I would have thought a thread concerning Amazon Ultra HD music would have gotten more traffic. I've been toying around with it since getting an offer to return to Prime membership that included Amazon Music Unlimited at no cost for a limited time. I had fooled around with Apple Music, Qobuz and Tidal for awhile. I bounce around different services as different deals present themselves to me.
I've noticed some interesting behavior using Amazon Music Unlimited with my devices as none of them are Amazon devices. This is where the whole "It's not the hardware, it's the licensing deals" issue comes into play as different brand devices will have different output capabilities based on the service and used for playback.
Using the Amazon Music app built into my Onkyo receivers, I cannot get HD(lossless 16/44.1) or Ultra HD(hi-res 24/44.1, 24/48, 24/96 and 24/192) streams and am limited to AAC 257kbps. Using the Onkyo/DTS Play-Fi app in my Mac or iPhone with Critical Listening enabled, I can stream their Ultra HD selections in FLAC 24/192. I can also get Ultra HD up to 24/192 on my Yamaha receiver using Amazon Music through the MusicCast app.
Now, things are also a bit limited when using Airplay 2 or Chromecast from an iOS device to play Ultra HD music from the iOS Amazon Music app. Airplay 2 will be limited to 24/48 while Chromecast will be limited to 24/44.1 even though the Chromecast protocol supports 24/96. Tracks that support Atmos will simply display Atmos for the track info, Atmos in iOS device info and Atmos in Output device info if Atmos is selected for output rather than the Stereo version. This has been the case using my iPhone with my receivers, anyway.
I did notice using Amazon Music that not all tracks are Ultra HD on an album labeled as Ultra HD. It may contain mostly HD tracks and only one Ultra HD track and this might throw some folks off if playing the album and seeing HD displayed until the Ultra HD track is played and Ultra HD is displayed. This is I think because some tracks might also be included on some compilations containing only Ultra HD tracks.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Do the homework. Once somebody picks their streaming service and tier, they must also consider the devices that support the selected service as well as the selected tier of service. My Onkyo's built in Amazon Music app does not support HD and Ultra HD. Airplay and Chromecast over iOS devices do not support Ultra HD fully and I must use Amazon Music through DTS-Play-Fi with Critical Listening ON in my supported Onkyo receivers for 24/192 or use Amazon Music through MusicCast on my Yamaha receiver.
I am guessing that in the case of aging AVRs or changing licensing deals, some may notice that the quality of service is downgraded or actually removed altogether from their device compared to other devices. Onkyo removed their built in Spotify app capabilities some time ago and one must cast it from a separate device. I thought Tidal did something similar with some outfits recently. Some may have also noticed that their favorite service supports their setup fully only to find that one of their favorite artist's albums is only available on another service.
Happy Streaming Everyone!
