Music streaming in hi-fi quality now 45% cheaper via new Tidal subscription

While the long-promised hi-fi option from Spotify is still a long time coming, Apple Music already offers access to its entire catalog of over 100 million songs for the regular subscription price of $10.99 per month, many of them at least in CD quality, others even in 24-bit at 192 kHz. Tidal is now following suit and integrating the "HiFi Plus" subscription, which previously cost $19.99, into the $10.99 "HiFi" subscription.

From April 10, subscribers to the previously most expensive subscription will pay 45% less than before, while all subscribers will have access to the highest Tidal quality in 24-bit at 192 kHz. High-res FLAC, MQA, Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 Reality Audio are now also available in the regular subscription in addition to the usual 100+ million songs, over 650,000 music videos, expert playlists and complete freedom from ads. The 'Family' subscription, which can be used by up to six people for $16.99 per month, and the $4.99 student subscription also provide access to the highest Tidal quality.

In doing so, Tidal is putting pressure on Spotify in particular, since the market leader still only streams highly compressed music at a maximum of 320 kbit/s instead of the up to 9216 kbit/s of Tidal. In contrast, Tidal hopes to set itself apart from Apple Music and Amazon Music Unlimited primarily through better integration into existing hi-fi products and playlists created by experts. To simplify the transition, users can transfer their existing music library to Tidal via tunemymusic.com.