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Good way to stream Amazon Music HD to DAC

Ralph_Cramden

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Curious. Are you getting LMS to stream to the AFTV stick in 24-bit? Or are you using a RPi or some other solution?
LMS on RPi -> RME DAC. No Amazon Music this way, of course - I stream Qobuz, mostly. But I do see the bitrate displayed via the Material Skin UI for everything, not just local files.
 

pdxaudio

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It doesn't make sense that Amazon Music HD that doesn't do MQA service would be passing through an MQA version of the album while Tidal doesn't have a Master MQA version of the album in their library.

It is possible that the MQA version of the album was added to Amazon's library, as there is an MQA release on Bandcamp for that album, but as far as Amazon providing facilities to stream MQA they haven't done that before now. I have heard this has happened on Qobuz before, MQA versions "sneaked in" without being noticed until users reported it. You might want to report this to AMHD.

It's odd that my D90 MQA doesn't "see" the MQA stream from AMHD while the Node 2i is registering the bits correctly.

Does your Node 2i show MQA while streaming the David Elias MQA album tracks from Bandcamp here:

The Window (Remastered)
by David Elias (24/44.1 ~ MQA 24/352.8)
https://davidelias.bandcamp.com/album/the-window-remastered

My D90 MQA doesn't see those tracks as MQA... @JohnYang1997 ?

Also, what is your Node 2i showing for bit rate with / without MQA enabled while streaming from AMHD and Bandcamp?

The Topping D90 isn't enabling MQA from either source. It stays showing 384khz as the physical interface is set on my PC.

@JohnYang1997 - is the D90 MQA supposed to be enabling MQA from these sources? Bugfix? I have the PC interface, Tidal, and AMHD Exclusive Mode enabled, BTW. Tidal shows MQA enabled for Tidal Masters, there is no Tidal Master for this album explicitly listed as such, right now, that could change since there is an MQA version available.
The same MQA version of this album also shows up in Qobuz. My DAC shows 24/88.2 for both Amazon HD and Qobuz. Here’s what Roon shows:
E1AC8F86-A772-497F-A35C-F25C8752C9D1.jpeg
 

RoyB

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Well I received my Cable Matters Audio Stripper and my Amazon Fire Stick 4K....Got it all hooked up and I'm seeing the GUI on the TV and music on the stereo.
A couple questions if you will allow me.

I see mention on this thread..."Also, make sure that Ultra HD is enabled in the AMHD app settings on the stick. "....I can not find this on the Fire Stick
I see where it says the Cable Matters needs to be in the middle position "5.1"....When set there all I get on the stereo is a fluttering sound. No music. On 2.1 it works great but I'm only seeing 16/48 "Device Capability" and "Currently Playing At"....Yet I'm streaming Ultra HD at "Track Quality 24/96"

My set up:
Fire Stick 4K "just software updated"
Cable Matters stripper as suggested above
Optical into Schiit DAC
Analog into PreAmplifier

Thanks in advance
 

Bamyasi

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Well I received my Cable Matters Audio Stripper and my Amazon Fire Stick 4K....Got it all hooked up and I'm seeing the GUI on the TV and music on the stereo.
A couple questions if you will allow me.

I see mention on this thread..."Also, make sure that Ultra HD is enabled in the AMHD app settings on the stick. "....I can not find this on the Fire Stick
I see where it says the Cable Matters needs to be in the middle position "5.1"....When set there all I get on the stereo is a fluttering sound. No music. On 2.1 it works great but I'm only seeing 16/48 "Device Capability" and "Currently Playing At"....Yet I'm streaming Ultra HD at "Track Quality 24/96"

My set up:
Fire Stick 4K "just software updated"
Cable Matters stripper as suggested above
Optical into Schiit DAC
Analog into PreAmplifier

Thanks in advance
You might need to repeat the update process at least three (sic!) times in a row to force all required OS components to be updated and then the AMHD app update is a separate one. To force the OS updates, restart your Firestick, then go to Settings->My Fire TV->About->Check for updates->click select. To update AMHD app, go to Apps->Categories, then locate and select AMHD app and it will start updating immediately (if this has not been done automatically yet). Check your AMHD app version, it should be 3.3.581.0 for Ultra HD support. Start the app and navigate to account settings icon in the top right corner of its home screen. Select the icon, then select Audio quality from the menu (first item), then click the Enable Ultra HD slider, scroll down, click Got it button, you are done.

After all the OS components have been updated, you will need to go to Settings->Display&Audio->Audio->Surround Sound and set it to Stereo. If you see Always PCM in the Surround Sound menu instead then your OS has not been updated yet. But it actually works for me with the default setting (Best Available) after the OS update.
 

RoyB

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THANK YOU VERY MUCH.......I believe I have it all working properly now after following your direction.

The only issue I have now might be with my Schiit DAC or the Cable Matters. I see on the Amazon Music stream "Track Quality 24/192
And then "Device Capabilty 24/48".......and "Currently Playing 24/48"

I believe the Cable Maters is capable of 24/192?

I emailed Schiit to find out what the Modi3 can resolve through the optical input.

BTW, I've tried a huge number of streaming set ups....Andover Songbird using its own DAC, Songbird into the Modi, my laptop into the modi, my phone and I Pad streaming through the blue tooth on the Songbird and the bluetooth on the Douk preamp, and Ipad Mini and Phone directly into the preamp. All sounded great...at first. But then I realized the vocals seemed way in back of the instruments when compared to same song played on a record (B&O RX2/MMC5) . Sounds like they are singing through a bit of a megaphone. Three different speakers (B&W DM601, KEF 103.2, ELAC Debut 2.0 / 6.2).......This current set up with the Fire Stick has totally removed all that. Vocals are now like they sound on records. Up front, cl;ear, great imaging........Very pleased so far!
 

