What does that have to do with Amazon Music, did you post in the wrong thread?
Amazon launches Music HD with lossless streaming
- Thread starter gemNeye
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What does that have to do with Amazon Music, did you post in the wrong thread?
GlennDS
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He might be referring to Soundizer's comparison between Amazon Music HD and Tidal.
Maybe, your guess is as good as mine, perhaps if @Andrew_WOT had quoted the OP's message we would have been able to join in the discussion.
Andrew_WOT
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It was too long of a post to quote. But yeah, it was in reference to that comparison.
OK thanks for clearing that up, it was a long post I agree. shh don't tell Soundizer but I speed read most of it.
itchyears
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Just in case anyone missed it, Tidal are doing 4 months for £1.99 and Deezer Hifi free 3 months trial via these links:
https://tidal.com/offers/blackfriday
https://www.deezer.com/en/offers/hifi
https://tidal.com/offers/blackfriday
https://www.deezer.com/en/offers/hifi
Already signed up TIDAL's $1.99 for 4 month offer, couldn't pass on it
I'll let Amazon Music HD free trial run itself out in one month. Not coming back unless they add exclusive mode in 4 months (doubt they will ever do that)... The app itself needs some streamlining too, right now it's too messy to my taste.
Andrew_WOT
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How long business giving stuff away for free will last, I wonder?
Windows Amazon app was updated, btw, 7.8.72132 now. No idea what changed, seems like Amazon SW engineers are complete strangers to release notes thing.
Windows Amazon app was updated, btw, 7.8.72132 now. No idea what changed, seems like Amazon SW engineers are complete strangers to release notes thing.
a-LeXx
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AMAZON MUSIC HD - audio quality comparison to TIDAL HIFI
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Source Hardware Device:
iPadPro 12.9inch 2019.
Supports 24bit/192Khz via USB-C output.
Latest iOS version as of 28 Nov, 2019.
Audio Music - Apps/Software:
Amazon Music HD [iOS APP - version 9.3.2]
TIDAL HIFI [iOS APP - version 2.8.4].
Both Apps are the Latest iOS version as of 28 Nov, 2019.
External DAC: Audioquest Cobalt [24bit/96Khz, MQA renders].
Headphones: Focal Clear
...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................
+ALL ALBUMS WERE DOWNLOADED TO IPAD PRO IN ULTRA HD.
+LOUDNESS NORMALISATION, GAPLESS PLAYBACK AND OPTIMISED PLAYBACK ALL WERE SWITCHED OFF.
+IPAD PRO SWITCHED TO AIRP PLANE MODE WITH WIFI/BLUETOOTH OFF - TO MINIMISE ANY INTERFERENCE.
+BOTH AMAZON MUSIC HD AND TIDAL HIFI APPS WERE SET IN OFFLINE MODE WHEN PLAYING BACK.
+Fortunately I could listen in a very quiet room without any audible background sounds.
Notes: The comparison Albums included are all 24bit.
On Amazon Music HD iOS APP there is upsampling happening. So for anything less then 96Khz it upsamples to 96Khz. If however Album is 96Khz it will play correctly as DAC is 96Khz - so in this case no upsampling happens. See below for Album details and I state if it is being upsampled.
Tidal plays at correct bit rate upto 96Khz in this set up - using Cobalt DAC.
For TIDAL HIFI - I have selected Master version of the Albums, because this according to TIDAL is the best quality available [according to TIDAL]. Tidal iOS APP decodes Master MQA on iPadPro and Cobalt will render it upto 96Khz. Some Albums might be 44.1, 48, 88 Khz - unable to see what Khz they are via iPadPro App/Cobalt.
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ALBUM 1: “Paul Weller - True Meanings”
Amazon Music HD - iOS APP [Album format = 24bit/44.1Khz]. UPSAMPLED TO 96Khz.
TIDAL - iOS APP [Album format = 24bit/Master].
Audio Comparison:
+ TIDAL ADVANTAGE. Tidal wins for me as it is less brittle.
+ TIDAL ADVANTAGE. Tidal is slightly smoother, but without losing any resolution.
+ TIDAL ADVANTAGE. Amazon is bit more mid forward, which seems to be a flatter sound and less depth compared to Tidal.
ALBUM 2: “Spectre - James Bond Movie Soundtrack”
Amazon Music HD - iOS APP [Album format = 24bit/44.1Khz]. UPSAMPLED TO 96Khz.
TIDAL - iOS APP [Album format = 24bit/Master].
Audio Comparison:
+ TIDAL ADVANTAGE. Tidal is slightly smoother, but without losing any resolution.
ALBUM 3: “TALKING HEADS: 77”
Amazon Music HD - iOS APP [Album format = 24bit/96Khz]. CORRECT BIT RATE PLAYED
TIDAL - iOS APP [Album format = 24bit/Master].
Audio Comparison:
They sound slightly different, with Amazon a bit more forward in mids yet not in a negative way. No advantage in my opinion and both are equal.
