[McCol]

It runs a modified Android OS which is why it's able to stream at the correct sample rate unlike standard Android.

It is probably using its own drivers to bypass the android drivers that normally do the sample rates.

Not the best explanation but best I can describe it!

 

[rkw]

It runs a modified Android OS which is why it's able to stream at the correct sample rate unlike standard Android.

I was addressing @Scarpad's question about why the M6 can stream Amazon Music but the Hiby M3 cannot. The answer is that unlike the M6, the Hiby M3 does not run Android and cannot install and run the Amazon Music app.

 

[Brava210]

I was addressing @Scarpad's question about why the M6 can stream Amazon Music but the Hiby M3 cannot. The answer is that unlike the M6, the Hiby M3 does not run Android and cannot install and run the Amazon Music app.

Yes i

I was addressing @Scarpad's question about why the M6 can stream Amazon Music but the Hiby M3 cannot. The answer is that unlike the M6, the Hiby M3 does not run Android and cannot install and run the Amazon Music app.

I understand.

 

[originalsnuffy]

I wonder if the users of this service could somehow collectively convince Amazon to have forums to discuss needed technical/architectural changes to the playback software on various platforms. Forums that are read by product managers and the engineers. We also need a way to let Amazon know when certain audio tracks are problematic.

For example, I would want to lobby to have the Android app know how to look at the underlying hardware and determine if there are measures in place to bypass the typical limit of android to 24 bit 48 khz. For example, playback on the Amazon Fire Cube is limited to 16 bits even if the music is 24 bits. And the Amazon Fire HD 8 can't send anything higher than 24 bit 48 khz to external DACs. And the app completely fails to work on my Cayin N5II. But it does not have to be that way.

Similarly, the app takes a long time to load on my iphone. I tried clearing out the music and downloading the music again, but that did not solve the problem.

And of course it would be nice to have exclusive mode on Windows.

On another note, one of the songs on the Led Zeppelin Presence album (Achilles Last Stand) simply can't be downloaded.

 

[clerkpalmer]

Has anyone noticed a change/drop off in Amazon music over iOS? Volume has decreased and everything just seems "off". In fact, switching over to Apple Music provides a massive improvement. There is no punch in AM and treble seems rolled off completely. I've check my settings and everything is right but the sound is dull, almost veiled. Trying to figure out what may have happened.

 

[originalsnuffy]

Has anyone noticed a change/drop off in Amazon music over iOS? Volume has decreased and everything just seems "off". In fact, switching over to Apple Music provides a massive improvement. There is no punch in AM and treble seems rolled off completely. I've check my settings and everything is right but the sound is dull, almost veiled. Trying to figure out what may have happened.

Are you downloading your music or streaming? If you are streaming; the sound you are describing would be a drop from hi res to standard (which is compressed).

 

[exdmd]

I wonder if the users of this service could somehow collectively convince Amazon to have forums to discuss needed technical/architectural changes to the playback software on various platforms. Forums that are read by product managers and the engineers. We also need a way to let Amazon know when certain audio tracks are problematic.

For example, I would want to lobby to have the Android app know how to look at the underlying hardware and determine if there are measures in place to bypass the typical limit of android to 24 bit 48 khz. For example, playback on the Amazon Fire Cube is limited to 16 bits even if the music is 24 bits. And the Amazon Fire HD 8 can't send anything higher than 24 bit 48 khz to external DACs. And the app completely fails to work on my Cayin N5II. But it does not have to be that way.

Similarly, the app takes a long time to load on my iphone. I tried clearing out the music and downloading the music again, but that did not solve the problem.

And of course it would be nice to have exclusive mode on Windows.

On another note, one of the songs on the Led Zeppelin Presence album (Achilles Last Stand) simply can't be downloaded.

Great idea but I doubt Amazon is interested. They have zero customer service for the Amazon Music HD service so far.

There is a thread on Amazon Music HD at the Amazon Forums but there is no interaction with anyone from customer service. The thread really serves no purpose except maybe to advertise. There are some moderators who are loosely affiliated with Amazon and their standard answer to complaints is to leave feedback from within the app.

So no one knows what is going on behind the scenes and Amazon Music HD is a take it or leave it proposition. Contrast with Qobuz who have an active thread at Audiophile Style where complaints and problems get addressed.

If you aren't happy with the state of Amazon Music HD it seems the best course is to just drop it and use Qobuz or Tidal.

