For audiophiles and music fans, the dream of a lossless streaming service has been tantalizingly out of reach for some time. While Neil Young talked big about his still-mysterious Pono audio format, the closest we’ve had to a “true” hi-fi service is Spotify. That is until this morning.
Online service Murfie has announced that users will be able to stream their CDs losslessly to the new Voco streaming devices, while Sonos and smartphone users are limited to 320Kbps streams.
Related stories
- Sonos gets Murfie CD-ripping service support
- What is FLAC? The high-def MP3 explained
- Top 6 sites for buying FLAC music
Murfie users can join up to the new “Murfie HiFi club” for $99 a year and stream losslessly as well as receive a 100 CD mail-in kit.
Voco is a family of audio- and video-streaming products that incorporate voice search as well as smartphone control. They include the V-Zone streaming box ($299), and the V-Spot speaker ($399) which also features HDMI output for video playback.
Murfie is an online portal that is part second-hand dealer, part music storage, and part streaming service, allowing users to buy and sell CDs and stream or download them. Sonos is the only other service that has announced Murfie streaming, and apps are available for both iOS and Android. Murfie Gold members ($25 a year) can already download their CDs losslessly, of course, and stream them locally.
Update: Murfie has announced a caption competition to celebrate the new partnership with prizes such as Voco players and store credits. The competition details are here.