Amazon Music HD Launches

31 minutes ago, keeper said:

Lots of technical detail, however the whole point of music is to listen and enjoy what you hear.

Technical details aside how do people think it sounds from an enjoyment factor?

A day in I think I prefer the outputted sound to Apple Music.

Technical details aside, I've seen reviews here and on other forums preferring the sound of Qobuz over Amazon Music HD, and all but one review preferring the sound of Tidal over Amazon Music HD. But the reasons are likely in the technical details of the local players that will remain obscure to most consumers, and your preference for Amazon Music HD over Apple Music is probably a more important indicator of commercial success.

I have been trying to add artists to favorites using the Bluesound app.  I contacted Amazon and I was told that this cannot be done.  Only albums and tracks can be saved.  The inability to create a list of favorite artists with Amazon is both surprising and unfortunate because it is so straightforward with Tidal.  Has anyone else encountered this?

so here are 3 spectrums. The first is a redbook CD where you can clearly see the cutoff just below 20KHz. The middle is a vinyl record I recorded at higher resolution which shows energy way above 20K. The bottom is Whole Lotta Love I purchased and downloaded from Amazon HD. It is listed as Ultra HD 24/96. I downloaded it and came as an MP3 file and the spectrum shows it has the same upper limit as a CD.

I suppose it is possible that the download is different than the file you play on the Amazon app, but if I'm paying for an Ultra HD song that is what I expect to get. I don't know how to capture the spectrum as it plays from the app. working on figuring it out

4 hours ago, Jeremy Anderson said:

For those seeking the same, you have to go into your DAC's sound settings and change the Default Format sample rate and bit depth to match the track in question.

How-To:

Type or paste into file explorer.  

"Control Panel\Hardware and Sound"

10 minutes ago, bbosler said:

so here are 3 spectrums. The first is a redbook CD where you can clearly see the cutoff just below 20KHz. The middle is a vinyl record I recorded at higher resolution which shows energy way above 20K. The bottom is Whole Lotta Love I purchased and downloaded from Amazon HD. It is listed as Ultra HD 24/96. I downloaded it and came as an MP3 file and the spectrum shows it has the same upper limit as a CD.

 

I suppose it is possible that the download is different than the file you play on the Amazon app, but if I'm paying for an Ultra HD song that is what I expect to get. I don't know how to capture the spectrum as it plays from the app. working on figuring it out

Did you set your download and offline settings to the highest setting?

Quote

 

Did you set your download and offline settings to the highest setting?

Ahh HA !!! download is set to standard... I will try again

here is a screen shot of preferences and the spectrum of a download of Living Loving Maid I purchased after I set it up like this

3 hours ago, Jud said:

 

Loudness has nothing to do with resolution, so if it's louder it's for one of two reasons:

 

Very unlikely, Amazon's doing something to the file.

 

Much more likely, the fact that the music goes through your non-bit-perfect computer/player/device settings could easily be responsible for increased loudness.

In my case, the "Loudness Normalization" was on by default when I reinstalled the app (following your directions).  I am almost positive it wasn't like that before, so that it didn't inherit this setting.  Also, the volume was attenuated (which would compress the dynamic range, paradoxically making it sound "louder.")

So, if these settings were in fact the default in the high-res player, Amazon is doing something to playback by default (that can then be changed in the "advanced" preferences), albeit not to the files themselves.

Is there a iphone app for the Amazon HD music?

1 minute ago, ajay556 said:

Is there a iphone app for the Amazon HD music?

yes

2 hours ago, Superdad said:

Wake me when I can use Roon to browse and play/stream these new full-res Amazon tracks...

That's my stance too. Qobuz/Roon work perfectly for me at the present time. I'm not saying that Amazon won't squash the "smaller" streaming services if they want, but currently, I am well cared for.

and here is Living Loving Maid downloaded from HDtracks as a 24/96 file. The download from Amazon is only 5.4 Mb, from HDtracks it is 92Mb

45 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Bluesound and BluOS now support 24/192 from Amazon Music HD. Update your device is you haven't already today. 

Good news that Amazon is letting access to other UIs... Maybe there's hope for Roon.

2 hours ago, miguelito said:

Good news that Amazon is letting access to other UIs... Maybe there's hope for Roon.

There's hope for Roon as long as supposed audiophiles don't bend over for Amazon in order to cheap out. May as well just forget all the linear power supplies, cables, etc and  just get a Bose or a Sonos. It's really the same thing, all this talk of jumping ship. 

I'm getting 16bit streaming of "Kind of Blue" on my Macbook. It says the device is capable of 24bit/96 and the track is available in 24bit/96 but it's relegating it to 16bit. Is there something I am doing wrong? I notice other tracks by other artists in 24/96 are having the same outcome. 

Can't see any reason why Tidal etc wont go bust, they are already losing money at their current pricing. Tidal hifi has given me alot of pleasure and also had a positive effect on mastering quality since labels can easily compare tracks. I feel sorry for them.