The Swedish Audio Transmission and Media Services provider, Spotify is finally implementing Audio without HD losses for premium subscribers, four years after announcing plans for a higher quality sound. The new feature, requested for a long time by users, will not be available at the free level and supported by advertisements.
Subscribers will receive a notification in the Spotify application when the function is available. The lossless audio is gradually introduced into more than 50 markets until October. Users in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Austria, Checia, Denmark, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden are one of the first to get access.
The new option allows users to transmit encoded clues to a depth of up to 24 bits and a sampling frequency of 44.1 KHz using FLAC (free loss audio codec), which retains the complete data of the original recording. Spotify says the format is available “in almost all Spotify songs.”
Until now, the highest audio quality of Spotify used the Advanced Audio Coding Cod (AAC) to up to 320 Kbps. The company filed its HD audio plans in 2022 and did not provide updates so far. Competitors such as Apple Music, Amazon Music and Tidal have offered lossless audio for several years.
“The wait is finally over,” said Gustav Gyllenhammar, vice president of Spotify subscriptions. “We have taken the time to build this function in a way that prioritizes quality, ease of use and clarity in each step, so you always know what is happening under the hood. With losses without loss, our Premium users will now have an even better auditory experience.”
The lossless audio will be compatible with mobile applications, desktop and Spotify tablets, as well as in many third -party devices that admit Spotify Connect, including those of Sony, Bose, Samsung, Sennheiser, Denon, Marantz, Bolosund and Yamaha. Support for Sonos and Amazon devices will continue in October.
Users can establish a lossless reproduction for Wi-Fi, mobile data and downloads, with Spotify that shows how many data each quality option uses. The available configurations now include low, normal, high, very high and losses.
To use the function, customers should turn it on for each device. Once enabled, an indicator without losses on the reproduction screen appears and connect the selector. To obtain the best results, Spotify recommends Wi-Fi transmission with headphones or cable speakers, since Bluetooth does not have bandwidth to transmit true lossless audio.
To activate lossless audio (if available in your region):
Touch your profile icon in the upper left. Go to configuration and privacy → media quality. Select where you want to enable lossless audio: Wi-Fi, mobile or downloads.
(Variety)
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