[Soundizer]

Tidal (previously WiMP in Europe) launched in the US in late 2014 with users complaining of drop outs, erratic playback, all sorts of SQ problems. It was not reliable then while Qobuz was. Except those in the US could only subscribe to Qobuz at that time using a VPN. Jay-Z bought Tidal in early 2015 and exclusive mode was still not available until after MQA support came along in 2016. So there is still hope for improvement in Amazon Music HD.

Yes, it will have a few hurdles. Even newly launched Disney+ has had issues.

i just hope they introduce Exclusive mode for Computer Software and stop upsampling.

 

[grokit]

I have Amazon HD, and am currently trialing Qobuz. I like them both but for some reason I am missing Tidal, which I had for a few months. They're all great, and they all suck in some way or another. There is no 'right' answer, but I'm leaning toward just sticking with Amazon HD unless I need Roon integration, which I do not.

 

[exdmd]

From reports it seems sound quality for Amazon Music HD is better on Mac or iPhone than Windows 10 or Android even with the re-sampling. I only subscribe to Qobuz now but don't have a problem with Tidal. I know they worked hard to improve their app and streaming. Sound quality of Masters letting the Tidal desktop app do the first unfold to 24/96 was enjoyable when I subscribed and Tidal is from reports more stable than Qobuz right now. I am sure Qobuz will catch up though.

Qobuz is adding so many new albums daily that for me the $14.99 monthly cost is the bargain. I already paid for Audirvana so no issues with playback. If Amazon just added exclusive mode and sound quality matched Qobuz they could take over streaming. Nice to have choices though, I hope Qobuz can survive after cutting prices.

 

[Soundizer]

From reports it seems sound quality for Amazon Music HD is better on Mac or iPhone than Windows 10 or Android even with the re-sampling. I only subscribe to Qobuz now but don't have a problem with Tidal. I know they worked hard to improve their app and streaming. Sound quality of Masters letting the Tidal desktop app do the first unfold to 24/96 was enjoyable when I subscribed and Tidal is from reports more stable than Qobuz right now. I am sure Qobuz will catch up though.

Qobuz is adding so many new albums daily that for me the $14.99 monthly cost is the bargain. I already paid for Audirvana so no issues with playback. If Amazon just added exclusive mode and sound quality matched Qobuz they could take over streaming. Nice to have choices though, I hope Qobuz can survive after cutting prices.

Totally agree.

 

[brianlg]

Really enjoying Amazon Music HD. Here's my wishlist:

• Need to fix the mix of having HD and Ultra HD on the same album release. This is very sloppy.
  
• Option for Grid view on all playlists. Especially for Recently Added. It's weird scrolling through my recently added albums in song view. Would also like this for personal playlists.
  
• Option to click on and enlarge the album artwork in a high res form.
  
• Better handling of explicit tags. They need to strip them from the album name and song names and make a little icon for them or something to identify explicit version (similar to the icon for Ultra HD)
• Ability to change the sort of "Popular Albums" to "Release Date"

 

[Brava210]

Question.
Why does my fiio m6 play tracks at a higher Khz than my LG V40.
It plays a lot of tracks at 24 bit 96khz
LG tops out at 48khz even though device is capable of 196khz.

 

[Left Channel]

Question.
Why does my fiio m6 play tracks at a higher Khz than my LG V40.
It plays a lot of tracks at 24 bit 96khz
LG tops out at 48khz even though device is capable of 196khz.

The Amazon app does not make full use of the Quad DAC in your V40, which would require that the app bypass the problem of Android operating system resampling of all music to 16/48. The FiiO M6 contains a customized Android OS that does not resample the music.

For comparison, on your V40 the Tidal app would bypass the resampling for MQA tracks, but not for other tracks. The Qobuz app also allows resampling of all tracks. The UAPP app does bypass that resampling, and supports Tidal and Qobuz, but not Amazon because Amazon does not (yet?) allow UAPP to offer that option. So for Amazon, your FiiO M6 is the best player you have.

 

[Brava210]

Thankyou LC,
I have been listening to David Bowie on the Fiio today playing at 24bit 192Khz, sounded very good.

 

[Brava210]

So is IOS better for Amazon?
with an external DAC?

The FiiO M6 is an android unit though is it not?
why does Amazon play as it should through this?

Sorry for all the questions.

Gary

 

[Soundizer]

So is IOS better for Amazon?
with an external DAC?

The FiiO M6 is an android unit though is it not?
why does Amazon play as it should through this?

Sorry for all the questions.

Gary

I don’t think [iOS is better with External DAC] vs the FiiO M6, because there is the problem of upsampling everything for Amazon Music HD iOS App, Tidal HIFI works at correct Rates, but not Amazon Music currently.

 

[Left Channel]

The FiiO M6 is an android unit though is it not?
why does Amazon play as it should through this?

Sorry for all the questions.

Gary

Because the FiiO M6 contains a customized Android OS that does not resample the music.

 

[Brava210]

Thanks again LC

 

[tomwoo]

Tidal is offering $1.99/4 months for its HiFi tier, streaming war is heating up!

 

[Left Channel]

Tidal is offering $1.99/4 months for its HiFi tier, streaming war is heating up!

They did the same thing for the holiday season last year, though I think it was 3 months. Are they doing it again? I can't find that online anywhere.

Since it's not new, it's not necessarily a response to Amazon, Qobuz, or others.

 

[tomwoo]

They did the same thing for the holiday season last year, though I think it was 3 months. Are they doing it again? I can't find that online anywhere.

Since it's not new, it's not necessarily a response to Amazon, Qobuz, or others.

I received the email. Guess it's pretty new. The extra month might be a response to Amazon HD and Qobuz's price drop? Either way, the original $19.99 pricing may not be sustainable anymore.