I've been happily playing AMHD, from various tablets, phones and laptops into an external DAC and into my main system. Like it a lot. To pass maximum resolution, I've had best luck using laptops, with my phones tapping out at 24/48 and Fire Tablet tapping out at 16/44. I've been toying with the idea of buying an inexpensive laptop (Windows 10) to be dedicated to streaming, but what about chromebook? I've read a lot recently about chromebook users having bad/no luck using the Android AMHD app on their chromebooks. Anyone here using a cheapie chromebook for streaming duties?
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Amazon Music HD on Chromebook?
- Thread starter NoMoFoNo
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- Thread Starter
- #3
Alas, they may hate each other but sometimes cats and dogs DO play together, when the money is right. The Amazon Music app is available on iOS, MacOS, Android (google), and Windows 10, with different capabilities for each. The problem with streaming from most of the Amazon gadgets is that they won't pass the full resolution stream. For example, the Fire Stick 4K will only play streams at 16/44. I have a new Fire Tablet HD 8 and it shows (variously) either 16/44 or (sometimes) 24/48.
Other devices I've tried are iPhone, iPad, Android phone, Apple TV, Windows 10 laptop, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro. AMHD will run on the iOS devices but I haven't obtained an OTG cable for them yet, and don't want to devote one of my Apple device for streaming duty. Among all of the devices I've run the app on, the only devices that I've tried that run the HD version of the app, and are capable of passing the largest 24/192 files to the external DAC, are Windows 10 and MacBook laptops.
So, I've resigned myself to finding a Windows 10 laptop on the cheap that would become a single-purpose machine to be used for streaming AMHD. However, until recently the Amazon Music app was available in the Chrome Store, from what I've read, and Chromebooks can be found for very little money. Hence, the question I posed. My Android phone will pass AMHD files, through the Android app, but at 24/48. I was hopeful that a chromebook might be a useful solution.
In the end, I want to spend as little $$$ as possible to acquire a single-purpose streaming device that will (1) run AMHD and will (2) pass the full resolution streams available to my external DAC. Simple, you think, but it's not as simple as one might wish.
Other devices I've tried are iPhone, iPad, Android phone, Apple TV, Windows 10 laptop, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro. AMHD will run on the iOS devices but I haven't obtained an OTG cable for them yet, and don't want to devote one of my Apple device for streaming duty. Among all of the devices I've run the app on, the only devices that I've tried that run the HD version of the app, and are capable of passing the largest 24/192 files to the external DAC, are Windows 10 and MacBook laptops.
So, I've resigned myself to finding a Windows 10 laptop on the cheap that would become a single-purpose machine to be used for streaming AMHD. However, until recently the Amazon Music app was available in the Chrome Store, from what I've read, and Chromebooks can be found for very little money. Hence, the question I posed. My Android phone will pass AMHD files, through the Android app, but at 24/48. I was hopeful that a chromebook might be a useful solution.
In the end, I want to spend as little $$$ as possible to acquire a single-purpose streaming device that will (1) run AMHD and will (2) pass the full resolution streams available to my external DAC. Simple, you think, but it's not as simple as one might wish.
I also use AMHD and what I find sad is that their own hardware will not output the UltraHD digital signal at its full resolution and bit depth.
However, for me it’s simply an OCD thing as my hearing is no longer acute enough to hear the differences (assuming it was ever discernible)!
To satisfy my OCD I use an iPad Pro with OTG connection to a Topping D10 (D10 displays rez). I’m pretty sure the AMHD Windows10 app (on Surface Pro, with it w/o dock) doesn’t send higher rez signal, but the real reason I don’t use it is because the USB connection is constantly dropping out, and makes it totally unlistenable!
However, for me it’s simply an OCD thing as my hearing is no longer acute enough to hear the differences (assuming it was ever discernible)!
To satisfy my OCD I use an iPad Pro with OTG connection to a Topping D10 (D10 displays rez). I’m pretty sure the AMHD Windows10 app (on Surface Pro, with it w/o dock) doesn’t send higher rez signal, but the real reason I don’t use it is because the USB connection is constantly dropping out, and makes it totally unlistenable!
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After some more trying of different connections, it turns out the Surface/Windows 10 was not the issue. Apparently, my old HK AVR is causing the dropouts when connected from PC -> USB -> Topping D10 S/PDIF output and other cheapo USB to S/PDIF converter. Oddly, it seems to be OK when digital input comes from a Polk Omni P1 interface. Seems the HK is the finicky one.
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