Good way to stream Amazon Music HD to DAC

[Music1969]

As an aside, I have purchased a used HEOS Link HS2 and can stream AMHD through the HEOS app but AMHD through the app is pretty much unusable...no playlists, no queuing and very slow interface.

Argh.

Sounds as crapy as Amazon Music HD via Bluesond Node app (BluOS). Sound quality might be great but user interface/experience crap.

How hard is it to just allow bit perfect casting to a streamer like Echo Link or HEOS link or Bluesound Node

Direct from the official app. Not through 3rd party crap experiences.

 

[BN1]

Thanks!

Damn, I really hope this year there is an updated Echo Link.

And simple bit perfect casting - not forcing everything to PCM192k

Now that Apple is firmly in the HD audio race, that might force Amazon to do things properly with HD audio.

Maybe. We can only hope.

I also hope that with Apple & AM now into hi-res and spatial streaming (at a good cost !) that new hardware/software (at a good cost ?) will come in the future to fully take advantage of these qualities.

 

[Music1969]

I also hope that with Apple & AM now into hi-res and spatial streaming (at a good cost !) that new hardware/software (at a good cost ?) will come in the future to fully take advantage of these qualities.

Surely this year

Would be funy if Google (YouTube Music) is the one that comes out with a proper solution.

HiRes launch with Chomecast with a new Chromecast Audio device.

I don't care who it is, I just hope someone does it properly. Which should make the rest catchup.

One can dream.

 

[Ralph_Cramden]

The WiiM Mini streamer is slated to get a firmware update next month to support Amazon's "Ultra" HD. @amirm has one of these in his test queue. We'll find out whether it's worth pursuing once it's tested. All the previous LinkPlay-based devices @amirm has tested failed transparency pretty badly, wouldn't even reproduce 16-bit audio correctly. This one, however, is based on a newer generation of LinkPlay modules. We shall see...

 

[JeremyFife]

In response to a comment about Amazon's Echo Studio and output options: Pretty sure that the mini TOSlink is INPUT only ... not output. That would be too easy!

 

[JeremyFife]

Here's my own experience of this; I use Amazon Ultra HD (their term for hi-res, better than 16/44.1) for music streaming for a number of reasons (family accounts being a big one) and found it incredibly frustrating to get hi-res quality music out. It's even more frustrating to get clear information!
Started out with a wired connection from my phone to my DAC (Chord Mojo, about to be replaced with an ASR recommendation) - sounded nice but it tethered my phone. Fairly sure the audio resolution was limited by android. Need my laptop for work, so that wasn't a viable option.

Ended up with a Bluesound Node (pre-loved on eBay to keep the cost down). The interface is clunky but the sound is great. This works for me and I'm really happy.

Along the way I found out that Heos or Play-Fi would probably have done the trick too, but I couldn't find anything better than the Bluesound for the price.

Amazon's Echo Link was a tempting option, with the restriction that it's limited to CD-quality (and it resamples). I probably wouldn't have heard the difference and it does look neat.

Fiddling with FireSticks and Cubes was an option, but seems like you really need an AVR to make that work reliably (and I don't). Too many stories of HDMI audio extractors also limiting the resolution and many, many stories of pain and frustration.

Amazon are not (not at all) helpful ... good luck with this!

 

[BN1]

Here's my own experience of this; I use Amazon Ultra HD (their term for hi-res, better than 16/44.1) for music streaming for a number of reasons (family accounts being a big one) and found it incredibly frustrating to get hi-res quality music out. It's even more frustrating to get clear information!
Started out with a wired connection from my phone to my DAC (Chord Mojo, about to be replaced with an ASR recommendation) - sounded nice but it tethered my phone. Fairly sure the audio resolution was limited by android. Need my laptop for work, so that wasn't a viable option.

Ended up with a Bluesound Node (pre-loved on eBay to keep the cost down). The interface is clunky but the sound is great. This works for me and I'm really happy.

Along the way I found out that Heos or Play-Fi would probably have done the trick too, but I couldn't find anything better than the Bluesound for the price.

Amazon's Echo Link was a tempting option, with the restriction that it's limited to CD-quality (and it resamples). I probably wouldn't have heard the difference and it does look neat.

Fiddling with FireSticks and Cubes was an option, but seems like you really need an AVR to make that work reliably (and I don't). Too many stories of HDMI audio extractors also limiting the resolution and many, many stories of pain and frustration.

Amazon are not (not at all) helpful ... good luck with this!

Ditto your frustrations with AMHD and the hardware. This stuff doesn't come easily for me (>75 yrs old) and I wanted to get away from the intrusive ads on free Spotify. Ended up with Firestick 4k plugged directly into HDMI input in avr and got hi-res (24/192) out of my HT room (fed directly from the avr) and it was excellent BUT I also use MusicCast (Yamaha) for my distributed audio and it didn't play well with AMHD (older avr). Newer avr's have AMHD native to MusicCast, mine doesn't. BTW, for distributed audio, AMHD drops to 16/44 CD quality but that wasn't an issue to me. Eying those new Yamaha avr's but issues/prices/availability seem to a problem right now.

