Article: Amazon Music HD Launches

[The Computer Audiophile]

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[The Computer Audiophile]

5 minutes ago, ssh said:

The link doesn't work.

try now

[The Computer Audiophile]

I signed up and the HD service and see wha Amazon calls Ultra HD. More to come ...

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Using BluOS, this abum shows an HR logo, perhaps for high resolution. 

 

 

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

The Miles Davis is playing at 24/96 according to my DAC which is receiving input from a BluOS device that supports Amazon Music HD. 

 

 

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

This affiliate link works for the UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/music/unlimited/hd?tag=audiophile0bc-20

 

Remove my tag if you don't want to toss us a few pennies :~)

 

 

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

5 minutes ago, mansr said:

How did you find it?

Snooped around. There is a small banner on the US home page but it doesn't even work.

 

 

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Desktop app is required for HD playback on computer. No surprise though.

 

 

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Some settings to change on the desktop app:

 

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

31 minutes ago, greyscale said:

I tried the Amazon service, i then cancelled. Allowing customers to sample only 30 seconds of a song is not acceptable.

Searching for Classical music brings up TRACKS not Albums. Also, the fonts in the App are way too small, So, I'll keep Qobuz  (for now) and will check the price on Amazon to see If the buz price can be beat.

If you sign up you can listen to the whole track 😁

[The Computer Audiophile]

35 minutes ago, kirkmc said:

So are they applying DRM to FLAC files, or are they using Apple Lossless? Because it's always possible to retrieve files from a cache, so they must have some form of DRM. Anyone have any thoughts on how they could be doing this? 

All services that allow offline music use DRM. All streaming services also have to use watermarked content if provided by the label. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

43 minutes ago, joelha said:

Taking the risk that there's an obvious answer to my question, what can I do if I want to stream HD music from my NAS? 

 

Joel

You can store the Amazon Music HD downloaded / offline music on a NAS and stream it from there. 

 

Here is the setting.

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

7 minutes ago, cscamp said:

This announcement may not sound like a big deal but it is. Tidal and Qobuz gets competition, but with a lower price. I signed up myself and will test it on my Bluesound Node and PowerNode. Maybe this is why my Bluesound devices have been asking to update for a few days now.

 

Jay-Z wont be sleeping tonight. Will Tidal lower their price tomorrow?
 

RIP Qobuz. You never had a chance. Roon integration would be nice, but i doubt it.

The rumours of Qobuz's demise are greatly exaggerated :~)

 

I don't shop at Walmart, I prefer boutique shops with customer service and proprietors who care about each customer. I see Qobuz as fitting this niche for audiophiles. We like to communicate to the companies when metadata is incorrect or playback settings are messed up for some USB DACs etc... This will never happen with Amazon. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

4 minutes ago, kennyb123 said:

 

Why don't you enlighten us instead of taking a swipe at me?  

 

I'm familiar with the x.509 standard - but was only trying to be helpful to the conversation.  Why not try to be helpful yourself?  

 

And as an FYI, I got that idea from my day job. We ship products that 95% of Fortune 500 companies trust to secure their web traffic. 

 

He wasn't addressing you. He was addressing Kirk.

[The Computer Audiophile]

Just now, kennyb123 said:

 

Yeah my bad.  I deleted my comment after seeing this.  My point is still valid.  Why did he need to take a swipe at Kirk?  Why couldn't he have just corrected the statement as I did?  

Agree.

[The Computer Audiophile]

Just now, joelha said:

Thanks for the idea, Chris. 

 

If I'm understanding you right, this would be a two step process, is that right? 

 

If so, at least in some cases, better than nothing. 

 

Joel

I don't think I understand what you ideally want. 

 

What I described enables the Amazon desktop app to store music on one's NAS. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

7 minutes ago, Archimago said:

 

I don't think Amazon cares about the audiophile market at all - nor should they. Hi-res IMO for them is just a checkbox item to say they could do it. Hi-res streaming with the bandwidth we have these days costs peanuts and if this is their way to differentiate themselves from everyone else and tell the world they can do it ALL - lossy, lossless, hi-res at a competitive price, it's a fine business tactic to grab as many customers as they can.

