Spotify HiFi Icon Spotted in Mobile App Suggests Imminent Launch

Spotify in February announced plans to introduce a new "HiFi" premium tier sometime in 2021, and while the company declined to offer a date, there's reason to believe a launch could be imminent, especially in the wake of Apple Music's lossless tier announcement on Monday.

spotify hifi icon
In a timely discovery, hints of Spotify's lossless HiFi audio streaming service have again been spotted this week by Reddit user themonarc, who shared their finding with the accompanying image above.

According to the Reddit poster, a hidden HiFi menu was accessed in the Spotify app by "quickly tapping the glitched icon" that briefly appeared on the Now Playing screen upon launch.

Doing so brought up a separate screen explaining that the HiFi option supports 16-bit 44.1kHz streaming over wired earphones. The selected track didn't play in Hi-Fi quality, however, indicating that the server-side functionality isn't yet finalized.

First reports that Spotify was working on a lossless audio version of its streaming service actually appeared over three years ago, when the company started testing the option with a small group of users.

Back then, promotional screens pitched the "Spotify Hi-Fi" tier as a $5-$10 upgrade to a standard Spotify subscription. However, Spotify will likely be hard pressed to justify a paid-for upgrade, now that Apple Music has announced that its lossless offering, set to drop in June, will be free to existing subscribers.

Notably, Amazon Music has already acted to stem a potential audiophile exodus by offering its own Hi-Fi plan as an option for existing subscribers at no extra cost. We've reached out to Spotify for any update on their own HiFi launch plans.

Tag: Spotify

Top Rated Comments

isidore4000 Avatar
27 months ago
Having used both recently, I prefer spotify to apple music. It's the music discovery on spotify that gives it the edge for me. My experience is that I find new music more easily on spotify, whether it's the kind of playlists that get posted to online places I read or it's the dark voodoo of their algorithm finding things I didn't know but end up liking. Both spotify and apple music are way ahead of my brief runthrough of amazon music in this discovery department, but spotify wins vs apple for me here. But the thing I love best about this apple announcment is that it all but guarantees that spotify won't be able to charge me more for their eventual/impending hifi tier. Yeah, I'm trying to keep my audiophilia mostly in the closet, but I have the equipment to benefit from cd-quality streaming and look forward to it coming to spotify.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Whathappened Avatar
27 months ago

Having used both recently, I prefer spotify to apple music. It's the music discovery on spotify that gives it the edge for me. My experience is that I find new music more easily on spotify, whether it's the kind of playlists that get posted to online places I read or it's the dark voodoo of their algorithm finding things I didn't know but end up liking. Both spotify and apple music are way ahead of my brief runthrough of amazon music in this discovery department, but spotify wins vs apple for me here. But the thing I love best about this apple announcment is that it all but guarantees that spotify won't be able to charge me more for their eventual/impending hifi tier. Yeah, I'm trying to keep my audiophilia mostly in the closet, but I have the equipment to benefit from cd-quality streaming and look forward to it coming to spotify.
Is your Return key broken?
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
krspkbl Avatar
27 months ago

So all competitors are copying Apple's every move again. How typical.

If Apple charges, they charge too
If Apple doesn't charge, they dont dare charge

ffs they should spend that effort coming up with new features instead of being so sensitive to Apple's every move.
sorry to burst your bubble but Spotify announced months ago that Hi Fi was coming this year.

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/spotify-music-hifi-lossless-b1806056.html

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/technology/spotify-hifi-tier-finally-launching-to-offer-cd-quality-streaming/ar-BB1dUoR9

https://routenote.com/blog/spotify-announce-their-new-cd-quality-lossless-audio-tier-spotify-hifi/

https://www.cnet.com/news/spotify-reveals-hifi-tier-80-country-expansion-new-exclusive-podcasts/


how long have we known about Apple lossless? according to this very website the earliest report was 17 days ago:

https://www.macrumors.com/2021/05/01/apple-music-hifi-tier-new-airpods-coming-weeks/

so they aren't copying Apple's every move. In fact in this case Apple is the one who should be doing the copying. Apple Music is inferior to Spotify (i'm using Apple Music on my iPhone so not just hating).


Did they fix their crappy apps? Then no deal.
you mean the apps that are on ios, android, mac os, windows, linux, playstation, xbox, and even some TVs (LG for example)?????

meanwhile, i'm waiting for Apple to put out a dedicated Apple Music app for Windows so i can stop using the web player which is a buggy mess lol. "jUsT uSe ItUneS!!" ... no. it's old and archaic. it's so outdated and was designed for the iPod era.

i've used Spotify for 12 years (currently using Apple Music) and let me tell you the apps are fine and Apple has a lot of work to do before they can catch up with Spotify.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
VermontsFinest Avatar
27 months ago
Dead on arrival if they are charging for it. That's cute though that they thought they could compete.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
alpi123 Avatar
27 months ago

So all competitors are copying Apple's every move again. How typical.

If Apple charges, they charge too
If Apple doesn't charge, they dont dare charge

ffs they should spend that effort coming up with new features instead of being so sensitive to Apple's every move.
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First reports that Spotify was working on a lossless audio version of its streaming service actually appeared over three years ago ('https://www.macrumors.com/2017/03/02/spotify-lossless-audio-quality-plan/'), when the company started testing the option with a small group of users.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Wildkraut Avatar
27 months ago

now you need a pair of headphones that can actually play that ...
A no brainer on non Apple platforms.
Thats one of the downsides of Apple Eco Systems.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)