Rumor: Apple to Announce Third-Generation AirPods and HiFi Apple Music Tier on May 18

[foobarbaz]

If Apple upgrades hifi for free do you think Spotify will do the same?

They kinda have to.

I think that's why Apple is doing it, too. They can easily afford the extra traffic and they want to take subscribers from Spotify rather than get more money from their existing subscribers (which they can upsell to Apple One already). Spotify on the other hand is barely profitable and was probably counting on that additional revenue.

 

[Apleeseed84]

Apple Music and Apple TV need visualizers.

 

[MayaTlab]

Releasing hi-fi audio with a hardware that does not produce hi-fi sound?

You mean people who listen to supposedly high-res files on €2400 headphones with rubbish FR curves such as these ?

Sennheiser HD 820 Review

The Sennheiser HD 820 are good critical listening headphones but do not quite surpass the HD 800 S. They have an excellent build quality and a comfortable over-e...

www.rtings.com

 

[rosegoldoli]

It’s slow, really clunky to now delete songs from playlists (have to add them to your library first!). Plus I can’t get the animated artwork to work. I’ll stick with it though as I’ve tried all the others.

turns out animated artwork doesnt work on low battery mode

 

[bwayne]

I’ll be dropping Spotify like a rock!

 

[unfunfionn]

Mac, yes. iOS, nope.

Yes on iOS we have amazing third party apps like Marvis Pro, so we can bypass the monstrosity that is the native Music app. No such luck on macOS.

 

[Azzin]

If Apple upgrades hifi for free do you think Spotify will do the same?

I hope so.

I‘m trialling Qobuz at the mo and it’s incredible, but I do have Spotify Premium, as it comes free with my Vodafone (U.K.) SIM.

 

[Imperial926]

There will be many expecting improved sound quality from a higher bitrate. many will comment they can hear this, if it's released. Truth is that there will be little, if any, difference as the present AAC 256Kbps is as good as you need anyway. 24 bit 96 or 192 kHz are important for editing but not for serious listening by the consumer. If you believe this to be untrue then you have sadly fallen for all the hype constantly pushed out by journalists across the industry. It's important to remember that companies, magazines and YouTubers need to carry on convincing you there's something better around the corner. The reality is that most people cannot hear anything improve above CD quality or even 256 AAC.

 

[Wanted797]

Either that or they'll just complain about anticompetitive practices.

Probably the latter

 

[Brenster]

Will be interested to see if the HiFi/lossless/whatever files are ‘backported’ to the iTunes Store, and if there is an upgrade path similar to iTunes Plus for any past purchases.

 

[symphony]

RIP Tidal. Spotify might be pissed if they were intending to charge more for the feature if Apple Music hifi is a free upgrade

 

[DinkThifferent]

RIP Tidal. Spotify might be pissed if they were intending to charge more for the feature if Apple Music hifi is a free upgrade

I have to use tidal for my DJay Pro software, cause it is not supported by Apple Music or Spotify (anymore) which sucks a lot! Hopefully Apple will announce third party support but I’m afraid they won’t.

 

[Vol Braakzakje]

Spotify gonna cry so hard if true. They really need to up their game, otherwise im moving over to Apple Music.

 

[matrix07]

if there is an upgrade path similar to iTunes Plus for any past purchases.

If this happen to iTunes Store as well I might consider buying music again.

 

[matrix07]

RIP Tidal. Spotify might be pissed if they were intending to charge more for the feature if Apple Music hifi is a free upgrade

They will run crying to the EU and EU will charge Apple for being anti-competition again.

 

[Steve121178]

Instead, announce a mew release of the Music app with hundreds and hundreds of bug fixes.

Not being snarky, but the music app is embarrassingly low quality.

You're not being snarky. The current audio standard on Apple Music is crap. It's a fact.

 

[Steve121178]

If Apple upgrades hifi for free do you think Spotify will do the same?

I thought Spotify Premium already unlocked a higher quality audio tier? It did when I used to be a premium subscriber.

 

[matrix07]

You're not being snarky. The current audio standard on Apple Music is crap. It's a fact.

For sure you haven’t listened to it on HomePods paired as stereo.

 

[matrix07]

I thought Spotify Premium already unlocked a higher quality audio tier? It did when I used to be a premium subscriber.

We’re talking about lossless here not higher bitrate mp3 file.

 

[darthbane2k]

Hi Fi tier? What a great time for Apple to have discontinued the HomePod! The Mini just won't cut it. So what are Apple going to recommend for playing Apple Music Hifi? Sonos??!

 

[Spainask27]

Cant wait for this to be true! I’m gonna miss Todal playlists, I like them more than the Apple Music ones.

 

[DinkThifferent]

Hi Fi tier? What a great time for Apple to have discontinued the HomePod! The Mini just won't cut it. So what are Apple going to recommend for playing Apple Music Hifi? Sonos??!

Eh… How about a HomePod 2021?

press release: new AirPods, new HomePod, new Apple Music HiFi

 

[darthbane2k]

Eh… How about a HomePod 2021?

press release: new AirPods, new HomePod, new Apple Music HiFi

Do you think this will happened?

 

[SurferPup]

If Apple upgrades hifi for free do you think Spotify will do the same?

I suspect Spotify would charge $2 to $5 more for that service. They can give it for no extra cost, I'm staying with  Music.

 

[Manuphoto]

There will be many expecting improved sound quality from a higher bitrate. many will comment they can hear this, if it's released. Truth is that there will be little, if any, difference as the present AAC 256Kbps is as good as you need anyway. 24 bit 96 or 192 kHz are important for editing but not for serious listening by the consumer. If you believe this to be untrue then you have sadly fallen for all the hype constantly pushed out by journalists across the industry. It's important to remember that companies, magazines and YouTubers need to carry on convincing you there's something better around the corner. The reality is that most people cannot hear anything improve above CD quality or even 256 AAC.

Agreed. Even in good listening conditions, a well mastered and encoded 256 AAC is enough for 98% of the people out there. And even on a capable sound system (which most people don't have), High Res audio @ 24/192 will be indistinguishable from the AAC stream to most ears.

That being said, it'll be a nice advantage for Apple. Even if they "only" stream in Apple Lossless @16/44 without going full High Res, they'll still be able to claim a better streaming quality, which will be true, technically. This will give them the edge over Spotify, at least on the specs sheet.

Also for the "supported hardware", my guess is that it'll work fine with wired or Airlplay 2 devices, but the BT support will be limited to the lucky few Apple headphones that will support this (except if they adopt AptX or LDAC, which I very much doubt).