[Ghoostknight]

Webplayers for streaming services will never support lossless properly, due to limitations of the browser. If you want proper support, Linux sadly isn’t a valid option due to most streaming services lacking dedicated client support for it, presumably due to its low market share. Even tidal’s web player doesn’t properly support it, but they lock down their high fidelity files under MQA anyways.

Firefox on Linux seems to work pretty well, with the qobuz webplayer it switches samplerates properly, chromium not so much, since it only plays in 48khz samplerate

 

[helloh3adfi]

Firefox on Linux seems to work pretty well, with the qobuz webplayer it switches samplerates properly, chromium not so much, since it only plays in 48khz samplerate

Have you made some experiences with the Linux application Strawberry Player?

 

[Evelyn Marie]

Sorry, it's not, their "exclusive" is just blocking other system sounds and maxing out in app volume, it's still shared or whatever you call it mode as picking up bitrate set in Control Panel, definitely not bit-perfect.
And it sounds shrilling sharp and flat comparing to same tracks in Qobuz which has more holographic and analog quality.

I highly disagree - I’ve noticed some severe differences in sound quality when I enable exclusive mode vs having it disabled, changes that are better, and it seems to be exclusive because I’ve heard my amp get louder despite in-app & windows volume being already maxed out so from what I can tell, it’s not shared. They probably changed their exclusive mode implementation recently.

EDIT: So I just checked and it is most definitely exclusive mode - when a music player is in WASAPI exclusive mode, it disables all tracking of audio signals across Windows and delegates all audio control to the respective DAC. You can see this when you go to System -> Sound -> Volume Mixer in Windows 11's Settings app and look at the "Volume" option at the top, above "Output device". Another sign of this is being unable to control the volume from within Windows via the Windows software volume control. So yes, Amazon Music does use WASAPI exclusive mode when "Exclusive mode" is toggled.

It should be noted as well that most tracks on Amazon Music are in standard lossless quality, in that the audio files are typically only 16-bit 44.1kHz or 24-bit 44.1kHz / 48 kHz, so that could be why some tracks have less fidelity compared to tracks on Qobuz. I am unable to test this personally though as Qobuz isn't available in Canada and won't be for another few months.

 

[Ghoostknight]

Have you made some experiences with the Linux application Strawberry Player?

nope, not with any music player yet, since i use a raspberry pi with moode mostly for listening to music (imo it sounds a little better than generic linux+pipewire+easyeffects which sounds better than windows+equalizerAPO) i actually just switched to linux on my desktop again to gain some sound quality while browsing/youtube/watching netflix etc, switching from chromium to firefox actually increases sound quality too (for windows and linux, tho i just checked for linux where the resampling with chromium takes place)

i took a look at strawberry and it looks fine, tho i havent looked for special features, i think there are a few options for linux out there, jriver and VLC for example, Clementine and Rythmbox look good too imo

 

[PixelSquish]

Apple Music is the better platform than TIDAL to me IMO because Apple Music doesn't lock down their highest bitrate files to an unpopular standard (MQA in the case of TIDAL) and it works seamlessly with AirPlay devices like audio receivers, speakers, and in general anything that works with AirPlay. It's kinda like Spotify Connect, but sadly exclusive to Apple devices or devices by businesses that enter into partnerships with Apple to include support for AirPlay 2.

Yeah I'm sure it works great, if you have Apple products. I use Android, and I prefer not to be stuck in Steve Jobs high-wall garden anyway, as you pointed out rather succinctly. So Sonos and JBL Flip 6's are it for me now and it all works fantastic with my P7P

 

[ptodorov0]

I waited for it to happen for two years and a few months ago after Ek didn’t meet his promise of Spotify HiFi once again I used some tool called Songshift to transfer my playlists to Apple Music. I am now using Spotify only in my car because it is better at building “radios” from a certain song and has better playlists for casual listening. I also like the UI/UX of Spotify more but I am willing to struggle with Apple Music in favour of better sound quality.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

I highly disagree - I’ve noticed some severe differences in sound quality when I enable exclusive mode vs having it disabled, changes that are better, and it seems to be exclusive because I’ve heard my amp get louder despite in-app & windows volume being already maxed out so from what I can tell, it’s not shared. They probably changed their exclusive mode implementation recently.

EDIT: So I just checked and it is most definitely exclusive mode - when a music player is in WASAPI exclusive mode, it disables all tracking of audio signals across Windows and delegates all audio control to the respective DAC. You can see this when you go to System -> Sound -> Volume Mixer in Windows 11's Settings app and look at the "Volume" option at the top, above "Output device". Another sign of this is being unable to control the volume from within Windows via the Windows software volume control. So yes, Amazon Music does use WASAPI exclusive mode when "Exclusive mode" is toggled.

