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Amazon launches lossless high-res music service!

gvl

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So does it work on a CCA or not? And if it does, does the app recognize the CCA? Asking because I think there is a way to route whole system sound from an Android device to a CCA, which is not the same as the app handing off the stream to the CCA.
 

pjug

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Jorj, I'm getting the same thing through my Bluesound Node 2. Sounds like crap.
I don't notice a problem with the sound. This is with the old Node. How would Amazon even mess that up on bluesound? Asking in earnest; I don't know the inner workings of this stuff.
 

Sal1950

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I tell you, their branding is genius!

View attachment 33872

So much better than some MQA "masters" label on Tidal. This is the only high-res service that has a shot of going beyond top of the pyramid audiophiles.
Absolutely! Who doesn't know or understand that Ultra High Definition is a super sounding audio stream.
What the hell is MQA anywho? And who cares. LOL ;)
 

josiah

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This has to be working. I'm going to do a 90 day trial. I have been a loyal Spotify subscriber for years, had no intention of trying anything else. I already have prime, and I am going to partake in the trial. They may get me to switch services when I had no desire to switch.

I just worry about two things:
1.) Porting my huge playlist
2.) Android Auto/Car Play support
3.) Bose support
 

StevenEleven

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So does it work on a CCA or not? And if it does, does the app recognize the CCA? Asking because I think there is a way to route whole system sound from an Android device to a CCA, which is not the same as the app handing off the stream to the CCA.

They really need to improve along the lines of Apple Music or Spotify in terms of content delivery and music discovery. But. . . I am am not sure there is any deficiency in the catalog or the sound quality.

From the Android Amazon Music app you can go straight to Chromecast audio. My receiver has Chromecast audio built in and it works. You’re right I think, it goes straight over the net from Amazon to the receiver wifi Chromecast audio in, with the tablet being more of a remote and not being an intermediary streaming device. That’s the most direct connection I believe.

You can also just plug a $35 echo dot into your stereo by line out and tell Alexa what you want to hear. An echo show has a line out as well.

You can also stream from Amazon Music by AirPlay to your receiver (if airplay capable) or your Apple TV if you have an iPad.

You can also stream over the Sonos ecosystem (I have Sonos in the bedroom).

You reportedly can also get a $35 Fire TV stick and plug it into an HDMI port somewhere.

You can also stream from a tablet Amazon Music app if your receiver has WiFi Amazon Music built in (as mine does).

You can also go digital out by USB to a DAC from a Windows PC.

You can also use the Amazon Music app on a Roku.

You can also plug in a surface tablet by line out.

Some of this stuff is lossy, I’m sure, and some is lossless.

Or as my grandfather used to say, you can’t get there from here, you’ve got to start from somewhere else.
 
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Sal1950

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I'm just amazed that Amazon felt there was room in the market for yet another streamer, and a lossless one at the cost of lossy Spotify at that!
I guess they figure to leverage out some of the others, Tidal has been on the brink of failure for some time.
I love the Spotify UI, catalog, etc, I just hope this pushes them into a lossless stream and it will have t be at a competitive price with Amazon, not no $30 a month, to hell with that. ;)
 

Blake Klondike

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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!!!

I agree that some of Amazon's ancillary features are inferior to Spotify, etc.-- I notice the difference especially on playlists and stations. For instance, Spotify has user-generated playlists like "A Chronological History of The String Quartet" and "The Evolution of Jazz Piano", etc. which I find very interesting. Amazon's offerings in that dept are pretty much bottom-of-the-barrel ("Jazz for A Rainy Day", etc.)

But I have almost never gone looking for a song on Amazon Unlimited and not found it.
 

Blake Klondike

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To be clear, I'm not saying that it's just a front for sales, I don't believe that at all. (Though they do have a store where it looks awfully easy to accidentally purchase). I DO believe that the system is half-toe into the streaming concept and that it's trying to have streaming and HDD based libraries on the same system but that they're not doing it well.

It needs a lot of streamlining.


I added deadmau5 to a playlist and then added the artist to my library. It added every song and album to "My Music". Now, if I want to remove it, I have to go through at least 100 albums and delete each one manually. It's a mess. I'm 15 minutes into it and I want to clear it all already.