ALBUM 4: “PETER GABRIEL - SO (SPECIAL EDITION)”
Amazon Music HD - iOS APP [Album format = 24bit/96Khz]. CORRECT BIT RATE PLAYED
TIDAL - iOS APP [Album format = 24bit/Master].
Audio Comparison:
Sound similar. No one has an advantage.
ALBUM 5: “ICONOLOGY - MISSY ELLIOT”
Amazon Music HD - iOS APP [Album format = 24bit/96Khz]. CORRECT BIT RATE PLAYED
TIDAL - iOS APP [Album format = 24bit/Master].
Audio Comparison:
+TIDAL ADVANTAGE. Slightly more low end sub base picked up on Focal Clear.
CONCLUSION
There seems to be a more distinctive advantage to Tidal on the Albums where Amazon is applying upsampling - based on the above 5 Albums tested. For other Albums there is very little difference.
I hope Amazon decides to play bit perfect and I don’t see why it can’t, since it is able to show us correct information on both track resolution aswell as connected DAC capability. Yet the actual playing resolution it shows is incorrect when using an external DAC. I got same results with my Chord Mojo where everything was upsampled to 192Khz, yet the yellow label incorrectly stated a lower track playing resolution.
For Amazon Music, If using External DAC I would not risk using anything higher than 96Khz, such as a 192khz DAC as the upsampling would be too much - taking 44.1 tracks all the way to 192khz. And there are plenty of 44.1 tracks on Amazon.
A horribly inconvenient solution which is a massive compromise is to only listen to 24bit/96khz tracks when using a 24bit/96khz DAC - such as Audioquest Cobalt would then all be played correctly.
Hmm, you compared MASTER albums on Tidal (which means, they are at least 24/96) to only slightly a bit over CD-Quality albums on Amazon (24 bit vs 16 bit is not a big deal,barely any DAC used in mobile applications can physically resolves more than 16-18 bits anyway) . Not a very fair comparison. The problems related to a sample frequency of 44.1kbps are all related to the filtering and fidelity at frequencies around the cut-off frequency of the filter. Exactly those problems are eliminated with true HiRes material, or at least semi-true (MQA), because the cut-off frequency is at least at 48kHz with those, and no human being can hear anything at those ultrasonic frequencies, while artifacts created by filtering at 22kHz (used with 44.1kbps material) can still be audible...
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itchyears
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I think it maybe a bit like amazon giving prime free every few months, amount of people that must either pay 99p might be in the millions or forget to cancel towards the expiry date, defiantly not complaining
itchyears
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Already signed up TIDAL's $1.99 for 4 month offer, couldn't pass on it
I'll let Amazon Music HD free trial run itself out in one month. Not coming back unless they add exclusive mode in 4 months (doubt they will ever do that)... The app itself needs some streamlining too, right now it's too messy to my taste.
Is exclusive mode that important ? I enabled it in my Tidal Hifi settings but deezer hi-fi does not have it sadly, I don't think I noticed any difference in audio quality.
I am still playing around with Tidal and Deezer hifi but I think Deezer edges it due to the search and popular ranked songs listings, it just makes music searching and picking the top 10 or 50 more easier but I do like Tidal still.
Both Qobuz and Tidal would not have exclusive mode if it was not audibly superior to shared mode.
Whether you can hear the difference between Qobuz in exclusive mode and Amazon Music HD in shared mode depends on how resolving your system is, also how critical a listener you are. I cancelled Amazon Music HD and kept Qobuz.
I also had Tidal for a while and had no problem with the sound quality, just did not like the emphasis on MQA and genres I don't listen to. Qobuz at $14.99 a month now in the US is a no brainer for me. I hope our friends in UK and EU also get a discount soon.
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itchyears
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Exclusive it is, may have to give Qobuz studio a try they do have a free 1 month trial also:
https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/music/streaming/offers
Qobuz and TIDAL w/ exclusive mode sound better to me. Maybe it's just placebo effect. Who knows.
Qobuz and TIDAL w/ exclusive mode sound better to me. Maybe it's just placebo effect. Who knows.
I don't believe It is placebo. Windows sound mixer is known to degrade sound quality and without exclusive mode Amazon Music HD is not giving you bit perfect playback. Using exclusive mode the Windows sound kernel is bypassed and the streamed file goes straight to your external DAC without up or down sampling.
Wasapi exclusive mode is built in to Windows 10 for heavens sake, all Amazon's engineers had to do was code the app to take advantage of it. They could also open their API to aftermarket players like Roon or Audirvana if they did not want to make changes. Considering the poor GUI, mismatched tracks on albums and lack of exclusive mode it looks like they are just providing a product that is "good enough" for their Echo Studio speakers.
Even though Qobuz has been around longer than Tidal their Windows desktop app occasionally hangs up or stutters on playback. This seems to be somewhat computer dependent. Tidal used to be notorious for buggy playback especially on MQA files. Right now it seems there are fewer complaints about the Tidal desktop app than Qobuz. Regardless, if you are having playback problems with either Tidal or Qobuz all you need is the $75 Audirvana player which is rock solid.
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