Ideas: Higher Audio Quality

[pboser]

How about higher audio quality?  Amazon has introduced this feature, and others have been ahead of Pandora as well.  It would be great to have the Genome Project advantage with higher audio quality.  Do others agree?

Moderator Edit: Edited title for clarity

[MarkMusic]

yep, that's true.  if they'd offer CD quality they'd CRUSH the competition... I guess it's nice to not have to cause you're traded on the stock market and have $Billions, but if they're not careful they'll end up a Blockbuster Video in a Netflix world.

[user7]

Point of the post...

"High-quality music streaming is consistently one of the most requested new features by our users."

"Spotify HiFi will begin rolling out in select markets later this year, and we will have more details to share soon."

Spotify is delivering a highly desired feature to users.  Still no news on HiFi from Pandora.

[ColinMaclaurin]

I hope Pandora is considering this particularly with Spotify's announcement of a lossless tier expected later this year. 

[DaveOzric]

I already switched. My family sub expires tomorrow.

[Mekus31]

I recently signed up for Amazon Music because of this. When my Pandora subscription is up this year, I'm not renewing.

[MarkMusic]

Pandora's algo is amazing in how it matches music and creates the stations, etc.   they are missing it big time by not offering CD quality.  People pay Netflix extra for 4K, all they have to do is add $10/mo for HD music and a lot of people would do it.  The people who don't care would continue to pay the current rate while those who have an ear for high quality sound would pay the extra.

Pandora's current market capitalization is $2.68 billion and they have no need to give a **ahem** I suppose...  HD music WOULD boost their value, as a company, but again...  I would bet money they do nothing about this.  Sad.

[VP7]

As a musician audio quality is a HUGE issue for me. I am cancelling my subscription to Sirius XM in my car because the audio quality of satellite radio is absolutely abysmal. Now I am shopping for streaming alternatives. I just started a 30 day trial for Pandora Plus but will be looking at others, (i.e. Apple, Amazon, etc.) Was not aware of Tidal but will certainly check it out. If these sound better than Pandora, as so many have claimed,  I will switch. Hate to lose my stations but if Pandora can't keep up with their competition in terms of higher bit rates then I will have to say goodbye! Sorry, Pandora. 

[Dmac2]

Pandora needs to upgrade its audio quality to keep me as a subscriber. 

[DJ_GothFvck]

+1 for higher quality audio. I'd like to see (hear) 128KB/s (VBR) Opus.

https://wiki.xiph.org/Opus_Recommended_Settings for more info and links to studies done. Results show Opus is perceptually superior to MP3, Vorbis, and others. It is also technically superior and a free format.

Yes, the number is lower but it is said to sound lossless at this quality bitrate. The bitrate can go higher i.e. for 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound .

Frankly, I'm offended that they want $165/yr for a family plan and the "higher quality audio" is only one step up. It still sounds terrible. For this reason alone, I don't think I'm going to continue with my trial. The quality to price ratio simply isn't worth it.

[cabotcove]

Honestly I’d be happy with 96 he-aac plus (rather than the current 64kb he-aac plus they offer for mobile) as that would give pretty decent sound and not use too much data. He-aac usually caps at 96kb anyway and sounds roughly as good as 192 whereas 64kb aac plus sounds roughly as good as 128 based on listening tests. 

For anything streaming wifi where data isn’t an issue I see no reason why at least 256 aac like Apple Music or 320 like Spotify isn’t standard. 

So, again my preferred rates would be: mobile 96 he-aac or higher, and wifi/home devices at 256 or higher. 

Perhaps pandora doesn’t have the other bitrates encoded in their library to simply switch on? Without ever receiving any formal responses from then we just don’t know.