12 minutes ago, wgscott said:

 

 

I saw your post just now, and my heart sank.  That is absolutely outrageous, and probably illegal.

 

I can't find a similar charge on mine (yet).  Did you have an Amazon Prime membership to begin with?  (Even with prime, you don't get "unlimited" by default, which has me even more worried...)

 

 

4 minutes ago, rn701 said:

 

The deal is if you have (or ever had) an Amazon Music Unlimited subscription, the HD addon is free for 90 days. You still pay for the Unlimited subscription. 

I've never had an Amazon Music subscription but I've been a Prime member forever. 

I signed up for the HD subscription at $12.99 per month. I haven't been billed yet. Amazon says my first bill is due December 16, 2019.

It looks like there are some edge cases where people get billed for part of this. It's how all free trials work on all services. You can't sign up for the free trial more than once, thus Amazon billing some people for the part they've already received as a free trial and leaving the HD part free for 90 days. 

On 9/21/2019 at 11:43 AM, lucretius said:

 

I logged in from Canada and it offered me the subscription. However, I have an Amazon US account in addition to a Amazon Canada (and Amazon UK) account.  I was automatically logged in to Amazon US (cookie) when I went to the link Chris provided.

 

I am curious as to where I can find the link to download the app?  Is it for the PC? Or is there only apps for Android/iOS?

I also have both a US and Canadian account and am able to see the offer for the free HD trial on the US site however, when I enter my credit card information, I get the following message: 

Service not available

1 hour ago, senorx said:

Have had Prime for years, but never music unlimited. Got the free trial and it is free, and Amazon confirms that the charge will be $12.99/mo. or 129.99/yr starting in December. Presumably as long as I maintain my Prime membership. Can't imagine where the "illegal"(ity) would lie.

This is what I have too.

There was no mention of the baseline charge when I signed up, and, at least currently, they haven't charged me anything.  It looks like I will be charged $12.99 on December 17th, which is exactly what I thought I was signing up for.

If they had slipped in a charge, that would have been problematic. But as far as I am aware, they haven't done that to me.

1 hour ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

 

 

I've never had an Amazon Music subscription but I've been a Prime member forever. 

 

I signed up for the HD subscription at $12.99 per month. I haven't been billed yet. Amazon says my first bill is due December 16, 2019.

 

It looks like there are some edge cases where people get billed for part of this. It's how all free trials work on all services. You can't sign up for the free trial more than once, thus Amazon billing some people for the part they've already received as a free trial and leaving the HD part free for 90 days. 

Thanks, again, that is exactly my situation.

On 9/18/2019 at 7:07 AM, The Computer Audiophile said:

 

anyone have an MQA DAC to test the content from 2L. 2L delivers MQA to Qobuz whether they want it or not. 

 

This looks strange 24/48. This content is usually at much higher sample rates if left native. 

 

 

 

This was the problem I was stating earlier. I checked all my settings on Amazon and my Macbook. My Khadas Toneboard over USB can do DSD, so I don't think it's that. Yet, everytime I play anything ULTRAHD it downgrades to 16bit/44? Not sure what is going on? Not making want to sign up and trust this service.

 

 

 

 

@pwhinson i  totally disagree--- when Qobuz came online in the USA i tracked down @dmacktaon linkedin who responded immediately got me in contact with a young man in their nyc/brooklyn office who arranged for my 'french address' Qobuz account that i had for years(my address was oneida new france which i thought was really cute/cheeky since that is what ny and the north east would have been called if the french had won on the plains of abraham)-in any event this young rep had the account  transferred from france to a usa account with all my favorites all my hundreds of playlists and my itunes library he gave me a new new name and password and immediately answered all my questions----like Chris implied never probably happen with Amazon----check mr Mackta and @David Craff credentials i am sure they are just as impressive and more so and in @dmackta case he is/was deep into the music recording/label business in europe

both of them answer questions complaints etc very well

plus Qobuz integrates with Audirvana and ROON(as does TIDAL) and both 'players' forums blogs etc plus their presence on AS(just imagine @rickca's harvard law-EE at amazon directly answer you like the founder of Audirvana does @damien78-and makes changes 'on the fly' so to speak to make A+3.5 even better) make them invaluable to us at AS and i just don't see Amazon ever doing that unless they buy up ALL of them and they just want a market share and have no interest in audiophiles per se

Here's a strange quirk I found with Amazon Music HD and the BluOS Controller desktop app I'm using with the NAD C 658 DAC.

The number of tracks per album is mysteriously cut way down via the desktop app, but only when browsing Amazon.

