It seems that Spotify is testing hers new HiFi function in the app before launch. The new feature was discovered by a user Reddit and seems to confirm that Spotify is preparing to launch HiFi soon.
Spotify is testing its new HiFi level
In February 2021, Spotify announced that it would release the HiFi feature later in the year. The announcement was not accidental in that Apple Music already has this feature and therefore it was quite logical that Spotify would have wanted to compete with the Cupertino giant as soon as possible.
Anyway, the Reddit user themonarc managed to find the new HiFi feature in the Spotify app and shared the results in a post about the platform. He explained that he could briefly see the new HiFi button on the screen Now Playing of the app.
By quickly tapping the button, the user can also see the new HiFi menu and explanation pages. These pages explain that the HiFi option supports the 16-bit 44,1kHz streaming via wired earbuds.
In particular, the track the user was playing was not in HiFi quality. This would indicate that the feature is not yet complete and ready for official launch. Alternatively, Spotify may have left HiFi playback disabled for testing purposes.
From the screenshots shared on Reddit, it also appears that HiFi is incompatible with wireless headphones. This depends solely on the audio encoding. Apple's new lossless layer also doesn't support Bluetooth headphones.
Spotify HiFi could be coming very soon
In Spotify's initial announcement, the company gave no indication of when the feature would be made available, but it will certainly arrive by 2021.
Tests would suggest it's closer than you might think.