Mass exodus of users might get Amazon to pay some attention to complaints but I actually doubt it. I dropped it before the free trial ended, left feedback and got no response. Again, take it or leave it. Amazon does not seem to care one whit.

 

[clerkpalmer]

Are you downloading your music or streaming? If you are streaming; the sound you are describing would be a drop from hi res to standard (which is compressed).

Thanks. Streaming but all settings are at Hi-Res. Songs are showing HD and Ultra HD. Still sounds like crap compared to Apple Music. Maybe I'll delete and reinstall.

 

[originalsnuffy]

Thanks. Streaming but all settings are at Hi-Res. Songs are showing HD and Ultra HD. Still sounds like crap compared to Apple Music. Maybe I'll delete and reinstall.

I suspected you were streaming. Maybe setting the app to low res streaming then going back to hi res might work. I had to do something like that occur once in my car. Or a reinstall as you indicated might do the trick. I think this problem can be solved. When this app drops to a lower resolution things sound pretty bad on a comparative basis; because the hi res sounds quite good.

 

[a-LeXx]

Thanks. Streaming but all settings are at Hi-Res. Songs are showing HD and Ultra HD. Still sounds like crap compared to Apple Music. Maybe I'll delete and reinstall.

Even if the song is showing yellow hires badge while streaming, it doesn‘t mean it‘s streaming in hires, only that it‘s available in hires. It could be streaming in standard, means heavily compressed (64kbps), because the bandwidth allocation is done dynamically based on a quality of the network connection.

 

[praxis22]

I have read a lot/most of the thread, and what I don't understand, (as a computer geek) is why anyone would use a Windows PC to stream music? Unless you've all spent the money, time and effort to make your PC quiet. Mine sounds like a hurricane when it's running. Then there are the issues (presumably the "exclusive mode" people are talking about) with the Windows kernel not being a true task switching system, etc. Though MacOS should have an advantage in both system quietness and The OS' Grand Central scheduler. Given it's a UNIX OS based on Free BSD.

I have AmazonHD on my Android Phone, a OnePlus 7t (as far as I can tell the same Audio chip as in my old OnePlus 6 24/196) I was frustrated with the 7t that they'd taken the audio jack away, which is what I as listening to AmazonHD with, as it doesn't support an external DAC. So I bought the OnePlus Audio USB C dongle/DAC which worked OK (emulates a jack.) I had also noticed that since they removed the audio jack I no longer need to switch on USB OTG mode to get it working. Then I discovered the updated Earstudio ES100 MK2. Allegedly the world's first Studio Quality 24bit Bluetooth receiver. twin DAC, 3.5" and 2.5" balanced, AptX Sony LDAC, etc. Amazing App. (www.radsone.com/earstudio for details) That plays AmazonHD just fine. Also a boost in details seemingly over my Hidizs Sonata HD 2 USBC DAC. I do have UAPP with all the bells and whistles, but I have it route traffic to Bluetooth for better audio quality, without touching the Android volume system, and I peg that at max, to allow me to control the analogue volume from the Es100's buttons. (This is the recommendation.) Which gives me manual control without having to take my phone out of my pocket, and cures the occasional signal drops I used to get out of my USB C DAC. Still haven't tried it with the Little Bear B4-X Tube amp in series though. On it's own the ES100 will easily drive the Tin Hifi P1 loud. Which near stock Android will not do by default, and UAPP needs to be at 85-90% hardware volume to manage comfortably. I've also yet to hook it up to any of my Headphones, or the 789. I'm just running a range of IEM's through it via 3.5" SE

I do notice a difference between 16bit (HD) and 24bit (HD plus) though the sound is pretty good regardless. Has anyone bought/Tried the Amazon Echo Studio yet? at 200 currency units it looks like a fairly good deal, provided I can fit a hardware mic mute. I do have a full surround rig, but the Mrs. appears allergic to cables and speakers. So I might be able to remove the amp, center the TV and flank it with a couple of Echo studio's. Anyone tried anything like that? That would seem to be an idea setup as I can latch it onto 5Ghz Wifi Though I do wonder if it can integrate with the Chromecast or the TV Anyone experimented?

 

[rkw]

why anyone would use a Windows PC to stream music? Unless you've all spent the money, time and effort to make your PC quiet. Mine sounds like a hurricane when it's running.

What makes your PC so noisy? Did you build your own gaming PC? I have both Mac and PC laptops, and both are quiet. Most desktop PCs I've encountered lately are also quiet.