 

As we all know, bandwidth is not an issue. MQA was always barking up the wrong tree to claim that their proprietary compression scheme was anything more than a transitional step just slightly ahead of lossless 16/44 (ignoring the other nonsense like "authentication" and BS around "deblurring" to make us think there was anything more). Well, it looks like Amazon has now leap-frogged over everyone; including Apple, Tidal, Spotify and on the same streaming playing field as Qobuz.

 

This is clearly very big news. I feel bad for the little guys even though as a consumer, I'm happy to give this a try when it comes to Canada (which is still awaiting Qobuz).

 

 

Your comment reminds me of all the barking done by MQA Ltd and @Lee Scoggins about high resolution's inability to scale because the files were just so dang huge. It just scaled bigly :~)

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 minute ago, emcdade said:

I prefer Costco’s streaming service.

The one where you stream into the store and your money streams into the cash register?

[The Computer Audiophile]

Just received a press release from Lenbrook / NAD / Bluesound / BluOS. It contains some info about the partnership with Amazon for this new service. Mainly stuff we all know, but want to post it anyway. It's attached.

 

I requested an NAD C 658 DAC with BluOS integrated for review. Could be a great solution for $1,649. 

NR BluOS Among First to Integrate with Amazon Music HD 18SEP2019.pdf

[The Computer Audiophile]

17 minutes ago, rickca said:

@The Computer Audiophile have you sent Amazon an invitation to have a representative participate in the forum here on AS?

 

I'm thinking about the audio writers who have gone all in with MQA.  I hope this is giving them conniptions.

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

 

With respect to those all in on MQA, truth and facts don't matter. They will see a way around this huge loss and reframe it as a win. They are quite Presidential. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 hour ago, AudioDoctor said:

 

Chris, I get this when I click your link:

 

 

Try this link

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 minute ago, IH8usrnames said:

Waiting with baited breath for the NAD C658 to support it.

Should support it now. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

46 minutes ago, Gus141 said:

Can’t Get 24/192 on Bluesound Node 2i.

 

Neil Diamond - 50th Anniversary Collection, Sweet Caroline:

AMZ app (iPad) says 24/192 available and plays that way to external DAC connected via CCK; added that track to library; played that track via BlueSound’s iOS app to Node 2i connected to RME ADI-2 DAC: the DAC reports it is playing 24/96 not 24/192. Play the same track via Qobuz through the same Node 2i/RME setup and the RME DAC reports it is getting 24/192.  Weird that the Amazon stream is downgraded to 96 for this 192 album (tried other songs on this album between AMZ and Qobuz: AMZ plays as 96 on Node 2i, Qobuz plays as 192 on same Node 2i). Maybe this is Amazon doing some dynamic quality control based on network speed, but if that’s the case funny that Qobuz didn’t have a problem with my network.

 

Another example.

J.S. Ondara, Tales of America:

24/192 on Qobuz ->Node 2i-(Coax)->RME ADI-2 DAC;

24/192 on Amazon iOS app on iPad-(CCK)->external DACs;

but, BluOS Amazon Music plays this album as 24/96 on Node 2i-(Coax)->RME ADI-2 DAC

 

@cscamp and @The Computer Audiophile have you been able to get 24/192 from Amazon Music out of your BluOS devices to an external DAC? What tracks? I’ll try them.

 

I received this from my Lenbrook / Blusound contact:

 

”What I can say at the moment is BluOS supports the new service, it’s available now to all BluOS enabled devices in US, UK, Germany, and Japan; there are two tiers: UHD and HD.”

 

I need more info on the two tier thing. So far my streams have been at 96k. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Follow up. 

 

It’s my understanding that the tiers are HD and Ultra HD. HD means CD quality to Amazon and Ultra HD is anything higher. 

 

More to come about BluOS streaming 96 and 192. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

4 hours ago, shadowlight said:

I am hoping someone analysis the stream to make sure that it's not MQA in another format.

 

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.