Screw this, I deleted the albums and now my playlist is empty. WTF!

I have had this problem as well! Added 2700 Bach recordings to my playlist by accident with the push of a button. Things like this make me wonder if the design didn't take deep listening into account at all. The app makes it incredibly easy to listen to playlists of the top songs in any category, or whatever release they are being paid to promote. Everything else is 15% more difficult to accomplish on their UI than it should be.
 

Blake Klondike

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Yep, the organised pirates will already have ways of dumping the data perfectly, but why bother with pirate copies when the legal way is simple and low cost.

Plus, you aren't going to get a ransomware attack from a legal streaming service.
 

gvl

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I don't see myself ditching Spotify, they have all sorts of weird obscure music possible. Also hoping they will eventually offer losless tier at a reasonable price.
 

Blake Klondike

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This has to be working. I'm going to do a 90 day trial. I have been a loyal Spotify subscriber for years, had no intention of trying anything else. I already have prime, and I am going to partake in the trial. They may get me to switch services when I had no desire to switch.

I just worry about two things:
1.) Porting my huge playlist
2.) Android Auto/Car Play support
3.) Bose support

I can chime in with my experience with Android Auto/Amazon. It works, but isn't integrated well-- voice commands are very limited, etc. Android Auto seems to be designed for maximum integration only with small number of apps, many of which are google-related.
 

Blake Klondike

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For what this is worth, I am a music teacher and my students laughed at me for using Amazon Music to play musical examples. I guess it has a reputation for being a streaming service for boring old people. I imagine that has to do with the hep marketing Spotify and others have done, as well as their superiority when it comes to new/obscure music recommendations, etc.
 

Bamyasi

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From the Android Amazon Music app you can go straight to Chromecast audio. My receiver has Chromecast audio built in and it works.
And yes I can confirm it works with the actual CCA puck as well. Amazon Music app however would refuse to disclose playback quality of the actual stream being played in this case, so no way to know for sure if it is lossless or not.
 

rmo

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I don't see myself ditching Spotify, they have all sorts of weird obscure music possible. Also hoping they will eventually offer losless tier at a reasonable price.

Spotify CEO said this week he’s not interested in lossless .
 

rmo

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Y'all must not be from around these here parts....ain't you heered of that-there Nyquist fella? Always yammerin' on about bit-depth and samplin' rate bein' good 'nuff at Redbook, higher'n that bein' totally inaudible, or some such.

Seriously, saying a that 24 bit track sounds better than 16 is just wrong. <snark> Therefore, I have no choice but to discard your non-level-matched and sight-biased opinion. </snark>

Well then keep on listening to your lossy files and enjoy .
 

Neddy

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Mine is running on Win7, via LAN, Topping D50, Asio, but just JBL 305s.
The few tracks I've tried to compare from previous CD rips do sound different, but there is also a big level difference too - which I think might be the rip, so I'll have to chase down other pairs to compare.
But it does not sound horrible (on these little things), either.
It also defaults to 'run at startup' (good way to get you to chase down the settings menu if you hadn't before!), and Loudness/Normalization ON.
Lack of playlist integration may be an issue for me as well.
AMS = Music for Old People? Could be - not much I can do about it now:)
What do the kids prefer?
 
D

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Having tried every streaming service going, I'd bite Spotify's hand off if they offered 16/44 at 15 € a month.
 

AudioSceptic

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Well, I ain't changing to Mac.... :)

By just fine, do you mean you've played some of your test tracks on bit-perfect mode via both Amazon Music HD and from local storage? The difference between them in my testing is not subtle.
This is strange. Is there any way you could record the Amazon stream and then compare the files in Audacity or similar?
 

AudioSceptic

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I tell you, their branding is genius!

View attachment 33872

So much better than some MQA "masters" label on Tidal. This is the only high-res service that has a shot of going beyond top of the pyramid audiophiles.
So how is Miles Davis available in "Ultra HD"? Those recordings were made with equipment sent back from the future in a time machine and have been kept hidden all this time?
 
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