Whoa this came out of the blue.
https://9to5google.com/2021/02/22/spotify-hifi-lossless-audio/
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Snap 
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They simply refer to “CD-quality” audio - in other words, just Redbook stuff. Nothing to be impressed about. And showing that weirdo Billie Eilish on the main article page does not help either.
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Yuge,
/char
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Personally I’m interested, Spotify have a huge catalogue and Redbook done well sounds fine to my old ears. Not sure I could consistently pick higher res than 48/24 myself, and wouldn’t be surprised if Redbook was my limit. As for Billy Eilish, not my cup of tea musically, but I think she comes across as pretty grounded circumstances considered.
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It all comes down to quality of releases all streaming services offer, regardless of what format is used, hi-res or not, as long as it’s lossless and on par with CD quality at least. And in my experience Spotify is in the same spot as Tidal from that perspective (don’t have experience with Qobuz, Deezer or others), they both take (or are given) the same (and usually crap) releases from the same sources / publishers. If Roon integrates Spotify, I would not mind subscribing just for the stuff that’s not on Tidal and is on Spotify and vice versa.
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Spotify has announced that they are adding a lossless streaming tier to their service, it would of course be fantastic to see this added to roon!
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Nothing wrong with Billy Eilish she’s way more popular than most of the stuff people listen to on here. I for one really like her music. She’s a superstar in the making.
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+1
And - as for Spotify HiFi - bring it on! I will be more than happy as long as it is CD quality AND NOT MQA
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This is big news. I believe Spotify and Apple feel in Competition with each other and not with Tidal, Qobuz and Amazon. I think Apple will follow Spotify if they don’t beat them to it.
I had/have my library in Apple Music and switched to pure streaming Tidal/Roon solution about a year and half ago because I needed lossless music. I was mad at Apple for not giving us lossless music for years, and I’ve been following it for years just waiting on them, until I couldn’t wait any longer.
I totally dig Roon and how it helps me discover my library and all that it’s connected too. I care less about Tidal just need their source files. I was also relatively good with Apple Music “navigation” just not their quality of music. I see pluses and minuses on both sides of the Roon/Apple music fence. But simply if Apple Music goes lossless with its seamless play everywhere for my devices (Home/Phone/Car) and at a much cheaper Tidal/Roon price point. The scale may be tipped back in Apple’s favor.
I think Apple and Spotify are too big to allow Roon it’s tight integration. That’s not Roon’s fault but it may be a bad thing for them. Just my thoughts.
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This means that the following streaming services deliver at least CD quality:
TIDAL
Deezer Hifi
Qobuz
Amazon Music HD
Spotify Hifi (announced)
I hope that Roon can convince the services of the added value of integration with Roon!
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I do to. That would be a win for all of us.
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Offering the connection to Spotify will increase Roon adoption for the non-initiated and perhaps become aware to the masses. Spotify commands the share of streaming services. But, users cannot use Roon on the go, and that is where Spotify shines.
I believe Roon will remain a niche product. This isn’t necessarily bad. Instead of catering to a typically different user bases’ feature requests, Roon can stay focused on their current subscribership with more urgency and grow organically with the addition of Spotify.
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Gonna be exciting with what they come up after entering the game so late
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I’m really excited for this. Spotify’s catalog is huge compared to tidal/qobuz. I’d definitely cancel my tidal sub (The sooner the world is rid of MQA the better), but would probably keep qobuz for the hires stuff. But I have a few concerns:
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If lossless is only select artists rather than the entire library that will be a shame.
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If spotify pulls an amazon and doesn’t implement proper exclusive/bitperfect output (amazon STILL hasn’t fixed this). Though I suppose if roon support is added it wouldn’t affect roon users.
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Spotify may block roon integration, for the simple reason that spotify makes a lot of money from sponsored suggestions/discovery. And they wouldn’t be able to do that for roon users who would instead be using roon’s own suggestion algorithm.
This was somewhat infamous when the new drake album released.
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Will this be available from Roon? Spotify Connect? Anyone know anything?
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I would love Spotify integration. Spotify has the most content for the music I enjoy and they also put together the best playlists.
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The Big Three:
Spotify: 286m users / 130m subscribers
Apple Music: Apple Music: 60m subscribers (including free trial users)
Amazon Music: 55m customers
(July 2020)
Definitely agree that it would be great to have Spotify Connect. I’d be surprised if Spotify allowed for the type of full integration into Roon that we have with Tidal and Qobuz.
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They won’t. Only company to get a look in without their app is Sonos, I don’t include voice controls here as that’s not the same at all.
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