RoyB

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I emailed Schiit to find out what the Modi3 can resolve through the optical input.

Hello Roy,

The Modi will playback optical at 24/96.

All the Best,
Tom E. (Schiit)

So now I need to figure out why I only see device at 24/48
 

Bamyasi

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Hello Roy,

The Modi will playback optical at 24/96.

All the Best,
Tom E. (Schiit)

So now I need to figure out why I only see device at 24/48
Maybe try power cycling your Cable Matters extractor. Literally, pull the power plug on it, wait for 15 seconds then reconnect power. This helped me at some point. I actually had to power cycle both my stick and extractor, so not sure now which one helped but you can also try cycling each one.
 

RDoc

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There's something messed up with the Firesticks IMHO. I'm using a Denon 4500 with the firestick plugged into one of the HDMI ports and have enabled 24 bit output on Amazon Music HD but can only get 192/16. Denon support was totally useless, their final response boiled down to "you can't get 192/24 from Firestick because you can't". Others report that it works on Onkyo and maybe others.

My SWAG is there's something incompatible with the EDID messages between Firestick and/or various AV receivers.
 

RoyB

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I tried cycling everything...Still only seeing the device at 24/48 ........ Maybe I need a better optical cable between the stripper and DAC.

In any event, even at 24/48 the sound quality is magnificent.

But after all this experimenting is said and done, I should have taken the money and bought a Bluesound Node2i for $550 and be totally done with it! .........But what fun would have that been!
 

Jeff0093

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Looking to stream from my android phone via Amazon HD to a Hegel H190 is the Node 2i the best options to get high quality sound? I'm looking at this point for ease of use, sound quality then cost in this order What cables do I need to hook up to the dac in the Hegel.
 

RoyB

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The Node 2i is the easiest to set up, easiest to afford, easiest to listen to. You would need to spend much much more to get a little bit better sound quality. Or a very complex "you build it" system cobbled together like I did above. My order is going in for a Blue sound Node 2i next month....
 

Jeff0093

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The Node 2i is the easiest to set up, easiest to afford, easiest to listen to. You would need to spend much much more to get a little bit better sound quality. Or a very complex "you build it" system cobbled together like I did above. My order is going in for a Blue sound Node 2i next month....
Thanks for the info. What works best with the Node 2i Tidal or Amazon HD ? Any benefits to either ?
 

RoyB

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I haven't used Title yet. I'm using Qobuz and Amazon HD on my various strraming devices. Haven't firmed an opinion yet. I like the Amazon GUI but Qobuz has some interesting new music and a better jazz offering. For $12 a month I might just keep both.
 

Michael109

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You are spot on as the switch was in 2 channel but moving it to middle position gives me 192 kHz on my DAC. Thanks a million.
Is it this one (linked below)?

Cable Matters 4K 60Hz HDMI Audio Extractor (HDMI Audio Splitter to Digital S/PDIF + 3.5mm Aux Stereo) - Support 18Gbps HDMI 2.0 and HDR

https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-103090-Audio-Extractor/dp/B07VPRFQ5W/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Cable+Matters+4K+60Hz+HDMI+Audio+Extractor+(HDMI+Audio+Splitter+to+Digital+S/PDIF+++3.5mm+Aux+Stereo)+-+Support+18Gbps+HDMI+2.0+and+HDR&qid=1612310454&s=electronics&sr=1-1

Check that the output format switch on the extractor is in the middle position (5.1CH). Two other options (TV or 2CH) would result in 48 kHz downmixing. You might need to power cycle both your extractor and the Firestick 4K after adjusting the settings on the extractor in order to activate the passthrough mode. Also, make sure that Ultra HD is enabled in the AMHD app settings on the stick.

I have followed the suggestions of @Poultrygeist and @Bamyasi. Here is what happens on my system.

Scenario 1 playing UHD track
AMHD app playing and shows Track Quality 24/192 Device Capability 24/192 Currently Playing at 24/192
Audio extractor is on 2CH
External DAC (fed from the Toslink out of the extractor) shows a sampling rate of 48KHz.

Scenario 2 playing HD track
AMHD app playing and shows Track Quality 16/44.1 Device Capability 24/192 Currently Playing at 16/44.1
Audio extractor is on 2CH
External DAC (fed from the Toslink out of the extractor) shows a sampling rate of 48KHz.

Scenario 3 playing UHD
AMHD app playing and shows Track Quality 24/192 Device Capability 16/192 Currently Playing at 16/192
Audio extractor is on 5.1CH
External DAC (fed from the Toslink out of the extractor) shows a sampling rate of 192KHz.

Scenario 4 playing HD track
AMHD app playing and shows Track Quality 16/44.1 Device Capability 16/192 Currently Playing at 16/44.1
Audio extractor is on 5.1CH
External DAC (fed from the Toslink out of the extractor) shows a sampling rate of 192KHz.

When extractor is on 2CH, the firestick detects a device capability of 24/192 but only feeds the DAC a sampling rate of 48KHz. Downsampling a UHD track from 192 and upsampling an HD track from 44.1

When extractor is on 5.1CH, the firestick detects a device capability of 16/192 but feeds the DAC a constant sampling rate of 192 KHz and I assume at only 16 bit.

Can anyone help and shed some light on what could possibly be happening here. Why does the device capability bit rate change from 24 to 16 when I switch from 2CH to 5.1CH. The audio extractor toslink out does not match what the playing at sample rate reported by the AMHD app with the exception when it is set to 5.1 and playing a 24/192 track. However in that instance the bitrate is probably 16 instead of 24. My DAC display does not indicate the bit rate.

Thanks.
 
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