Spotify Hi-Fi tier set to offer lossless streaming

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Spotify appears poised to offer the option of CD-quality lossless streaming for a higher monthly fee, which could spell trouble for Tidal and Qobuz.

Some Spotify users have reported being offered access to a Spotify Hi-Fi lossless streaming service via an in-app notification.

The CD-quality tier, called Spotify Hi-Fi, was reportedly available to subscribers in the US for an extra $7.50 per month. Spotify currently charges £9.99/$9.99 per month for its Premium service, which delivers 320kbps Ogg Vorbis streams.

CD-quality lossless streaming is currently offered by Tidal, Qobuz and Deezer, all of which charge £19.99/$19.99 per month, as opposed to £10 per month for their respective standard tiers. Tidal has also recently added even higher quality, high-resolution audio streams (called Tidal Masters), for no extra cost.

MORE: What is high-res audio?

The Verge reports that Spotify appears to be offering the quality upgrade to users for between $5 and $10 extra per month, potentially testing the waters for demand - and to decide on a final price.

With streaming services having to negotiate with music labels and artists over pricing, it would be a big move for Spotify to break from the established premium pricing structure of £20/$20 per month for lossless audio. But as the biggest player, despite a rapidly growing Apple Music, Spotify may have the clout to offer CD-quality streams for slightly less.

Spotify responded to the rumours, stating: "We are always testing new products and offers but have no news to share at this time."

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Joe Cox
Joe Cox
Content Director

Joe is the Content Director for What Hi-Fi? and Future’s Product Testing, having previously been the Global Editor-in-Chief of What Hi-Fi?. He has worked on What Hi-Fi? across the print magazine and website for almost 20 years, writing news, reviews and features on everything from turntables to TVs, headphones to hi-fi separates. He has covered product launch events across the world, from Apple to Technics, Sony and Samsung; reported from CES, the Bristol Show, and Munich High End for many years; and written for sites such as the BBC, Stuff, and the Guardian. In his spare time, he enjoys expanding his vinyl collection and cycling (not at the same time).