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Amazon launches lossless high-res music service!

GrimSurfer

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A Cray-1? 160 MFLOPS.

Which one? You might be surprised how slow a Cray-1 is by modern standards.

I'm an old school guy.

I heard good things about Huawei supercomputers but I kept running into problems with my online bank accounts!?
 

Bamyasi

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The TOSLINK limit is 24/96.
I mean, even when playing 16-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC it still shows 24 bit at the display. If I stream Pandora AAC 256 kbps stream it also shows 44.1 kHz (correct) at 24 bit. Either MA X-Sabre Pro bug or CCA bug...
 

GrimSurfer

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I mean, even when playing 16-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC it still shows 24 bit at the display. If I stream Pandora AAC 256 kbps stream it also shows 44.1 kHz (correct) at 24 bit. Either MA X-Sabre Pro bug or CCA bug...

It's probably displaying the default setting on your DAC as opposed to the source bit depth.
 

restorer-john

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I love this quote:

“Earth will be changed forever when Amazon introduces high quality streaming to the masses,” said rock icon Neil Young. “This will be the biggest thing to happen in music since the introduction of digital audio 40 years ago.”

You'd think Neil Young would pull his head in after that PONO fiasco...

So, Amazon has defined HD (high definition) as "Amazon Music HD offers customers more than 50 million lossless HD songs, with a bit depth of 16 bits and a sample rate of 44.1kHz (CD quality)." Glad we cleared that up. CD was always high definition it seems.
 

dmac6419

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I’ve got prime and amazon unlimited music. I’ll try the 90 day free upgrade for sure. I had always wondered how different streamed lossy upmixed to 5.1 surround sounded compared to lossless upmixed to 5.1 surround. Now I’ll sort of maybe find out! I’ve found Amazon Unlimited music to have a plenty good classical collection, although I never explored the subject deeply. Amazon could definitely use some better music discovery features and algorithms though so they are still vulnerable on that front, IMHO.

Exciting news!!!
toppings dx3 pro display stuck on 384 tidal shows the correct bit rate because the desktop app has exclusive mode,some amazon track will play standard some will play correct but you have to toggle the hd or ultra hd logo to see
 

Daverz

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Don't see a Classical section. i guess this is just another Tidal.Rap hip-hop etc.

Tidal does have a classical music selection in their genre menu. Qobuz is a little better for browsing classical, and they update their new releases more often. They each have things the other doesn't. Qobuz does not have the BMOP label, for example. I could dig up several other examples.
 

orangejello

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This is the day CDs officially died.

This is also the day I took delivery of a Pioneer UDP-LX500. Feeling a bit sheepish about that, I suppose:confused: It was to be my last cd transport and a means of playing the rare DVD or Blu-Ray disc I get up to. There are also some rare cd’s that I might never find elsewhere...
 

MSNWatch

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With this and possibly other entrants into this space like Apple I would be surprised if Tidal and Qobuz are still around 12 months from now.
 

pjug

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I love this quote:

“Earth will be changed forever when Amazon introduces high quality streaming to the masses,” said rock icon Neil Young. “This will be the biggest thing to happen in music since the introduction of digital audio 40 years ago.”

You'd think Neil Young would pull his head in after that PONO fiasco...

So, Amazon has defined HD (high definition) as "Amazon Music HD offers customers more than 50 million lossless HD songs, with a bit depth of 16 bits and a sample rate of 44.1kHz (CD quality)." Glad we cleared that up. CD was always high definition it seems.
I wonder how much of their catalog is greater than cd. So far it seems to be a good amount (some 24/96 and some 24/44).

Another thing... I am using Bluesound node with android controller and there is no indication of the format while browsing music, you only see a 'HR' icon once you choose something and play it. Do the desktop app, or other ways of using the service, allow you to browse for the HiRes stuff?
 

Daverz

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Looks like the only way to integrate into my squeezebox ecosystem is to use airplay (via the ShairTunes2 plugin). This is limited to 16/44, at least that's what the Audio-Midi util on my macbook says. Anyway, I signed up for the 90-day trial, I'll have to remember to cancel before it's up.

Oh, and I have problems with nasty loud popping noises when starting play into an airplay "device" using Shairtunes2. I'll have to try to track that down.

Fixed the pops by changing ShairTunes encoding from wave to FLAC. This does introduce a huge latency, though.

I still don't like playing from an app on my laptop. When I close the lid the music pauses, which makes it awkward to set aside the laptop and keep listening.
 

Daverz

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OK, I found the Genres menu for the Amazon HD app. Not sure why I missed it before. The classical selection seems to be an uncurated mess and full of junk. Qobuz does a good job of curating their selection.

EDIT: Also under New Releases there's a Genre dropdown on the right.
 
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Jorj

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Now I just need to figure out a way to control the stream to my home system DAC via my phone. I have a media PC feeding the DAC from Foobar2000, and the FooBarCon Android app works amazingly, but it seems that for now my only option to do anything similar with Amazon Music is to remote into my media PC.

It also seems that the Amazon Music app is not capable of allowing ASIO or WASAPI output, instead routing through the PC digital audio controls. Not ideal. I guess a future Roon integration would clear all this up.

Edit: I forgot about the Echo Link. Toslink output would do the trick, but I have no idea what the streaming\casting interface looks like and $200 seems like a lot for this box.
 
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Daverz

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OK, I found the Genres menu for the Amazon HD app. Not sure why I missed it before.

Ugh, because that's under "Store", not streaming. There is no Genre selection for streaming that I can see.
 

amadeuswus

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Tidal does have a classical music selection in their genre menu. Qobuz is a little better for browsing classical, and they update their new releases more often. They each have things the other doesn't. Qobuz does not have the BMOP label, for example. I could dig up several other examples.

Hello Daverz,

I noticed your reference to the BMOP [Boston Modern Orchestra Project] label. Is contemporary "classical" music (or "the music formerly known as classical") one of your special interests? I have played as a violinist in some of BMOP's concerts and recordings. Wonder if small labels like these will also strike a deal with Amazon Music.

Is there a list of participating labels somewhere?
 

day7a1

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Now I just need to figure out a way to control the stream to my home system DAC via my phone. I have a media PC feeding the DAC from Foobar2000, and the FooBarCon Android app works amazingly, but it seems that for now my only option to do anything similar with Amazon Music is to remote into my media PC.

It also seems that the Amazon Music app is not capable of allowing ASIO or WASAPI output, instead routing through the PC digital audio controls. Not ideal. I guess a future Roon integration would clear all this up.
Is it not the same as with Tidal?

So far, my biggest issue with Amazon MHD is it's interface. Just not nearly as useful as Tidal's. Similar to @Daverz complaint about it vs. Qobuz but other genres. I love how much info Tidal gives you and ways to sort what you find, i.e. favoriting artists, songs, albums, and playlists separately.

I may think that Amazon was great IF I had any actual, purchased music, but there's an entire half of the player that I keep accidentally accessing that is of no use. When you search you have to choose between your library or the store. I don't have a library and I don't want the store. Just, show me the artist and everything you have of them. Order albums chronologically. Order songs by popularity. Gimme info about the engineer, producer, label, etc.

Amazon HD isn't a streaming service so much as a record store with a monthly access fee.
 

GrimSurfer

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The "My Music" button lists the tracks users select/save from the Amazon Music Library. No purchase necessary.
 

RayDunzl

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Does the player support selecting an output device?
 
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