The podcast stuff?
I’m haven’t played around too much but impressed with their playlists and their deep genre selection. Seems better than other apps. Interface is intuitive and Spotify Connect works great with Naim and my other streamer. App seems improved over when last used in March. I prefer it over all the other apps including roon. I use the podcasts too but would be nice if gave option to hide them if you don’t.
I think it getting too crowded and everything shouting try me. I never got on too much with their playlists too many repeated artists and albums. A bit like Roon radio ;). I find Tidals app is now the best of the bunch. It gives me better playlists and new discoveries based on my play history from Roon.
But back on topic of cd quality. I will be very disappointed if Spotify fails to keep their promise of lossless quality before the end of the year. Seems the Naim staff has a very tight lipped because of their NDA but feels as if their hinting at it coming very soon. Probably just me being hopeful. Still weird that they make announcements in Feb and then no further mention while all other services either bring in lossless or lower prices for their offering. I’m assuming Spotify probably didn’t see many people leaving their service for the others so felt the lossless wasn’t that urgent.
Tidal has definitely improved their interface but it’s still crashes a lot. Also not sure how like how the mixes work. They gradually change over time as you listen to more music. So looking now have most of the same songs in there from weeks ago. Even though Spotify has some repeats, at least it’s changing it up daily. And has a longer list of tracks in each playlist. While I was trying it out over a months time I eventually just went back to roon instead of using the Tidal app with Tidal Connect. Found it too clunky to get started vs how easy roon was. Spotify Connect just seems more seamless.
Now just bring out the hifi tier. Hoping it’s just included in the premium account but I’d pay a little more to stick with Spotify. But based on competition, can’t see how they could charge more just for cd quality.
The word was they will start with some markets before the year-end. They did not spec. what a market is … geographical, naim-streamers …
But once they get started I doubt it will be like a 272-replacement type wait. One interesting box to look out for is the Lejonklou-streamer/dac … they have rewritten the client-code for bor both Spotify Connect and Airplay to get really optimized quality. The box cost around EUR 6000 and only support Spotify Connect and Airplay.
More details from a Linn source, which confirms what has already been said here:
Spotify supplies a software library to perform the decryption and decode of the stream received from their servers. Linn streamers are set to always use the highest quality stream available, which is actually Ogg Vorbis q9 (320 kbps), this outputs 44.1kHz 16-bit PCM audio for the streamer to play back.
The interesting part of that is that it’s already set to receive the highest level stream and not locked at 320kb. This might mean that when Spotify hifi is released, they won’t have to wait for a Spotify Connect update too. One would think other streamers would work that way too.
Otherwise the hifi rollout is going to end up like Apple Music, where for most can’t get lossless without a wired connection. One would hope that Spotify Connect does lossless from the get go. The leaked setup screen did show that it would indicate which connections allowed hifi. Possible older devices might not make the cut.
I still think it has to be a software update. I expect a new option of Ultra High will then be added. If they don’t it means millions of people around the world will overnight be streaming from their servers at max rate, when in fact most users in reality will probably not care about lossless
But isn’t that what happened with Apple? Think default setting was standard lossless on the phone?
I know currently Spotify app cannot change the streaming rate of the Spotify Connect device no matter what level you have set on the controller device. So the Naim HE needs to be adjusted with its own app. Currently have options for Normal, High, Extreme. They don’t tell what that means so Extreme could easily turn to lossless without changing anything. Mostly likely there will be a new Spotify Connect update released too but just seems like that would delay the rollout. I can tell Naim staff seems prepared to give us lossless as soon as it’s possible.
I just received an email from Spotify detailing their 2021 month by month. Not a word about a HiRes service. Maybe they’ve jacked in the idea. Pretty embarrassing after all the hype☹️
I have a feeling that something is happening with the Spotify HIFI soon, we still have 2 more weeks to go this year.
Well all they did was make the announcement in Feb, they haven’t delivered on it yet. And if they are sending an email going over their accomplishments, one could assume it’s not coming out this year. Otherwise wait on that email and send right hifi is released.
It’s just strange that nothing further has been said. In their forums, they only refer to the original announcement. I’m surprised they haven’t taken it down if not going to follow thru. A lot of people think Apple ruined their original plan by offering hires for free. And maybe after they didn’t see that many people flee to the other companies they realize it wasn’t much of a priority to offer something for free that wasn’t going to bring in a lot of new customers. They will probably still release it at some point since we know they’ve been working on it and all the other major services have lossless.
I’ve heard from a reliable source that Spotify HIFI is definitely coming, but unsure of the release date.
I guess that Naim has already implemented HiFi-compatible Spotify Connect, just waiting to be activated when Spotify gives the greenlight.
Sorry, very late to the discussion. But have you compared the SQ of the Mozart disc at the head of this thread on Qobuz (where it’s 192/24) with what you’re getting on Spotify? If it’s even close through your ultra-revealing front end, that’s an interesting observation.
Roger
It is an interesting discovery (for me)!
I’ve subscribed to the Spotify Premium for some time, mainly for its ease of use, its nice & slick user interface, and a vast amount of music library, and I used it while I was on the go, but never considered playing it at home on my Linn Klimax DSM/3.
I was surprised when I decided to play Spotify on the Linn streamer on impulse, it was no slouch, it captured my attention almost immediately just after a few notes. I had to play close attention to notice the SQ differences, Roon+Qobuz was just a tad more fluid, more clarity. So, on some systems, the audible differences may be negligible.
Also very eager to see (hear) what the hifi version will bring to the table …
I agree with you on Spotify. I ignored Spotify for a long time due to 320kbps lossy limitation, very positive surprise when I tried some time ago.
Well saw guy from Linn post that they’ve been working on hifi Spotify Connect for months and it’s already implemented and ready to go. Just waiting on Spotify to release. He did say he didn’t know when or if Spotify would make the switch. But we’ve seen the leaks and now know for sure they’ve worked with the manufacturers, so would seem crazy to call it off. Whether they release it tomorrow or hold of is another thing. If they release before end of year, no one can complain about empty promises. It may not bring new subscribers, but could keep some from leaving and keeps them on par with the rest of the industry.
I also just found this leak. Never saw the text screens before. It’s interesting that it say to use wired devices or wirelessly speakers, not devices. It also says 44/16 or higher. Are they planning hires as well?
Just a thought which comes up … will Spotify hifi work with the older generation streamers? Like NDX, 272, etc.
It might me a bit early, but any thoughts? Bitrate might not be an issue, also Spotify Connect is implemented …