It’s been seven months since we got our first major leak about Spotify’s Hi-Fi plan which, at the time, was expected to be called Spotify Supremium. That was so 2023. Now, we have another leak that gives us another look at what to expect with the long-awaited plan.
Reddit user OhItsTom took to the platform to provide screenshots detailing what the new plan might look like when you are trying to listen to songs in higher audio quality. In addition to some screenshots showing off how this will work on the Spotify desktop app, it also shows off some screens that could be displayed to users on the company’s smartphone app.
According to the screenshots, the unreleased version 1.2.36 of Spotify could include the long-rumored Hi-Fi features. While Spotify currently limits audio quality to 320kbps, the leak shows a computer that has been confirmed as compatible with Hi-Fi and is streaming in at 1,411kbps audio quality. Another screenshot shows that, if the device can support what Spotify is calling “Lossless,” audio quality of 2,117kbps could be enjoyed. The app may also support 24-bit/44.1kHz streaming in FLAC.
In addition to the desktop screenshots, the post also shows off screens showcasing the new audio quality in the smartphone app. These screenshots, and the leaker’s comments, seem to indicate that Spotify might be changing the branding of Spotify Hi-Fi to Spotify Lossless (enhanced listening internally).
They are moving from a popup to a side panel just like the device control, please note you cant be served the actual high fidelity audio files yet, its just visual.
Also its enhanced listening not hi-fi internally now.
You can check out all of the leaked screenshots below:
This elevated audio quality is expected to be included in Spotify’s expected more expensive plan, which is rumored to be called “Spotify Supremium” and costs $19.99 per month. In addition to better audio quality, the new plan will reportedly provide 20-30 hours of audiobook listening and a number of music-listening tools. The list of expected features is listed below:
- “Your Sound Capsule”
- Advanced playlist mixing tools (BPM, vibe, mood, activity and genre, etc)
- AI playlist generation tools
- Last.fm-style listening stats (“Highlights)
- 20-30 hours of audiobook listening
- 24-bit lossless audio (HiFi brand is dead)
Despite all of these additional features, it’s going to be a hard road for Spotify to ask customers to pay more for higher quality audio — especially when Apple Music offers lossless audio quality to its customers at no additional charge. Apple Music also offers songs in Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos at no additional cost — something that does not appear to be included in Spotify’s upcoming plan. That’s just one of five reasons I prefer Apple Music over Spotify.
We’ll see if Spotify Supremium actually makes a dent, but with its increased cost and what we know so far, I wonder if this will simply result in a very niche number of customers upgrading without a much wider impact.