 

[Music1969]

The WiiM Mini streamer is slated to get a firmware update next month to support Amazon's "Ultra" HD. @amirm has one of these in his test queue. We'll find out whether it's worth pursuing once it's tested. All the previous LinkPlay-based devices @amirm has tested failed transparency pretty badly, wouldn't even reproduce 16-bit audio correctly. This one, however, is based on a newer generation of LinkPlay modules. We shall see...

Ooh very interesting.

From what you've heard, will it allow to cast to the device?

Or have to use its built in UI?

And where dis you see discussion about this update?

 

[Ralph_Cramden]

Ooh very interesting.

From what you've heard, will it allow to cast to the device?

Or have to use its built in UI?

And where dis you see discussion about this update?

Yes, you can cast from Amazon Music app (or Alexa), Tidal, Spotify and via AirPlay or UPnP, so lots of options. I've been testing it via UPnP mostly.

Solutions

wiim.freshdesk.com

 

[Music1969]

Yes, you can cast from Amazon Music app (or Alexa), Tidal, Spotify and via AirPlay or UPnP, so lots of options. I've been testing it via UPnP mostly.

Solutions

wiim.freshdesk.com

I think this will be the real deal

I see they mention April firmware update for Amazon Music HD to go from CD quality to 192kHz

I saw an article on Darko promising TOSlink output would get 192kHz support but I didn't believe it. But it happened

So I think this company can be trusted with their planned updates

They even said new device will support Chromecast because it needs hardware

 

[Ralph_Cramden]

Is Roon supported?​

Modified on: Tue, Feb 22, 2022 at 1:27 PM

---

Not yet. We have a plan to enable Roon on this product later this year with an automatic software update. Please stay tuned.

Until then, re: Roon support - since WiiM Mini supports AirPlay 2, it should work with Roon as the endpoint.

Is Roon supported on WiiM Mini?

Not yet. We have a plan to enable Roon on this product later this year with an automatic software update. Please stay tuned. Until then, re: Roon support - since WiiM Mini supports AirPlay 2, it should work with Roon as the endpoint.

wiim.freshdesk.com

 

[Music1969]

I guess if Amazon casts from an iPad, the WiiM will still only receive PCM192k

The only way for bit perfect would be if the WiiM itself pulls the stream at original source sample rates.

We'll have to wait a few weeks for this update to come out and find out

 

[gilbodavid]

Hi. Struggling to find the correct cable matters extractor in the UK. Can anyone link it for me in Amazon uk?

Thanks

 

[gilbodavid]

Anyone?

 

[JeremyFife]

Anyone?

Have a look at the threads here on hdmi audio extractors, there are plenty of thoughts and suggestions - don't think it has to be cable matters.
I don't have personal experience so I can't recommend.

FWIW I believe that any 'extracted' signal will be limited to 16/44.1 (but may sound absolutely fine at that). My understanding is that to get higher res you need to send your hdmi directly to an AVR (or a DAC that accepts hdmi perhaps). Even then, this thread casts doubt on the actual signal quality - Amazon do not make this easy.

Good luck

 

[freemansteve]

One way to do this is to buy a super-cheap Android Tablet (like an £80 Lenovo), and connect a USB DAC to it - I dunno which are good or bad, but there's a lot of choice, and drive power amp, or pre-amp off it.

You control it by remoting in to the tablet from your main phone.

 

[JeremyFife]

One way to do this is to buy a super-cheap Android Tablet (like an £80 Lenovo), and connect a USB DAC to it - I dunno which are good or bad, but there's a lot of choice, and drive power amp, or pre-amp off it.

You control it by remoting in to the tablet from your main phone.

This gets the music out but I couldn't stop android from resampling the signal (my ' usb audio pro' didn't see Amazon). The Amazon app on a pc will do it, not sure about windows tablets

 

[freemansteve]

This gets the music out but I couldn't stop android from resampling the signal (my ' usb audio pro' didn't see Amazon). The Amazon app on a pc will do it, not sure about windows tablets

You could buy any cheap secondhand Winows laptop then, (with EqualizerAPO ), hang a USB DAC off it and remote into the PC from your phone. The PC would be completely unstressed, so doesn't have to be fancy.

The problem comes down to budget, and how simple/elegant you need the setup to be....

 

[Bamyasi]

Anyone?

This one looks close enough: HDMI 2.0 Audio Extractor 4K

According to the documentation, it supports HDCP 2.2 EDID and high sampling rate LPCM audio, so theoretically this should work but I would make sure they have good return policy. Cable Matters models no longer available in the US either. Unfortunately, branding of Chinese made products is rather random, so even if you find one with the same brand/model name it may actually turn out a completely different product internally. And vice versa

You can also try asking support on their Amazon storefront whether this model will output 2 Ch PCM up to 24bit/192kHz audio over TOSLINK.

 

[lzhbts]

My setup: 2 sony vintage transformers powering the 4K stick and HDMI extractor, the sound quality is better than normal 5V DC power supply. The 4K audio extractor follows the source data.
I found that the better the power supply, the better the sound quality. TVs, computer monitors or portable monitors can cause slight power noise, disconnect the HDMI monitor and the noise disappears and music plays in the background.
If you need audio extractor please PM me.