Tushar Mehta / Android Authority
TL;DR Spotify’s long-awaited lossless audio tier is now gradually rolling out to Premium subscribers.
The feature, simply called Lossless, streams in up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC.
It is recommended to stream lossless music on Wi-Fi using either wired headphones or speakers on a non-Bluetooth connection.
Spotify announced its “HiFi” lossless tier in February 2021, but the feature never arrived — until now. Literally years after the first announcement, Spotify is finally rolling out Lossless on Spotify Premium.
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Spotify says Premium subscribers will receive a notification within the app once Lossless becomes available to them. With Lossless, Premium subscribers can now stream tracks in up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC, unlocking greater detail across nearly every song available on Spotify.
Lossless on Spotify Premium is available on mobile, desktop, and tablet, as well as on devices that support Spotify Connect, including Sony, Bose, Samsung, Sennheiser, and more. Support for additional devices, including those from Sonos and Amazon, is promised to arrive next month.
Lossless is rolling out gradually to more than 50 markets through October. Premium subscribers in Australia, Austria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, the US, and the UK have already started to get access.
The company notes that users will need to enable Lossless manually on each device. When enabled, a new Lossless indicator will appear in the Now Playing view or bar and via the Connect Picker.
Further, streaming lossless music on Wi-Fi using either wired headphones or speakers on a non-Bluetooth connection, like Spotify Connect, is recommended. Bluetooth doesn’t provide enough bandwidth to transmit lossless audio, so the signal has to be compressed before being sent.
Surprisingly, Spotify’s Lossless rollout has not yet involved another Premium price hike. I hope it stays that way, or if Spotify does decide to hike prices for Lossless, it creates a higher subscription tier, as previously rumored. Most users are unlikely to use Lossless audio simply because they listen to music on their Bluetooth earbuds. I can’t imagine anyone would be happy to pay more for a feature they cannot or will not use.
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