For fans of high-fidelity audio, Spotify HiFi could be the Holy Grail. After unveiling its plans for lossless, CD-quality audio in 2021, audiophiles around the world have been patiently waiting for Spotify to bridge that gap to competitor services like Tidal and Apple Music. Though we still regard it as one of the best music streaming services, Spotify has yet to deliver its highly anticipated HiFi tier – and it’s been almost five years.
When it comes to the hi-res audio game, Apple and Amazon are leaps and bounds ahead of Spotify. Since 2021 subscribers of both services have been able to reap the benefits of lossless audio quality at no extra cost, so what’s gone wrong with Spotify? It’s a question we’re still asking ourselves to this day, though the more Spotify unveils about its new plans for new tiered subscriptions, the closer we get to having our hands on its lossless audio.
Unfortunately, even when Spotify HiFi does drop, we have reason to believe that it will only be available in “select markets” to start. And while Spotify hasn’t said exactly how much the service will cost just yet, we’re confident that the Spotify HiFi tier will cost more than the current standard premium subscription which sits at $11.99/ £11.99/ AU$13.99 – and there’s no guarantee that every song in the entire Spotify catalog will have a HiFi version available.
In spite of this very clear downside, we have good reason to believe that Spotify HiFi songs will be available to save and download to your devices for offline listening, which means you should be able to take your new lossless music library with you anywhere.
Ready to make the leap to lossless? Here’s everything we know about Spotify HiFi.
Spotify HiFi release date rumors
To cut a long story short, we don’t have a specific date we can point to. It’s been five years since Spotify unveiled its plans to introduce lossless audio to enhance music listening for its subscribers, which was expected to arrive in 2021. One of the first leaks we came across was back in 2021, when a user on Reddit shared a video with the caption ‘Here’s a sneak peek at the upcoming HiFi onboarding process from modifying the app’, and appears to give prospective HiFi users a backstage tour of the service:
Here’s a sneak peek at the upcoming HiFi onboarding process from modifying the app from r/truespotify
Despite sharing this in its Five Things to Know About Spotify HiFi blog post, and confirming that it would be available as an upgrade to Premium, there’s still been no addition of HiFi audio.
In 2021 Spotify stated the following; “Beginning later this year, Premium subscribers in select markets will be able to upgrade their sound quality to Spotify HiFi and listen to their favorite songs the way artists intended,”. However we’ve been waiting quite a while for another official update, and now that we’ve reached 2025, we really have no idea when Spotify HiFi will finally release. Even Spotify CEO Daniel Ek isn’t certain, claiming that the delay in adding Spotify HiFi largely comes down to licensing issues.
Aside from licensing rights, the Spotify HiFi delay can be attributed to its undivided attention to its social features such as Spotify Wrapped, and its mission to bring more AI integrations to its user experience; its jarring AI DJ feature and generative Daylist feature (one which I frequent regularly) are two of its most popular AI tools. Recently, we reported on Spotify’s plans to ‘double down’ on music in 2025 which we believe could go down one of two paths; either the long-awaited HiFi tier or more AI advancements.
It’s also worth focusing on that select markets bit as it means we won’t see Spotify HiFi going live in every territory at the same time. Previously, when Spotify has rolled out new features it usually starts with the US and Europe, but now that the service is available in more than 180 markets, it’s hard to say which will be among the first to get the new service.
The other issue you’ll run into regarding Spotify HiFi’s release date – whenever it is eventually announced – is that it’s unlikely that every Spotify Connect device will get the upgrade at the same time – which means some speakers like, say, the Sonos One and PS5 might get it long before your slightly older AV receiver.
Spotify HiFi price predictions
As of right now, there’s no set price for Spotify HiFi so, for now, all we can do is speculate. We had reason to believe that Spotify HiFi would be introduced as a brand new subscription tier, but we’ve since learned that it may no longer be a standalone tier, nor a new Music Pro feature, but it could be a $5 add-on for the Premium Plan. Spotify Premium currently stands at a monthly cost of $11.99/ £11.99/ AU$13.99 therefore if the $5 add-on rumors are true, we’d venture a guess that Spotify HiFi could cost between $14.99 and $19.99 which feels like a safe bet.
What’s also influencing that guess is the competition: a Tidal subscription will run you $19.99 per month, while Hi-Res Audio streaming services like Qobuz and Deezer cost $14.99 and $11.99 per month. Amazon Music Unlimited and Apple Music are a bit cheaper and now include lossless streaming options, and it’s possible Spotify HiFi could be around the same price if it ever launches.
Spotify HiFi audio quality
So, just how good will Spotify HiFi’s lossless audio be? It will supposedly sound, at the very least, as good as a CD does – and maybe a bit better.
According to Spotify, Spotify HiFi will stream CD-quality lossless audio to your devices. Ideally, those devices will be connected to a network and capable of using Spotify Connect, otherwise, you’ll have to pipe it over Bluetooth which will likely diminish the quality.
In the absence of Spotify HiFi, you can amend your audio streaming quality in your account settings to add somewhat of an improvement to your listening experience. Just go to your Spotify settings, and tap ‘Audio Quality’.
That’s a heck of a lot better than Spotify’s current offering of 320kbps, and will likely bring the service’s potential audio quality up to par with Tidal, Deezer, and maybe even Apple’s Digital Masters. Speaking of Apple Digital Masters, there’s always a chance that Spotify might also go above and beyond hi-fi with 96kHz / 24-bit audio, but we’re not holding our breath.
So what does that all mean? In a very practical sense, lossless audio formats have more details and data than their lossy counterparts. That means hearing new details in songs you’ve never heard before that otherwise might’ve been cut out when the data was compressed. It should also sound a bit wider and more immersive, though, a lot of it will depend on which headphones or speakers you use, too.
Spotify HiFi song catalog
The murkiest detail of all for Spotify HiFi is how many – and which – songs from Spotify’s more than 100 million-song catalog will be included. The safest assumption we can make is that it won’t support every song in Spotify’s vast catalog, but millions of them should be.
Among those will likely be top hits from major record labels which already distribute the files to other services, while some music from smaller labels and older legacy titles likely won’t make the cut. We’ll keep our ears to the ground for more details on which songs will make the cut, but for now, it’s probably best to keep your CD collection right where it is until new details emerge.
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rowan.davies@futurenet.com (Rowan Davies)