Screenshot of the BluOS Controller desktop app for Pearl Jam's album Ten

Screenshot from the Amazon Music HD desktop app

Screenshot of the same album through the BluOS Controller app but using Qobuz

Screenshot of the BluOS iOS app for the album Ten

On 9/23/2019 at 9:25 AM, The Computer Audiophile said:

 

 

I've never had an Amazon Music subscription but I've been a Prime member forever. 

 

I signed up for the HD subscription at $12.99 per month. I haven't been billed yet. Amazon says my first bill is due December 16, 2019.

 

It looks like there are some edge cases where people get billed for part of this. It's how all free trials work on all services. You can't sign up for the free trial more than once, thus Amazon billing some people for the part they've already received as a free trial and leaving the HD part free for 90 days. 

 

 

Right, similarly here I signed up for Unlimited (mistakenly) and HD at the same time, haven't been billed for either.

Curious if when you install the Amazon Desktop App if there are any Sound Card settings to choose from? Someone previously mentioned wanting ASIO/WASPI support. If there are no such options I assume the App is just using the standard Windows driver (assuming your using Windows).

Using just the windows driver may call into question if playback is BitPerfect or not. I get that this is brand new and probably has plenty of updates to come in terms of the Amazon Desktop App itself but something to consider when comparing the Amazon offering to other well established alternatives like Roon..etc (for now).

I've not yet jumped into the Streaming world but without Apps like Roon/JRiver in line between a streaming service and my playback chain things like Room Correction are not an option. In my case, without Roon my Subs wont even work so it will be awhile before I see myself signing up for these types of services.

Long story short, I wouldn't stick the fork into Roon or similar Apps just yet just because the giant has walked into the room and IMO for this reason I see no reason why QoBuzz or Tidal have anything to worry about....yet

With that said, I certainly wouldn't complain if Roon decided to partner with Amazon for streaming given the attractive Amazon price compared to the others.

I don't like the idea of Amazon and music. That company is all about big profits.

Musicians and composers watch out!

This just in:

Fall in Love with Music All Over Again with Dolby Atmos on Echo Studio and Amazon Music HD

Dolby Atmos will revolutionize the way you enjoy music

Well, that's the expected Music HD compatible Echo. But Dolby Atmos music seems like an abomination. I'm sure most of us here turn processing off to listen to music in our home theaters. Now they're going to release albums specifically pre-processed for Atmos. I'm sure anyone's brain will feel tickled by all that at first, but we'll quickly notice a lack of detail and other disappointments.

13 hours ago, left channel said:

Well, that's the expected Music HD compatible Echo. But Dolby Atmos music seems like an abomination. I'm sure most of us here turn processing off to listen to music in our home theaters. Now they're going to release albums specifically pre-processed for Atmos. I'm sure anyone's brain will feel tickled by all that at first, but we'll quickly notice a lack of detail and other disappointments.

On the other hand if you're at all into old school-type discrete surround a la DVD-A/SACD this could be a godsend.

I mentioned to Qobuz that if they did integrate with HEOS (interesting why that didn't happen BTW), how would their (small) 5.1 catalogue behave?

Now we have a question as to what this Atmos material will do on Denon and Marantz AVRs via HEOS.

We have Blu Rays of INXS Kick, and R.E.M Automatic For the People with Atmos mixes on them so material is there already - in fact if you search Dolby Atmos in Amazon HD the latter is one of only three things that come up. Presents like 2.0 24/96 though.

Can't wait to get home later and run it through HEOS. I think streaming Hi-Res surround is something Qobuz should have gone further with but maybe you need Amazon scale and power to pull this off. Maybe it's the usual white elephant. Attach the term 3D to anything and it's over...

I'll have no further comment on the new Atmos support or surround sound in general, except to say that I'm willing to bet the average consumer will be more attracted to the Studio for that feature, while not really understanding the Hi-Res music aspect. The Amazon folks know what they're doing.

I was always a fan of DVD-A & SACD 5.1, so will give this a chance. I suppose it will work with any Atmos amps or soundbars & not just Amazon echo speakers.

In addition to Atmos, Sony's 360 Reality Audio is coming to Amazon Music HD:

https://www.engadget.com/2019/09/26/echo-studio-360-reality-audio/

Quote

Amazon's newest addition to its smart speaker lineup, the Echo Studio, doesn't only offer higher quality audio than its brethren. It also supports new audio technologies like Dolby Atmos and Sony's 360 Reality Audio for an immersive listening experience. To coincide with the launch of the speaker, Sony has announced that 360 Reality Audio content will soon be available to stream through Amazon Music HD.

The 360 Reality Audio format uses "object-based spatial audio technology" which maps out different types of sounds such as vocals or instruments with positional information.

