Article: Amazon Music HD Launches

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16 hours 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. 

 

Hi Chris,

 

Didn't know you had Benchmark gear. Many many years ago I thought you did a review of the original Benchmark DAC 1 and added it in your CASH list. It's not there anymore so did I imagine it? Are you planning a review of the DAC3? 

 

Apologies for the off topic but I just bought 2 x DAC2s for less than US$1,000 each. Best HiFi bargain going around in my very humble opinion.

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6 hours ago, PAR said:

I do have  DAC that reports bit depth but unfortunately I can't access my audio system until the builders that are carrying out work at my place quit. However,as a corollary I haven't found any 24/44.1 files from Qobuz that display as 16 bit when played.

 

Nevertheless I have always had a suspicion that there is something odd about 24/44.1 recordings. After all if you are going to master @24 bit why do this with a sample rate of 44.1 when, almost certainly if you have a 24 bit ADC , 96KS/s is available to you? It is also not a standard for supplying to clients  in the A.E.S. guide to studios where 24/96 is the recommended minimum.

 

Having met many administrators at record companies over the years I have to say that not all are particularly technically savvy. So imagine that Amazon asks or even requires a record label now to send it 24 bit files in preference. That instruction gets passed to whoever sends out files to radio stations, streaming services etc. They therefore ask the studio ( nowadays probably independent) to send them a copy file of a given album but in 24 bit. The studio finds that their copy master is 16 bit. But their client has requested 24 bit. So they take the master and run it through a sample rate converter and , hey presto, 24 bit. The studio has met its client's request and the record label Amazon's. Everyone is happy. Nobody outside the studio  is any the wiser until somebody analyses it.

 

Fictional?  The record industry will supply whatever format is wanted, just how it does it can be open to question; from LPs cut from CDs , CD's mastered from old LPs, mono recordings made into artificial stereo ones etc. etc.

Hi PAR,

 

FYI the Society of Sound recordings, a joint venture between Peter Gabriele and B & W speakers, were originally distributed at 24/48 and sounded amazing. Their files were available as downloads and you received 12 albums of "new" artists for 50 GBP. It was Gabriel's way of giving back by helping new artists get a start. Good bloke.

 

The several albums I received were very good in terms of the music, however, the sound quality was simply stunning, certainly the best recorded sound I have heard to this day. I'll never forget my then 12 year old son coming into my home office one night and exclaiming "that's spooky Dad, it's like she's in the room with us". 

 

At that time (about 2011) their web site quoted an English professor in psychoacoustics who stated that the bit rate was more important than the sample rate, however, I note more recently they have increased the sample rate to 96. I assume as you suggest that their ADC equipment was capable of 96, and with the increase in bandwidth and better internet speeds why not take out some "insurance" and ensure they left nothing on the table, however, from what I was hearing through my then Benchmark DAC1 and ADAM A7 active speakers, I doubt it was really necessary.