You’re definitely accessing their Hi-Res content by upsampling everything to 24/192 KHz
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Amazon launches lossless high-res music service!
- Thread starter amirm
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You’re definitely accessing their Hi-Res content by upsampling everything to 24/192 KHz
MRphotography
Member
can it be measured to get rid of any question of quality difference?
It’s been measured here, but the differences is far from being audible: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...i-and-music-players-foobar-jriver.7412/page-2
Well yes and no.
Yes, because I believe a company should allow you access to what they advertise you will get for you money with them.
No because I'm not paying them anything, I let it drop after the free trial period ended.
What this is about is many of us both here and on a few other sites are making noise in hopes Amazon will get off their butts and fix their app to be able to access what they say we can. It's that simple.
No your not, your accessing some unknown stream and Windows is upsampling it to 192. Could be mp3 for all you know. My DAC also reports the same 48k stream from Spotify as I get from Amazon, is that then a hirez stream?
You set your sample rate at 24/192 KHz on your sound settings then you'll get that bit and sample rate to your DAC. That's a "hi-rez stream". It doesn't matter if you play lossy or an actual 24/192 because everything will be upsampled to the rate you selected in the sound properties. If you set your settings to 48KHz then any stream gets sent to 48K.
LOL, you just don't get it, did you read my Tidal link above? That is neither a hirez stream of the original file nor a bit perfect stream of the original file which is what both Qobuz and Tidal offer you when you pay for their lossless HiRez streaming service. To this point Amazon is just too lazy to put the work into the desktop app so you can access what the say they offer.
But if your happy with things as they are, fine..
jhwalker
Active Member
One advantage would be if you LIKE the music you're streaming, you can choose to purchase it IN LOSSLESS FORMAT from Qobuz. Amazon does not sell lossless / high resolution files, only the lossy, compressed versions.
jhwalker
Active Member
Wow.
MRphotography
Member
Haha it looks like my question spurred some interesting debate. I would love to see AmazonHD music offer bit perfect like Qobuz as well. I like Qobuz’s app and desktop app better as well AmazonMusicHD would be my most affordable option but Qobuz especially if they add more music to be at the same level or more selection wise as AmazonMusicHD would be a no brainer especially if competitively priced. Being that this is ASR I was hoping I would receive a scientific answer for any audible quality differences between the two services. Does anyone have anymore scientific data to avoid speculation and personal experiences?
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Excellent question. Until I hear otherwise, I assume not. If there is evidence to the contrary, I will read and listen intently, but still knowing any difference is hugely likely to be extremely minor.
I agree with you--for an individual listener, Qobuz is a much, much nicer service (I have both Amazon HD family and Qobuz), with its liner notes, session musicians, write-ups, discovery tools, and customizability as to what stream you receive. I set it and forget it at 16-bit and 44.1 khz. Minimum bandwidth for maximum sound quality. Cons: Catalog is just shy of a full deck, and there is no family subscription option.
AmazonHD is nice too because it can show you the lyrics and you can just tell your Firestick remote, for example, what song to play, and it plays. Magic! If going over an AV system through HDMI Amazon HD (such as through a Firestick) is smart enough to send a stream that will be most compatible with A/V gear going in through HDMI (16-bit / 44 khz or 16-bit 48 khz) so that's set it and forget it in that ecosystem without needlessly chewing up extra bandwidth. And Amazon has a significantly more comprehensive catalog and a family subscriber option.
My concept: I go for set it and forget it--maximum compatibility and stability, lossless, and minimum bandwidth within those parameters. This gives you maximum sound quality and streaming stability with minimum resampling or other gymnastics required of your gear. It's a lossless stream so at the end of it you can use EQ or DSP or upmix to surround to your heart's content. And relax and enjoy the media instead of worrying about the medium.
At least I did show inaudible measurable differences lower than -120 dBFS on that ASR page. If bit perfect gives one a peace of mind that they will get hi-rez lossless then it will. All things considered, Amazon still gives lossless whether it's hi-res or 16/44.1 regardless if you're sending it to the DAC bit perfect or not (e.g. you applied DSP, EQ etc.)
That's true, but the majority of the listening tests I've read have shown that listeners are not reliably detecting the difference between the hirez streams and Spotifys mp3? Pricing today puts Amazon and Qobuz at $14.99 for the lossless highdef stream and Tidal at $19.99 for the same plus that worthless POS MQA. But most users can't access the promised high def streams unless they are using Roon I hear. If you fine with that, thats up to you but it still amounts to false advertising for most users. It's like filling your gas tank with Premium only to find out your really pumping Regular.
Might as well stick to Spotify for $9.99, then if you have Spotify Connect in your receiver your getting a direct stream of the source that's not being tempered by your computers OS.
As I have alluded to before, my hearing shuts down approaching 10kHz.
I have no idea why the resolution is on this site; I do know the library of classical music is vast!!***
https://www.classicalarchives.com/composers/m.html
When I want something off the beaten path, it is likely on Classical Archives.
***Found reference: 320kbit/s MP3 files for downloads and 160 kbit/s AAC files for streaming
It is also cost effective!!
I have no idea why the resolution is on this site; I do know the library of classical music is vast!!***
https://www.classicalarchives.com/composers/m.html
When I want something off the beaten path, it is likely on Classical Archives.
***Found reference: 320kbit/s MP3 files for downloads and 160 kbit/s AAC files for streaming
It is also cost effective!!
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Just like to say that Qobuz has a better jazz selection than Amazon HD.
MRphotography
Member
Yeah I have no idea..... Qobuz is 40 million in us tracks AmazonMusicHD is 50 million....
Dominique-T
Active Member
Hello Amirm,
Any news about Roon and Audirvana integration? Is it true that Amazon doesn't want to open their API?
Dominique
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Interesting change—Amazon SD is now using Opus (rather than LAME mp3)! Just noticed it this morning. That seems to show at least some real commitment to sound quality. Streaming Amazon SD in Opus right now (in bedroom; I use Amazon HD (FLAC) on my HiFi.
Also, at least on my IPad, the Amazon music app tells you what CODEC it’s using now i.e., Opus, FLAC, don’t know if there are others.
Also, at least on my IPad, the Amazon music app tells you what CODEC it’s using now i.e., Opus, FLAC, don’t know if there are others.
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For those of you who are JRiver beta's: Any info or updates on integrating Amazon Music HD with JRiver?
It appears that I have to shut down JRiver to run AMHD (Asio4All on W10), which is a PITA, not to mention the other benefits of JR.
It appears that I have to shut down JRiver to run AMHD (Asio4All on W10), which is a PITA, not to mention the other benefits of JR.
Is anyone here accessing their Amazon Music account thru the Denon/Marantz Heos app?
I did read somewhere that it was, or might be, possible to download the stream at it's posted high rez data rate?
The only way I have of running a android app is with the Bluestacks PC emulator and so far I've had no success at getting Heos running that way. What a PITA it is having all this crap running on apps designed for cell phones..
https://denon-uk.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5946/~/amazon-music-in-heos
I did read somewhere that it was, or might be, possible to download the stream at it's posted high rez data rate?
The only way I have of running a android app is with the Bluestacks PC emulator and so far I've had no success at getting Heos running that way. What a PITA it is having all this crap running on apps designed for cell phones..
https://denon-uk.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5946/~/amazon-music-in-heos
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