Is Spotify adding Hi-Fi lossless audio? Leaked premium streaming tier could challenge Tidal

An alleged notification within the Spotify app has hinted that lossless Hi-Fi audio quality tunes could be on the way to the popular music streaming service very soon. The mooted new subscription tier, simply dubbed Spotify Hi-Fi, would offer the same lossless CD-quality audio as rival services such as Tidal and Deezer.

The leaked promotion was spotted by Reddit users in the US on 1 March, with some posting screenshots showing the new tier priced at $5 above the current $9.99 a month cost for Spotify Premium (£9.99 in the UK), and others with notifications stating that the upgrade would cost $10
or more.

The varying offers seem to suggest that Spotify is testing how its 40 million-strong subscriber base's interest in the service relates to their willingness to stump up the extra cash. In a statement to The Verge, a Spotify spokesperson said: "We are always testing new products and offers but have no news to share at
this time."

When those who received the notification attempted to access the offer, the users were informed that Spotify Hi-Fi was either unavailable in their region, or received an error message. The offer also lists "discounts on limited-edition vinyls" and "one free vinyl (record)" as possible features.

Lossless, high fidelity audio became a major factor in the music streaming market thanks to Tidal, which uses FLAC (for Android/Windows) and ALAC (for Apple devices) codecs for the £19.99 per month "Tidal HiFi" subscription tier.

Should Spotify introduce its own rival Hi-Fi tier, described as "the ultimate music experience" in the leaked promotion, the controversial streaming service, once owned by hip hop artist Jay Z, could find its heavily disputed user total dwindle even further when pitted against a far more popular - and potentially cheaper - alternative.