It should be noted as well that most tracks on Amazon Music are in standard lossless quality, in that the audio files are typically only 16-bit 44.1kHz or 24-bit 44.1kHz / 48 kHz, so that could be why some tracks have less fidelity compared to tracks on Qobuz. I am unable to test this personally though as Qobuz isn't available in Canada and won't be for another few months.

It's not bitperfect and gets resampled by OS mixer to whatever bitrate is set for shared mode. If you have DAC that display input bitrate you can see it right away. Really no need to argue as it is well known issue I was fighting myself with Amazon support for almost a year. I have another HD trial active now and things didn't change.
The SQ difference you see is mostly from maxed out volume. It is not true bit perfect WASAPI exclusive that should bypass mixer altogether.

 

[Evelyn Marie]

It's not bitperfect and gets resampled by OS mixer to whatever bitrate is set for shared mode. If you have DAC that display input bitrate you can see it right away. Really no need to argue as it is well known issue I was fighting myself with Amazon support for almost a year. I have another HD trial active now and things didn't change.
The SQ difference you see is mostly from maxed out volume. It is not true bit perfect WASAPI exclusive that should bypass mixer altogether.

It does bypass the mixer on my machine. I just tested it. Maybe its a Windows quirk where sometimes it won't go fully exclusive, or you didn't enable the option for apps to take full control via exclusive mode. I don't know; all I know is that Amazon Music works the exact same way as TIDAL when it comes to turning on exclusive mode on my machine.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

How do you know that? Does your DAC display bitrate. If you set windows sound setting to 48khz and play 44.1 material what will it show?
It always follows setting in Windows regardless of the material.
We have discussed this to death in Amazon Music thread here, also check this

https://www.amazonforum.com/s/quest...h-doesnt-show-a-change-on-my-chord-qutest-dac

And there are more threads on Amazon support board.
I was even posting in this one
https://www.amazonforum.com/s/quest...mazon-music-hd-important-exclusive-mode-issue

 

[PixelSquish]

This more an android than a Tidal issue. It works flawlessly since day one from iOS devices to Sonos.

Well it's not technically in Android issue because it works perfectly with Spotify. It's a Tidal issue. It's on their developers not Android.

Also I'm never buying an apple product because I'm not being walled into their garden. I like to dabble in too much tech that I like to be forced to buy a single company's products.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

It does bypass the mixer on my machine. I just tested it. Maybe its a Windows quirk where sometimes it won't go fully exclusive, or you didn't enable the option for apps to take full control via exclusive mode. I don't know; all I know is that Amazon Music works the exact same way as TIDAL when it comes to turning on exclusive mode on my machine.

Exclusive mode is what it sounds like, it just means one device siezes the mixer. Exclusive mode is necessary for bitperfect, but it is not sufficient.

Set your sampling rate to something like this

If you play over scamazon desktop, what does your DAC display for sample rate?

 

[gallionetech]

I doubt it'll ever happen. IMO Spotify has the best discovery but one of the worst sound qualities. I just switched to Tidal from Apple music. Although Apple music has true lossless, I just had way too many issues with compatibility, airplay, etc... Tidal connect through my Bluesound Node to my Topping D90SE works great.

 

[pattont]

They also have the largest library.

Its not bad but the windows player literally never works properly.

And a couple weeks ago, someone deleted my work playlist which had about 8000 tracks in it.

You can restore deleted playlists.

https://support.spotify.com/us/article/save-recover-playlists/

 

[Evelyn Marie]

Well it's not technically in Android issue because it works perfectly with Spotify. It's a Tidal issue. It's on their developers not Android.

Also I'm never buying an apple product because I'm not being walled into their garden. I like to dabble in too much tech that I like to be forced to buy a single company's products.

I disagree with the whole being walked into a garden sentiment. I have an iPhone but that’s about it. I use products from other companies all the time. The whole “walled garden” thing is IMO something that can be ignored and isn’t entirely true. You don’t have to use all of Apple’s products, you can only use one and still be happy.

But people who prefer Android typically won’t go and try iOS anyways because of their enthusiasm and preference for the Android platform.

 

[ThanatosVI]

I disagree with the whole being walked into a garden sentiment. I have an iPhone but that’s about it. I use products from other companies all the time. The whole “walled garden” thing is IMO something that can be ignored and isn’t entirely true. You don’t have to use all of Apple’s products, you can only use one and still be happy.

But people who prefer Android typically won’t go and try iOS anyways because of their enthusiasm and preference for the Android platform.

Biggest issue are the different UI and controls.
If you're used to one it's hard to switch to the other