Spotify's long-awaited HiFi tier appears to have been delayed indefinitely.

It's been almost a year since we heard that Spotify's HiFi tier was coming, offering Premium subscribers songs in lossless format and CD-like sound quality. Rumors of a lossless beta version fueled excitement that the world's most intuitive and integrated music streaming app would soon deliver our favorite songs in high quality sound.

However, in a thread on Spotify's Community site about the delayed launch of its lossless tier, the company dashed any hope that we would be able to listen to high-quality streams from the service anytime soon.

"We know that HiFi quality audio is important to you. We feel the same way and are excited to offer the Spotify HiFi experience to Premium users in the future." However, it's not yet the right time to give you more details. When we are able to do so, we will of course update you here."

When Spotify announced the new HiFi tier last year, it promised that it would roll out in "select markets" during 2021, so this setback is a further blow to fans who have been eagerly awaiting its arrival. promising to provide CD-like quality music streams, smart TV and even potentially available on Spotify Connect devices such as smart TVs.

Spotify and Apple Music are battling for the music streaming market, and this setback could work to Apple's advantage, although Apple Music introduced Spatial Audio and Lossless support last year at no additional charge, Spotify HiFi is expected to require further subscriptions.

The new service will also face competition from Amazon Music HD, Deezer, Qobuz, Tidal HiFi, and others. If Spotify does not want to fall behind its rivals on this front, it will need to launch the new service soon.