Amazon Music appalling sound quality

[Hammeredklavier]

Just wondering if any other Amazon Music users are finding that the sound quality seems to be atrocious and getting worse? It sounds like a very low bitrate MP3, made with an ancient codec... I'm sure it didn't used to be this bad.

 

[Vini darko]

Maybe it's a scheme to get people to upgrade to the hd service.

 

[Hammeredklavier]

Maybe it's a scheme to get people to upgrade to the hd service.

I think you're right - I've just tried the 30 day free trial - sound is much better!

I'm sure the sound of the 'regular' service used to be better than this though... obviously hobbled it for the reasons you suggest, which is very sneaky.

 

[Count Arthur]

Maybe it's a scheme to get people to upgrade to the hd service.

Surely Lord Bezos wouldn't stoop to such underhand business practices.

 

[Hammeredklavier]

Surely Lord Bezos wouldn't stoop to such underhand business practices.

My ears are telling me that's precisely what they've done.

It's very annoying, a decent lossy codec would be absolutely fine.

 

[Deleted member 28849]

Just wondering if any other Amazon Music users are finding that the sound quality seems to be atrocious and getting worse? It sounds like a very low bitrate MP3, made with an ancient codec... I'm sure it didn't used to be this bad.

IMO Amazon's sound quality is dependent on your connection speed and changing the settings to the higher quality service, not just having to have Amazon HD. In their online survey I suggested to them they have the Gain level set too high, but that is also album dependent. Fortunately I can lower the Gain level on my rig to where I prefer to listen.

 

[David Harper]

Same with youtube music. Much of it is really crap sound quality. Low bitrate mp3. But there are some songs on it that have good sound so they must vary the audio file format maybe according to how many hits the song gets. If I listen to obscure songs with few views the sq is horrible.
But big hits have better sq. like this one with over a billion views;

 

[dmac6419]

Just wondering if any other Amazon Music users are finding that the sound quality seems to be atrocious and getting worse? It sounds like a very low bitrate MP3, made with an ancient codec... I'm sure it didn't used to be this bad.

Sounds fine too me,you can always buy the hard copy and be satisfied.

 

[dmac6419]

My ears are telling me that's precisely what they've done.

It's very annoying, a decent lossy codec would be absolutely fine.

Isn't it free?

 

[Hammeredklavier]

Isn't it free?

No, I pay for the subscription.

When I first bought into it about a year ago, it seemed to go through a brief 'buffering' time or something where the bitrate was obviously reduced and then sound OK. Now it just sounds crap all the time! I've signed up for the 30 day free trial of the HD service, which is considerably better, but I don't know whether I'll pay for it. A good, lossy codec ought to be plenty good enough... that said, it's only another £5/month for the lossless service. Dunno.

 

[SimpleTheater]

Just wondering if any other Amazon Music users are finding that the sound quality seems to be atrocious and getting worse? It sounds like a very low bitrate MP3, made with an ancient codec... I'm sure it didn't used to be this bad.

I always had an issue with Amazon music. See my post on this thread on April 17, 2020.

 

[Alexanderc]

Just wondering if any other Amazon Music users are finding that the sound quality seems to be atrocious and getting worse? It sounds like a very low bitrate MP3, made with an ancient codec... I'm sure it didn't used to be this bad.

I posted about this a year or so ago--on certain albums I found the regular "free" version (with a Prime membership) had major and obvious issues. I upgraded to Amazon Music HD and found that ALL of the issues I had previously disappeared. This had nothing at all to do with bitrate, I could stream on my phone, laptop, change the bitrate my computer sent to my DAC, and the problem was just solved.

What does this say about the regular "free" Amazon music service? I don't know.

 

[Hammeredklavier]

I'll have to A/B a recording I've got in flac that I ripped myself with Amazon HD and see...

Certainly the HD service sounds very good. But then, the lossy service ought to sound very good as well, unless they've done something badly wrong. Or sinister.

 

[DarrylG]

Isn't it free?

The version that's free with Prime has a restricted selection of songs.

 

[telecode101]

I am a Amazon Prime member and use the service. I agree, something about Prime sometimes seems less audio resolution. Their user interface is also pretty bad.

 

[raindance]

Prime (not HD) at its best setting sounds significantly worse to my ears than Spotify set to "Very High". It sounds like it is low quality VBR. Prime HD sounds great but they can't differentiate between different artists with similar names, so I can't be bothered to subscribe (I dropped the subscription). This is just simple database programming (which is what I do at work, so it maybe frustrates me more than normal)

 

[asr1837373829w936q9]

I switched to Amazon Music HD about 6 months ago and won’t go back. I like having access to all CD quality music in my pocket ;-) Also, stopped using bluetooth in my car and switched to cable (iphone). Waiting for Apple Music to announce their lossless music subscription.

 

[dmac6419]

I switched to Amazon Music HD about 6 months ago and won’t go back. I like having access to all CD quality music in my pocket ;-) Also, stopped using bluetooth in my car and switched to cable (iphone). Waiting for Apple Music to announce their lossless music subscription.

Good for you.

 

[Jim Matthews]

I'm perfectly satisfied with Amazon HD, after a trial run with both Tidal and Qobuz.

I felt Tidal had the best search App.
Qobuz sounded best.

Amazon has an interface that could take notes from Tidal and could generate better signal to rival Qobuz.

It's only a $2.00 USD surcharge over my Amazon Prime membership.

That's real value.

 

[muslhead]

I'm perfectly satisfied with Amazon HD, after a trial run with both Tidal and Qobuz.

I felt Tidal had the best search App.
Qobuz sounded best.

Amazon has an interface that could take notes from Tidal and could generate better signal to rival Qobuz.

It's only a $2.00 USD surcharge over my Amazon Prime membership.

That's real value.

Am i reading your post correctly? Amazon only charges you a monthly $2 surcharge over your prime membership? I have prime and they still want (now as of today) an additional $7.99/mo not $2. WTF, do you have pictures of Bezos with a small furry animal in a compromising position or something