Article: Amazon Music HD Launches

[Superdad]

What these "hi-res" streaming services never tell you is the provenance/version of the mastering they are streaming.  This is relevant especially with older material for which there may exist at least a dozen versions.  I have downloaded HD releases, and ripped SACDs of many titles only to be sorely disappointed in the SQ in comparison to the better Redbook version of same. And I am not alone in this.

And with the streaming services one never knows how many times the files were manipulated throughout their path to the drives from which they are eventually streamed.  How many cycles of compression, up/down sampling, etc. take place?  And that's even assuming the source was close to an original master as completed in the studio.

 

I'm all for choice, I just like to have some idea of what I'm getting...

[Superdad]

1 hour ago, miguelito said:

Unfortunately most Echo devices are terrible sounding.

Hi Miguel: 

I am pretty sure that @kirkmc was being sarcastic regarding Amazon Echos benefiting from the HD service.  

[Superdad]

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

[Superdad]

21 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

I've been trying to contact someone at Amazon for months about this, but I got crickets.

 

Yes, they have a surprisingly large selection of those--live.  Strangely, none via Prime. 

https://www.amazon.com/Joshs-Frogs-Large-Banded-Crickets/dp/B01017L5CI

 

 

[Superdad]

1 hour ago, photonman said:

On the Mac, we have to set the audio output to 24 bit 192 Khz in Audio Midi so this sounds like we are in the same situation with needing exclusive mode on the Mac application?

 

Yes, and then if you play a 16/44.1 track you'd best set AudioMidi Setup back to that--otherwise you end up with macOS Core Audio engine doing its poor-sounding upsampling!  This exact issue is what drove the initial market for the apps Ammara, Pure Music, and Aurdivana years ago. 

[Superdad]

1 hour ago, charlesphoto said:

 

Nice boots and belt buckle Charles. But you might want to ease up on the cervezas. 

[Superdad]

1 hour ago, Abstraction said:

...  but the reason musicians can't make a living is because people listen everyday to an album that is 20 years old. 

 

Well I’m 57 and I listen almost every day to a couple of albums made 4 years before I was born! 

Of course I also listen to a lot of music produced in this decade as well...

I’m sure in the minority as I mostly buy CDs (I have 4,000+ LPs, but stopped buying vinyl about a decade ago).

[Superdad]

10 hours ago, One and a half said:

Here they are again with Atmos, what's the minimum channel count, 14 something? I only have two ears.

 

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.”