Amazon offers lossless and high bit rate streaming

[snakeeyes]

Looks like the Fire Stick 4K is now saying 16/48 so maybe it was never 24/48. I could have sworn it was 24 but maybe not.

I’m very pleased to at least get 16/44.1 or 16/48 on most songs. A minority of songs are “standard” which is the older AMZN 256Kbps MP3.

 

[lovinthehd]

I’m very pleased to at least get 16/44.1 or 16/48 on most songs. A minority of songs are “standard” which is the older AMZN 256Kbps MP3.

The impression I had was that the HD Amazon service was at least CD quality...nothing about the old mp3 service mentioned that I saw.

 

[snakeeyes]

The impression I had was that the HD Amazon service was at least CD quality...nothing about the old mp3 service mentioned that I saw.

Not every song is “HD” cd quality or “Ultra HD” higher than cd quality. Some songs are “standard” which probably is 256kbps MP3 but maybe these are quickly being updated to cd quality, but I still see some.

 

[lovinthehd]

Not every song is “HD” cd quality or “Ultra HD” higher than cd quality. Some songs are “standard” which probably is 256kbps MP3 but maybe these are quickly being updated to cd quality, but I still see some.

Interesting.

 

[davidscott]

Not every song is “HD” cd quality or “Ultra HD” higher than cd quality. Some songs are “standard” which probably is 256kbps MP3 but maybe these are quickly being updated to cd quality, but I still see some.

Good to know. I already have most of the music I want to listen to on CDs don't really want to downgrade to MP3 standards. Thanks.

 

[snakeeyes]

Good to know. I already have most of the music I want to listen to on CDs don't really want to downgrade to MP3 standards. Thanks.

Most are cd quality though

 

[snakeeyes]

Seems like Amazon didn’t create the ability to do hi res music just to sell more Nvidia shield streamers. Some new fire devices will probably be coming out sooner or later.

 

[snakeeyes]

I’ll see what Apple TV can do. Amazon Music app is now available.

Edit: The app on Apple TV only plays the “standard” 256kbps MP3 versions.

Hopefully there will be an update.

 

[Pogre]

I've been listening to old school Metallica all morning. A lot of it has been remastered and so far, in a good way. I absolutely loved Metallica back in the day but one complaint I always had was the lack of bass in their music. The remastered stuff has managed to squeeze a little more out of albums like Kill 'Em All and Ride The Lightning. Not thunderous or subterranean bass, but at least some bass. Enough that what started out as curiosity just to see if they had old school Metallica turned into a 2 full album listening session.

I keep going back and forth on whether this HD package is worth it or not, then I discover something like this and it makes me think yes, it is. Kinda cool finding some of your favorite old music competently remastered and sounding better than you remember. My free trial runs out Dec 16 so I guess I have some time to decide still. It made today cooler than I was expecting!

 

[allegro]

I was a long time Tidal subscriber who consequently added Qobuz and have also been listening to the free trial of Amazon Music HD.

The Amazon Music HD desktop app is crippled because it uses shared mode in Windows. It can not take advantage of Wasapi exclusive mode as Tidal and Qobuz can. At least on Windows it is not bit perfect. Whatever the native sample rate and bit depth is streamed it will be up or down resampled in Windows mixer to the user setting.

I am hearing degradation of sound quality in Amazon Music HD compared to Qobuz and Tidal which I attribute to shared mode. Amazon has their own forum and trial users have been complaining about why the service was rolled out half baked without exclusive mode and no one is giving answers.

Considering the sound quality it does not make sense to save a little money over Qobuz. Despite the buzzwords they throw around I don't think Amazon is really targeting audiophiles.

 

[Auditor55]

I was a long time Tidal subscriber who consequently added Qobuz and have also been listening to the free trial of Amazon Music HD.

The Amazon Music HD desktop app is crippled because it uses shared mode in Windows. It can not take advantage of Wasapi exclusive mode as Tidal and Qobuz can. At least on Windows it is not bit perfect. Whatever the native sample rate and bit depth is streamed it will be up or down resampled in Windows mixer to the user setting.

I am hearing degradation of sound quality in Amazon Music HD compared to Qobuz and Tidal which I attribute to shared mode. Amazon has their own forum and trial users have been complaining about why the service was rolled out half baked without exclusive mode and no one is giving answers.

Considering the sound quality it does not make sense to save a little money over Qobuz. Despite the buzzwords they throw around I don't think Amazon is really targeting audiophiles.

If tested blind level, could you tell the difference?

 

[Auditor55]

Seems like Amazon didn’t create the ability to do hi res music just to sell more Nvidia shield streamers. Some new fire devices will probably be coming out sooner or later.

CD quality music is sufficient. High rez is snake oil anyway.

 

[allegro]

If tested blind level, could you tell the difference?

I believe so. The differences I am hearing are not that subtle. Compared to Qobuz Amazon Music HD has a veil with a slightly harsher high end, imaging is less precise with loss of sound stage depth. Music is less emotionally involving. Now that would be hard to quantify, but after listening to Amazon Music HD for an album I find myself going back to Qobuz. I just don't enjoy listening to Amazon Music HD at this time.

 

[lovinthehd]

I believe so. The differences I am hearing are not that subtle. Compared to Qobuz Amazon Music HD has a veil with a slightly harsher high end, imaging is less precise with loss of sound stage depth. Music is less emotionally involving. Now that would be hard to quantify, but after listening to Amazon Music HD for an album I find myself going back to Qobuz. I just don't enjoy listening to Amazon Music HD at this time.

All that from different streams of the same material? Amazing.

 

[allegro]

All that from different streams of the same material? Amazing.

Not that hard if you have a well resolving system with a great outboard DAC and are used to critical listening. Windows audio stack in shared mode degrades sound quality of Amazon Music HD. Qobuz uses exclusive mode which bypasses Windows audio.

 

[lovinthehd]

Not that hard if you have a well resolving system with a great outboard DAC and are used to critical listening. Windows audio stack in shared mode degrades sound quality of Amazon Music HD. Qobuz uses exclusive mode which bypasses Windows audio.

Uh huh, sure. I guess that I could have expected the resolving comment....

 

[RichW]

I also just signed up, already had Amazon Unlimited, so it's only $5 more per month(three months free). Need to figure out best way to play it from my laptop to my AV system.

Get an external soundcard or DAC so you can do full 24/196. Otherwise you can probably only do 24/48 at best if your lucky.

 

[mtrot]

Get an external soundcard or DAC so you can do full 24/196. Otherwise you can probably only do 24/48 at best if your lucky.

Oh, it turned out that 24/192 works just fine from my laptop, sounds great. I've been listening to that since last September.

 

[RichW]

The impression I had was that the HD Amazon service was at least CD quality...nothing about the old mp3 service mentioned that I saw.

Yea, the Amazon HD service is CD quality or better. 16/44.1 if song is labeled HD, and 24/48 to 24/192 if it's labeled UHD.

 

[mtrot]

If you like classical music, look this one up on Amazon Music HD and play it in 24/192. Simply astonishing performance and audio quality.