 

[stuck limo]

Has anyone ever found a 3D album in full on Amazon or is it just particular songs for some reason they decided to remaster in 3D?

 

[cjar]

About a week ago or so I signed up for both Tidal HiFi (Masters) (5 months for $5) and Amazon HD (4 months for $0.99) trials.

On my home system Amazon HD sounds better. One problem with Tidal is my receiver/DAC does not decode MQA so everything on Tidal streams at 16bit/44.1k FLAC (which is OK), while Amazon HD is 'bit-perfect' up to whatever the file happens to be, and I hear the difference. My receiver has the HEOS tech built-in which has all the different streaming services integrated in the system. At home I use Amazon HD.
BTW, By accident I compared an uncompressed audio file to the same song FLAC-compressed, I know you are not supposed to hear a difference but I did. As a result, I am now ripping my massive collection of un-ripped CD's to uncompressed AIFF (I have the HD space).

On Android, which I mainly use in my car, I can confirm when using both the Amazon and Tidal apps the audio stream is re-sampled to 24bit/48k even when connected to my external Dragonfly Cobalt DAC, regardless of the Amazon yellow badge or the Tidal badge. I can only get 'bit-perfect' and MQA with Tidal through UAPP (USB Audio Player Pro) app to my Cobalt DAC. The Dragonfly Cobalt does decode MQA as well. On Android, while I can usually detect differences between Amazon HD and Tidal, I have not yet determined if one has better sound quality than the other. In the car I mainly use Tidal via UAPP, when not testing sound quality differences.
In the UAPP forum, in regards to adding the Amazon HD service to their android app; in September they said they could not comment on it. In October they said "It is not possible, sorry."

I rarely if ever listen to music via a computer, but I have confirmed the Win10 Amazon app not being able to use exclusive mode, and streaming audio at whatever is set in Properties of the sound device in use. So if the Tidal app can...

So far Amazon HD seems to have more in their catalog. I have 4 or 5 more months to decide to keep one or the other or both. It could depend on whether Amazon codes into their app a 'bit-perfect' work around to the Android audio system limitation. At least keep a 44.1k stream at 44.1, and only down-sample 192 or 96k to 48k and 176 or 88.2 to 44.1k.

 

[thelastwaltzuk]

I’ve just read through all 71 pages of a really interesting thread. I really wanted Amazon Music HD to be great. I love Tidal (I’ve been a subscriber since before JayZ bought it), I just don’t really buy in to the current MQA obsession (though I remain open to being convinced). It would be great to have a 24/192 flac-based streaming service that would force Tidal to a) drop it’s obsession with MQA (as I suspect it’s just another bit of chicanery), and/or b) force Tidal to lower the price of the Hi-Fi plan.

Just in terms of my own subjective experiences, I’ve done some comparing of albums played from Tidal (Master) vs Amazon Music (UHD) and in all cases the Amazon tracks seem, as suggested by others, overly-compressed, even with loudness turned off. When swapping A-B I had to reduce the volume of Amazon Music a couple of clicks to be on the same level as Tidal. To my ears, Tidal sounds softer, warmer and more pleasing for longer durations. Amazon is like it’s on steroids - it first seems wider and livelier, but after a couple of minutes it’s too fatiguing to listen to.

All this on an old iPad Air 2, played through a JDS C5D through Grado SR325e headphones, so I know I’m not getting either the full MQA image or the full UHD image. Having said that, one of the albums I compared is Beck’s latest album and is only 24/44 anyway, so my setup can handle that. Other albums by Billy Eilish, Miike Snow were also compared. Not exhaustive by any means, but enough of a range to get a picture.

To my ears, Tidal still has more for me at the moment and I’ll remain a customer. I really hope Amazon Music HD is a success though, even though I’ll not use it when the trial has finished. As a user of Apple stuff mostly I really hope Apple are now forced into offering an ‘up to 24/192’ subscription to iTunes at a sensible price, maybe dropping the cost of their current non-HD offering by half as an entry point (I realise that it may be a vain hope). If Amazon Music HD doesn’t succeed, I cannot see anyone else bothering to offer any competition for HD streaming and there will be no incentive for Tidal to lower their silly, outdated prices. No doubt Tidal are banking on the failure of Amazon Music HD - otherwise the only USP they have will be MQA, which I guess for most of us is not enough of a temptation. Time will tell - but at least it’s good to see the further evolution of the HD audio market after a couple of years of relative stability.

Thanks for reading my first post