Quote

As well as offering content via Amazon Music, Sony is also working on its own ecosystem of products based around 360 Reality Audio including headphones which are calibrated specifically to your ears using a smartphone app and speakers like the prototype Reality Audio speaker shown off at CES.

That sounds like it would be more interesting to more people than MQA on Tidal.  lol

Amazon could of course f*** it all up in the delivery and user experience.

Edited to add that back in January, Sony apparently stated they wanted 360 Reality Audio on other streaming services such as Deezer and Tidal, so there's that, I guess.  I've never heard of Deezer outside of people mentioning it here, whereas everyone I know in the real world is at least aware of Amazon, and everyone I know other than my mother has some kind of Amazon account already.  lol

Second edit:  Count me out on the Sony headphone app.  You have to take good resolution photos of your ears to share with Sony, who will then sell them to "security" companies or the NSA or Mossad or whomever.  As if facial recognition wasn't dangerous enough without detailed photos of our ears.  It's well known that identification of individuals by unique ear shape has been possible for decades.  (It was one of the ways in which that woman who claimed to be Anastasia was shown to be a fraud, before DNA testing was available.)  Make sure your tinfoil hat covers your ears, people! 

I just do not like Amazon is touching pretty much everything they can.

If this happened 10 years ago, I would welcomed it. But now, far less, even if this helps people to have interest in "HD" Music.

I am still surprised this company has not hammered with anti-trust lawsuits (well, based on how things going on Congress these days, it seems the day is coming soon or later) really.

The whole price tag is screaming subsidiy, and there has to be some sacrifice to make this happen, but at what expense?

current anti-trust doctrine requires a showing of harm to the consumer - that's why

but wait a while...

On 9/23/2019 at 7:12 PM, bobbmd said:

@pwhinson i  totally disagree--- when Qobuz came online in the USA i tracked down @dmacktaon linkedin who responded immediately got me in contact with a young man in their nyc/brooklyn office who arranged for my 'french address' Qobuz account that i had for years(my address was oneida new france which i thought was really cute/cheeky since that is what ny and the north east would have been called if the french had won on the plains of abraham)-in any event this young rep had the account  transferred from france to a usa account with all my favorites all my hundreds of playlists and my itunes library he gave me a new new name and password and immediately answered all my questions----like Chris implied never probably happen with Amazon----check mr Mackta and @David Craff credentials i am sure they are just as impressive and more so and in @dmackta case he is/was deep into the music recording/label business in europe

both of them answer questions complaints etc very well

plus Qobuz integrates with Audirvana and ROON(as does TIDAL) and both 'players' forums blogs etc plus their presence on AS(just imagine @rickca's harvard law-EE at amazon directly answer you like the founder of Audirvana does @damien78-and makes changes 'on the fly' so to speak to make A+3.5 even better) make them invaluable to us at AS and i just don't see Amazon ever doing that unless they buy up ALL of them and they just want a market share and have no interest in audiophiles per se

I had a Qobuz account for years which they changed to France when I could not download some music apparently not available in  the US. I also subscribed to their Sublime + and enjoyed to find a lot of interesting music, lot in hires. I recently asked them to change the langue to English or German as my French is very lacking so the account got changed to US. Now around 40% of my favorite list is inaccessible mostly the more interesting and obscure albums. After contacting support they made 2 of these available but that is little help for my selection. So I am quite disappointed with US version of Qobuz.

I just testing Amazon HD and I am not amazed by the availability of music in certain areas. Spotify has still the best catalog and maybe the best thing Amazon HD will do, is inducing Spotify to make lossless streaming available. 

My attempts to stream "ultraHD" have failed. Using the Amazon music app on my  Mac it tells  me the res of the album but refuses to play it at more than 16/44.1. And also tied to use it on my Astell&Kern but unto now it completely refused to play anything (no issues with Qobuz and Spotify)

5 hours ago, Superdad said:

 

And what I find most humorous is that the just-announced Amazon “Studio” wireless smart speaker with Dolby Atmos is a single, large-coffee-can-sized pod. Are we to believe that the Atmos DSP is so powerful that this speaker will throw sound in such a ventriloquist-like manner that we will be able to close our eyes and feel enveloped in a big wrap-around sound-stage? 

How’d that work out for the Apple HomePod and the dozen other lifestyle DSP speakers on the market?

 

”Alexa, file me in your database under not the rube you think I am.” 

Even Bose used two speakers.....

41 minutes ago, One and a half said:

Even Bose used two speakers.....

In their announcements they have suggested that people buy two Echo Studio units for their "home theaters". Sigh.

1 hour ago, left channel said:

 

In their announcements they have suggested that people buy two Echo Studio units for their "home theaters". Sigh.

Now that will be truly immersive. 3D.