On February 22, Spotify announced the Spotify Hi-Fi audio platform, which will deliver higher-resolution audio to customers in selected areas. Details about the offer – prices, where and when it will be available – are yet to come, but industry watchers have been speculating about the opportunity to get a higher offer from Spotify for several years.
CD quality streaming became widely available in 2015, when Tidal launched Tidal Hifi, and platforms like Qobuz, Deezer and Amazon Music followed suit. Spotify announced their offering with a promotional video in which singer Billie Eilish and her brother producer Finneas O’Connell talked about the power of high-context audio in the context of their work, explaining how their songs are filled with small but important details that can be hidden. with lower reproduction. “High quality audio just means more information,” Ms Eilish says in the clip. “There are just things you can’t hear if you don’t have a good sound system.”
Is she right? Ms Eilish’s 2019 album, “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” – written by the singer and her brother and produced by Mr. O’Connell – is an intriguing mix of strong bass and fine vocals, with Ms. Eilish whiskey voices near your ear and a low end that overflows your temples. A “good sound system” – well-made speakers and headphones – will provide these elements with the necessary force and detail, but it is difficult to replace the precision of a higher resolution audio. break up. Of course in terms of its sonic character, Spotify Hi-Fi, for most people, it may not make much of a difference. Instead, adding the company to the service is important because it focuses on the idea that quality and music matters, by suddenly rewriting the platform as a tool. for active rather than passive listening.