Amazon launches lossless high-res music service!

[day7a1]

it doesn't look like something that can be fixed by more subscribers

More specifically, the number of subscribers is probably already near maximum and each additional service serves only to reduce the net profits of all services.

In other words, a few of these are going to have to die but with Apple, Amazon, and Google in the ring the business strategy of the big 3 will almost certainly be to provide services that steal from other services while eating the losses. I tried the Amazon HD service and didn't like it, but just like I did with Tidal several years ago I left a detailed description of what I didn't like. I expect I'll go back to Google eventually once they drop a HD version.

Does this happen a lot?

It only has to happen once when you're young, broke, record stores are shutting down left and right, and you can hear that there's no point in buying MP3s. Then you hear about Pandora and realize that you never have to pay for music again. Then Spotify, then Tidal, and then here I am, zero owned music. They stole 300 CDs, it would take 25 years for that to be replaced at the price of a subscription and now I have WAY more music on hand.

Honestly, I'm a bit surprised ANYONE is still buying music by album or by track. I did once, but I was OCONUS at the time and wanted to listen to the new album.

 

[GrimSurfer]

That's what insurance is for... though I can appreciate where you're coming from.

 

[dmac6419]

So the files are high-res, but is there any way to check if the player is bypassing Android's 16bit/48kHz?

amazon app on fire tv 16/44 thru onyko avr

 

[day7a1]

That's what insurance is for... though I can appreciate where you're coming from.

Insurance needed the cases. I didn't have most of them. Some may not have been exactly purchased. I did have insurance. They also stole a multichannel ADC, well, the card. They didn't take the external piece.

Oh, the early 2000s.... I don't know if you were around or working in the music industry at the time, but it was a period of quick transition. Even if they did give me money for the CDs the infrastructure to buy them was changing fast. Pandora was started in 2000. It wasn't clear that CD would still be a format. The original iPod had a laughable by today's standards "1,000 song" capacity. Ogg and FLAC were probably around but certainly not standards. I had a bunch of lossless WAV ripped on our work computer...lol, mostly demos.

It was enough to make me change industry. I could have gone more into live or movies, but it was very disheartening to me to hear people happily playing 128kbps files made during the loudness wars. You don't need golden ears to know it was bad. I just felt like continuing down that path would be like painting pictures for blind people.

Anyways, back on topic...still don't see why people would buy music today rather than a sub, but I guess you can still buy DVDs too.

 

[raif71]

Science isn't decided by popular vote.

True, but if something that is measured and analyzed found to be lacking yet people still find it good and prefer it, wouldn't that mean something science cannot quantify and measure?

 

[day7a1]

True, but if something that is measured and analyzed found to be lacking yet people still find it good and prefer it, wouldn't that mean something science cannot quantify and measure?

Absolutely not!!!!!!!

Just because something hasn't been quantified and measured YET doesn't mean that it cannot ever be quantified and measured.

 

[day7a1]

Science isn't decided by popular vote.

It is, however, sometimes decided by the Electoral College, apparently.

 

[raif71]

Absolutely not!!!!!!!

Just because something hasn't been quantified and measured YET doesn't mean that it cannot ever be quantified and measured.

Yup, the journey still continues...

 

[BDWoody]

True, but if something that is measured and analyzed found to be lacking yet people still find it good and prefer it, wouldn't that mean something science cannot quantify and measure?

It would be more a matter of figuring out what they are preferring about it, not indicating that measurements are wrong.

People often prefer the 2H distortion common to 'tube' equipment. Does that mean it isn't distortion? Of course not. It also doesn't mean they 'shouldn't' prefer it. I actually enjoy it sometimes myself. But I also like being able to make the choice to turn the preferred distortion profile of the moment off, and know that I am back to a signal that has a high degree of fidelity to the original.

Is there some unknown human organ that somehow is involved in the hearing process that will change everything? I don't know...i wouldn't be that surprised...but I would be surprised if we still aren't able to measure what we can hear.

