higher level.
High quality audio means that content uploaded to SoundCloud in a lossless format doesn't lose the integrity of its engineered recording and will be available to stream in high quality at 256kbps AAC. Go+ subscribers can opt into this feature in SoundCloud settings > "Streaming quality."
SoundCloud has been expanding its streaming service over the years, launching "The Upload" playlist in May 2017 to personally curate a list of songs for each user. In December 2017, the company debuted a new home screen in the iOS app to further lean into user personalization. The revamped launch screen offers curated recommendations, personalized playlists, and "exclusive culture-focused audio content."
High quality streaming is a feature that has been missing from Apple Music since its launch in 2015, and one that a few of its rivals already have. Tidal launched with "HiFi" streaming as one of its premiere features, offering lossless audio using FLAC at a resolution of 44.1 kHz/16 bit, and further expanding with "Tidal Masters" that has "the highest-possible resolution" of around 96 kHz/24 bit. Tidal's plans with HiFi cost $19.99/month.
You can download the SoundCloud app from the iOS App Store for free [Direct Link].
Top Rated Comments
(View all)Lots of music, most of it crap. A lot of work just to find a few gems.
The trick to SoundCloud is to find trusted reposters in the genre you like and let them do the work for you. You will be shocked at the number of extremely talented DJ on the format that find the hidden gems. There are many signed artists on Soundcloud, I know because I am one of them."Sorry, we’re still working on launching SoundCloud Go+ in your country."