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Article: UPDATE: Amazon Music HD Is Still Lossy*


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4 hours ago, 57gold said:

Man, I'm confused.  Have the Amazon app on my music Mac Mini, pay for HD version, and who I played a couple of new albums yesterday - Dave Grissom's, Matt Scofield's and a tune by Scary Goldings with Josh Smith (I like guitar).  It all sounded pretty nice and my Mytek B+ displayed that the files fed by USB from Mini to B+ were CD quality? 

 

Not sure how to find stuff on Amazon Music HD that is higher resolution than CD quality to test? 

 

FWIW, the Mini is connected to the web by WiFi (Netgear hub is in next room, 6 ft linear from the Mini).

 

 

The issue is the Amazon app sends it to Windows mixer where it gets altered. If you set your Windows mixer to hi-res then it will stay in that sample rate. Still won't be bit perfect.

Main listening (small home office):

Main setup: Surge protector +>Isol-8 Mini sub Axis Power Strip/Isolation>QuietPC Low Noise Server>Roon (Audiolense DRC)>Stack Audio Link II>Kii Control>Kii Three (on their own electric circuit) >GIK Room Treatments.

Secondary Path: Server with Audiolense RC>RPi4 or analog>Cayin iDAC6 MKII (tube mode) (XLR)>Kii Three .

Bedroom: SBTouch to Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Setup.
Living Room/Kitchen: Ropieee (RPi3b+ with touchscreen) + Schiit Modi3E to a pair of Morel Hogtalare. 

All absolute statements about audio are false :)

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25 minutes ago, 57gold said:

 

OK, so how "imperfect" are they with no digital attenuation in terms of signal/data degradation?  Are they taking a CD or better signal and converting it to MP3 compressed quality?  Or something better but not 100% of the original file quality?  

 

Seems dumb for Amazon to advertise HD and then not deliver it, especially when they charge extra for it and it's not like they do not have the resources to develop an app that delivers as advertised.  

Seems dumb? Yes, but only if you think like a normal person and not like a predatory corporation. They advertize "HD" and then include also include regular CD quality as "HD". Of course they have the resources to develop an app that would playback everything bit perfect - it would be trivial for them. But they don't care - why not charge customers for something that isn't quite up to snuff if you can get away with it? Except for people who read sites such as this one, no one even knows it's happening - it's behind the scenes in the app. At some point they will probably improve the app...

As far as SQ, it's probably not a huge degredation. The issue is that if you are paying for audiophile quality and high res, that's what they should be giving you - the hi res file as it exists, not a version altered behind the scenes. 

Main listening (small home office):

Main setup: Surge protector +>Isol-8 Mini sub Axis Power Strip/Isolation>QuietPC Low Noise Server>Roon (Audiolense DRC)>Stack Audio Link II>Kii Control>Kii Three (on their own electric circuit) >GIK Room Treatments.

Secondary Path: Server with Audiolense RC>RPi4 or analog>Cayin iDAC6 MKII (tube mode) (XLR)>Kii Three .

Bedroom: SBTouch to Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Setup.
Living Room/Kitchen: Ropieee (RPi3b+ with touchscreen) + Schiit Modi3E to a pair of Morel Hogtalare. 

All absolute statements about audio are false :)

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  • 3 months later...
4 hours ago, Pro Jules said:

Yeah.

 

Also it would be nice if Roon accommodated Spotify HiFi

Spotify won't give up it's GUI to Roon.

If Roon wants to integrate Spotify streaming in some form, it will have to compromise on it's own GUI.

I think that will only happen if it sees Qobuz and Tidal subscirbers leaving for Spotify hifi

Main listening (small home office):

Main setup: Surge protector +>Isol-8 Mini sub Axis Power Strip/Isolation>QuietPC Low Noise Server>Roon (Audiolense DRC)>Stack Audio Link II>Kii Control>Kii Three (on their own electric circuit) >GIK Room Treatments.

Secondary Path: Server with Audiolense RC>RPi4 or analog>Cayin iDAC6 MKII (tube mode) (XLR)>Kii Three .

Bedroom: SBTouch to Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Setup.
Living Room/Kitchen: Ropieee (RPi3b+ with touchscreen) + Schiit Modi3E to a pair of Morel Hogtalare. 

All absolute statements about audio are false :)

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