Most who claim the differences haven't set up a process that can be trusted by themselves or anyone else.

 

[raif71]

It is, however, sometimes decided by the Electoral College, apparently.

...or the Academy committees.

 

[gvl]

If it plays through the "default sound device", then it should work with JRMC's WMD which then can use exclusive mode.

I know. I'm just baffled how a hi-res, or even CD-quality for that matter, streaming service can go live without a quality playback system on a PC. Plus, I don't think JRMC WDM is truly bit-accurate as it is just a virtual driver that still has to work within the Windows driver model and when used in shared mode it has to mix, etc. They probably have some smart tricks in it which is probably very close to being bit-accurate, but this is not a true solution. May not matter in the end, but not everyone has a JRMC license.

 

[GrimSurfer]

I know. I'm just baffled how a hi-res, or even CD-quality for that matter, streaming service can go live without a quality playback system on a PC. Plus, I don't think JRMC WDM is truly bit-accurate as it is just a virtual driver that still has to work within the Windows driver model and when used in shared mode it has to mix, etc. They probably have some smart tricks in it which is probably very close to being bit-accurate, but this is not a true solution. May not matter in the end, but not everyone has a JRMC license.

This gives us insight into their target market and target hardware. Surely the thinking is that this service is aimed at mobile devices (Android, iOS). Doing so isn't entirely without merit if Amazon is targeting Millennials.

 

[March Audio]

LOOL That is NOT how you're supposed to eat it! You're supposed to gently push one triangle at the top toward the rest of them - that will break that triangle at the bottom so you can put it in your mouth harmlessly.

I'm just uncouth

 

[gvl]

This gives us insight into their target market and target hardware. Surely the thinking is that this service is aimed at mobile devices (Android, iOS). Doing so isn't entirely without merit if Amazon is targeting Millennials.

Yeah too bad no one longer cares about us old farts with a PC. I got an impression they target CE market, not necessarily mobile.

 

[GrimSurfer]

Yeah too bad no one longer cares about us old farts with a PC.

I was an early Mac guy. Nobody cared about me back in the day as a 30-something Apple owner... but I got over it. Eventually.

Seriously though, it is the illogic that gets me most. Think about where mobile devices are principally used (transport... cars, buses, trains, planes) and what they're used with (CarPlay, IEMs, occasionally headphones). Not exactly places where critical listening takes place.

But there we have it... 16/44, 24/96 or higher for casual listening in high noise environments.

 

[speedy]

Some major manufacturer integration has just been announced...
https://hifipig.com/bluos-among-fir...RS-wyZp8MUpGgRWuegctwQIksHqprdLqHATTKpOG3uE60

Very cool that BluOS supported this so quickly, but I want some Roon support

 

[Sal1950]

You gotta be KIDDING! Yuck!

You guys been eatin that bitter Euro stuff for so long you don't know any better
Best selling chocolate bars in the world. US chocolate.
https://www.candycentral.com/blog/popular-chocolate-bars-world/

 

[g29]

You guys been eatin that bitter Euro stuff for so long you don't know any better
Best selling chocolate bars in the world. US chocolate.
https://www.candycentral.com/blog/popular-chocolate-bars-world/

Is it just me or have Hershey bars shrunk over the years. They appear to be paper thin now compared to decades ago.

 

[Sal1950]

Is it just me or have Hershey bars shrunk over the years. They appear to be paper thin now compared to decades ago.

Everything seems to shrink over the years, even that most highly important.
Don't look down. LOL

 

[Sal1950]

I've been waiting more than 8 years for Spotify to support WASAPI exclusive mode on Windows, no dice.

How do you listen to Spotify?
Spotify Connect, at least on the surface, would appear to be the best way to connect if your system has a way to use it.
Your receiver, etc then connects directly to Spotify premium and "should" be delivering the best SQ that its' 320kbps has to offer.
That's in theory at least, it's difficult for me to understand exactly how the stream is handled, and my Marantz has no way to examime what the data rate is that it's DAC is getting.