Amazon High Definition Music Streaming Service

[Patrick Cleasby]

On a Mac use the desktop app, let it control your Mac audio settings, restart it and see the correct colour lights come up on your Mojo (or similar)

[Patrick Cleasby]

Having trouble (Audio/Midi settings and all that) getting it happy playing 24/192 so far...

[Patrick Cleasby]

(You click on the Ultra HD icon at the bottom left to view Bit Depth and SR of the track, the interface, and what it's currently playing at)

[Patrick Cleasby]

If you set it to 24-192 (or higher) you lose that icon and everything goes out at that. If you set it to 24-96 it doesn't auto-sense the step up on 24-192 material.

 

Needs more investigation!

[PAR]

Looks like it has a 90 day free trial period. Rather generous.

 

So far I can't find anything about it on Amazon.co.uk . So is it USA launch only or even just USA only?

 

Anyway it is called Amazon HD and HD  according to their own information means 16/44.1.  However they seem to also be saying that they are offering Ultra HD which is up to 24/192. That is interested considering some of the rumours that had it limited to 24/48 at one point.

 

If it ever turns up over this side of the pond I will certainly try it. 

 

Given the pricing I would suspect a blow to Tidal and Qobuz. And the fact they are doing it without MQA I would guess as an even more serious blow to Mr.Stuart.

[PAR]

8 minutes ago, Patrick Cleasby said:

If you set it to 24-192 (or higher) you lose that icon and everything goes out at tha

Does that mean that it is just upsampling?

[Patrick Cleasby]

5 minutes ago, PAR said:

Does that mean that it is just upsampling?

 

Even though it takes control it doesn't seem to switch so just follows what Audio Midi is set at. So yes. This could just be my Mojo issues. Needs a play with a variety of interfaces.

 

Until it gets fixed and tracks what it is supposed to do I would manage this by setting the Audio Midi to what it should be.

 

Another bug is that the Ultra HD playback icon (the resolution detail) can disappear once you start fiddling. to bring it back you reload your music and restart the app.

 

I wish I'd brought my CCK so I could try it with the phone!

 

 

[Patrick Cleasby]

9 minutes ago, PAR said:

Looks like it has a 90 day free trial period. Rather generous.

 

So far I can't find anything about it on Amazon.co.uk . So is it USA launch only or even just USA only?

 

Anyway it is called Amazon HD and HD  according to their own information means 16/44.1.  However they seem to also be saying that they are offering Ultra HD which is up to 24/192. That is interested considering some of the rumours that had it limited to 24/48 at one point.

 

If it ever turns up over this side of the pond I will certainly try it. 

 

Given the pricing I would suspect a blow to Tidal and Qobuz. And the fact they are doing it without MQA I would guess as an even more serious blow to Mr.Stuart.

 

I'm on UK. You just need to google amazon unlimited HD. It's only 90 if you haven't tried them before else it's 30.

[Patrick Cleasby]

www.amazon.co.uk/HD/Music

[PAR]

Thanks Patrick. Between  my last post and your response I found it and signed on. However as it only appears to offer pop music from the home page  I will cancel shortly. As you are using it right now and have , oh, minutes more experience then me with it do you agree that it is pop only - no jazz, no classical?

 

For me to listen to it properly BTW means getting my music PC out of "storage"  and rigging it up my USB connection.

[Patrick Cleasby]

They have Ultra HD playlists for the basic genres. The Jazz is obvious stuff. But I can see my son's new record in 24 bit so...

[PAR]

1 minute ago, Patrick Cleasby said:

But I can see my son's new record i

Does that mean he is a performer or is it the new record that he just bought?

[The Computer Audiophile]

4 minutes ago, Patrick Cleasby said:

www.amazon.co.uk/HD/Music

I couldn't get that link to work. Here is one that works. If anyone wants to avoid sending us a few pennies they can remove the tag at the end - https://www.amazon.co.uk/music/unlimited/hd?tag=audiophile0bc-20

[Patrick Cleasby]

1 minute ago, PAR said:

Does that mean he is a performer or is it the new record that he just bought?

 

He's Kansas Smittys/Judi Jackson/Mark Kavuma's drummer. Check The Banger Factory album. Launching at Jazz Cafe tomorrow.

 

[Patrick Cleasby]

I'm listening to Sons of Kemet in 24 bit now so...

[PAR]

I bow in admiration. Kansas Smitty's are bloody amazing!!!

[Patrick Cleasby]

4 minutes ago, PAR said:

I bow in admiration. Kansas Smitty's are bloody amazing!!!

 

Have you seen them?

[Patrick Cleasby]

5 minutes ago, PAR said:

I bow in admiration. Kansas Smitty's are bloody amazing!!!

 

Old School gig Oct 13 at Kansas Smittys. Bokk now. Come down. And come tomorrow!

[Patrick Cleasby]

13 minutes ago, PAR said:

Thanks Patrick. Between  my last post and your response I found it and signed on. However as it only appears to offer pop music from the home page  I will cancel shortly. As you are using it right now and have , oh, minutes more experience then me with it do you agree that it is pop only - no jazz, no classical?

 

For me to listen to it properly BTW means getting my music PC out of "storage"  and rigging it up my USB connection.

 

Listening to latest Branford right now

[PAR]

Just found that you need to install a desktop app. It took about ten minutes for a balloon to show instructing me. Hopefully I will find the repertoire that I want .

[PAR]

Well, very disappointed with the classical offering. Like Tidal they don't really seem to know what classical music actually is so a huge proportion seems to be crossover stuff; stage musicals, movie soundtracks etc. Of the rest nearly all currently seems to be from UMG or Naxos.  I love the classical playlist " Music for your Pets". At least we know now this is a serious place to go for high art 😉

 

 Well, it is only day one so let's see. But my Qobuz subscription doesn't seem to be in danger.

[PAR]

21 minutes ago, Patrick Cleasby said:

Have you seen them?

No, sadly, but I have heard them on Clare Teals' Sunday show though and I did see one member ( clarinet) at last year's Guy Barker's Christmas Show at the RAH.

21 minutes ago, Patrick Cleasby said:

Old School gig Oct 13 at Kansas Smittys. Bokk now. Come down. And come tomorrow!

I would love to go but unfortunately not possible for me 😭. Canonbury isn't it?

[PAR]

Just a further update for classical fans. There is a good catalogue on Amazon HD but it takes finding as they don't have anything currently to match e.g. the Qobuz new release home page ( Discovery). So it isn't too friendly to navigate and I found that  rather than selecting Genre, just entering a term in the search bar produced the best results. I am sure that it will suit many people though.

[wgscott]

The player doesn't do automatic sample frequency switching on a Mac OS X system, so if you have this, be sure to set this manually in Audio MIDI Setup.

 

Also, I had to max out the volume on the player software, and in the Preferences, turn off the default "loudness equalization", all of which, I assume, will degrade sound quality.

 

The search/browser functionality is a travesty.

[The Computer Audiophile]

4 hours ago, wgscott said:

The player doesn't do automatic sample frequency switching on a Mac OS X system, so if you have this, be sure to set this manually in Audio MIDI Setup.

 

Also, I had to max out the volume on the player software, and in the Preferences, turn off the default "loudness equalization", all of which, I assume, will degrade sound quality.

 

The search/browser functionality is a travesty.

Reminds me of the old iTunes days. Manual sample rate switching. 

 

The only way to use Amazon Music HD is with an integrated solution like BluOS that handles everything for you. The rest is rubbish. I'm working on a video with some thoughts so far.