HiFi Music: What’s Hype What’s Real?

Apple Music is tipped to announce the launch of their version of HiFi music streaming, joining the likes of Tidal, Deezer, Amazon Music, and Spotify.

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Hi Everyone,

Rumors are rife that Apple is to announce the launch of their HiFi tier music streaming to all Apple Music customers in the coming weeks along with the launch of AirPods 3, for no extra cost to their existing $9.99/ month plan.

But what exactly is HiFi tier music streaming and why is every music streaming app pushing to add this feature in their product? Let’s find out 👇🏻

High Fidelity or HiFi audio is a term used to refer to high-quality reproduction of sound. This is in contrast to the lower quality sound produced by inexpensive audio equipment, AM radio, or the inferior quality of sound reproduction that can be heard in recordings made until the late 1940s.

But what does it mean exactly?

You’ll listen to the shimmering drum cymbals that keep ringing out long after they’ve been hit; fingers sliding on the neck of the guitar will bring a new dimension to the acoustic ballad that makes you tear up each time you hear it. Listening to the best-fidelity or “High Fidelity” streams means you’ll feel like you’re in the room with the artists.

But will the difference actually be noticeable?

That’s subjective. There are no standard terms around audio quality, however on a broad level, “high quality” will be lossless audio. If a stream doesn’t drop any data or frequency sounds from its stream, then it is lossless.

Today, streaming music is almost universally lossy, meaning it doesn’t carry all the sounds from the original recording-there are tiny pieces missing. However, to most people, this difference would hardly be recognizable, given that such level of detail is usually recognizable only to computers, and not the average human ear.

John Farrey, label relations manager for Amazon Music, tries to explain this:

“Pharrell William’s production on Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Alright’ truly shines in UHD,” also referred to as “Amazon Hi-Res Audio, it uses a capella group as the sample and although they are really tight, you can actually hear the starts of the individual vocalists.

Terrace Martin’s two-note sax line from 1:28 to 2:08 is much quieter than both the bass line and the vocal, yet you can hear every note. It lives in its own lane and doesn’t get overcrowded within the mix.”

Not everyone, even music fans, may need that level of detail. But even if you have access to HiFi music, will the equipment make a difference?

Yes.

“Most smartphones released after 2014 (including iPhones and iPads) can support playback at 24 bit/96 kHz,” says Farrey. “A smartphone connected to a decent pair of wired headphones, something you might use for work or gaming, will give you a great listening experience.”

Basically, even if the streaming partner has an option for HiFi or lossless music, using it with Bluetooth headphones or AirPods won’t make the experience seamless, as there is a loss of sound experienced in Bluetooth connectivity.

Despite these challenges, most big streaming companies are rolling out a HiFi version or have already done so.

The most popular of them being Tidal, which was owned and promoted by Jay Z, now acquired by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s Fintech Unicorn- Square; and positions itself as an “artist-owned global music-streaming and entertainment platform focused on the best sound quality to forge a deeper connection to the art.”

Spotify announced back in February, that they were coming out with a HiFi version of their existing subscription plans as well, for later in 2021, and although it has not yet officially announced its pricing, chances are it will be competitive with the other platforms.

Others such as Amazon Music, French companies Deezer and Qobuz have already rolled out HiFi tier music, as part of their product offering at prices ranging from $10-$15 a month.

While users of streaming platforms would not mind getting access to better quality lossless audio, whether they would be willing to shell out more money for the same, remains to be seen.

While just a feature in a broad product offering, HiFi music seems to be the latest battleground in the Streaming War for a market share of users amongst most of the music streaming companies today.

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Originally published at https://incentify.substack.com.