[originalsnuffy]

I think do not exist response was to the request of
"- support for up to 192/24 with no down/up sampling"
But it's amazon client issue, not hw.

All of these units have software that bypasses standard Android audio. The HiBy bills itself as bit perfect; to my knowledge the FIIO, Shanling, and iBasso units do the same thing.

I just don't think it is correct to blanket state that the objective can't be met when it both can and HAS been met.

 

[ghualmr]

@thelastwaltzuk - perfect write up. I too share exactly the same observations. I also had Qobuz trial membership which is comparable to Amazon price if you subscribe for a year. In addition to your observations I noticed that Qobuz was the best sounding as far as SQ. Interestingly their catalog is pretty extensive as well and growing. I listen to a large range of music genre depending if I am in my office or at the gym or in my dedicated listening room with or without family. Aamzon Music HD though promising does not offer bit perfect solution and to your point sounds a little compressed and sharp. I have tried running it through my PC or dedicated streamer via external DAC's (Benchmark, OPPO 205, Ayre) still the same sound. Tidal on the other hand is expensive. My thoughts are that the streaming industry is not mature yet and has a lot of growing up to do with possible mergers or even acquisitions. Roon complements Qobuz really well but itself has limitations (will not let you add songs to Qobuz playlists for remote listening). Maybe it's just best to select a mid tier cheaper option like Amazon for now and wait it out to see what happens to the likes of Qobuz, Tidal and Roon or if Amazon makes improvements this year.

 

[praxis22]

You try to make it sound as if using Android mobile device with Bluetooth is better than PC because of PCs limitations (no exclusive mode), but do you understand that the highest quality available through Bluetooth is lossy 24bit/*94kHz (yes, a lossy signal... and yes, *94kHz, not 96kHz).

* EDIT: 94kHz seems like an odd rate to me, but I've seen it written as both 94 and 96kHz. I'll assume it is actually 96kHz.

Also, the OnePlus 7t phone only has AptX HD which is not the highest quality Bluetooth, it is "near CD quality." LDAC is the "higher quality" Bluetooth codec.

The E100Mk2 has LDAC, you need it enabled by default. Actually I think Bluetooth is better because of convenience. I used to have my phone connected to my USB DAC which was routed through my portable Tube amp, into which I plugged my phones. This made using the phone practically impossible and the DAC kept dropping out in my pocket, etc. Thus I bought the E100MK2 as it does a lot of what I wanted. Simple intuitive, works well with the tube amp, (minus some annoying bleeps during silence where the tubes are microphonic as regards the Bluetooth signal, etc.) Practically however, it's a lot better sound wise than my USB DAC. With Bluetooth, I can now do the same with AmazonHD. As well as using my phone normally. At Home I plug my phone via OTG into the SMSL M100 DAC, which connects to the THX 789 and if I feel like it the SMSL SP100 tube. Having all my music with me at any point is also a key feature.

For the PC comment I was more referring to simple electrical noise coming from the motherboard. The average PC is full of electrical interference. This is especially true if you have a Modern Nvidia 20xx Series card as they dump a huge amount of electrical noise into the bus via the PCI slot. This is actually the main selling point of the new Creative Labs sound blaster, (remember them) with it's breakout box and electrical line filtering much like the Dragonfly Cobalt. Which I bought but sent back as I didn't like what it did to the sound.

Seriously, the Tin HiFi P1 Planar, (hard to drive at the best of times) has a new lease of life with the E100Mk2 I can drive it hard, max out the volume on the phone and analogue via the E100Mk2, then tube it. Thus I can use the tube as the final arbiter of volume. I finally get a wide sound stage, and a massive amount of detail retrieval. I though it was clipping this morning. Turns out it was the guitarist was just pulling the strings, not letting them reverb. it's only a 16bit FLAC file. Practically I cannot tell the difference between a 24bit track and a 16bit track anyway.

EDIT: In Developer Options on Android you can chose your system default Bluetooth audio codec, I selected LDAC, it didn't complain.

 

[rkw]

In Developer Options on Android you can chose your system default Bluetooth audio codec, I selected LDAC, it didn't complain.

Developer Options doesn't set the default codec. It only sets the codec for the current Bluetooth session and will reset at the next reconnection.

To set LDAC as default, use the setting in the Bluetooth pairing list:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/radsone-earstudio-es100.867366/page-243#post-14689093

 

[magicrandy]

DAP recommendations

Now that Amazon Music HD has been out awhile with their software updates and software/firmware updates from the DAP suppliers it may be time to get a new DAP. In addition to audio quality, the main things I'm looking for in the ideal DAP include:

Amazon Music HD for Ultra HD streaming
- support for up to 192/24 with no down/up sampling
- accurate display of the quality of the track being played (e.g. 192/24, 96/24, 44.1/16, etc.)

4.4mm balanced outputs for wired headphones
LDAC, aptX HD for HD bluetooth headphones
OTA software & firmware updates

Price less than $1500 USD

Any suggestions that meet or come close to this spec appreciated.

Randy

Thanks for the input.

It does not look like any DAP meets what I'm looking for 100% but the Hiby R6 Pro appears to be the closest. So I'm going to order one of those.

Thanks again...
Randy

 

[TK33]

Has anyone renewed their Amazon Music HD membership at an annual rate for Amazon Music HD Individual? I selected Amazon Music HD Individual (annual plan) which shows up as $129/year but when my subscription renewed today, I was charged $84, which is Amazon Music Unlimited @ $79/year + $5/month for HD. I contacted Amazon about this a few days ago and the rep I spoke with is supposed to call me back tomorrow but curious if anyone else had this issue upon renewal. Seems like they can't even get their billing right. We checked in the app and on the website and both showed there was an Individual HD annual plan @ $129 but this is not what I am being charged.

 

[GlennDS]

The E100Mk2 has LDAC.... Actually I think Bluetooth is better because of convenience.... For the PC comment I was more referring to simple electrical noise coming from the motherboard. The average PC is full of electrical interference. .

I agree that Bluetooth is very convenient but I had been avoiding it until your mention of the E100Mk2 earlier. You peaked my interest in DACs with Bluetooth, so I checked it out. I ended up ordering the new Fiio BTR5 which arrives tomorrow.

I know that PCs are supposed to be full of electrical noise but I don't notice anything through my HDMI output. Either I don't know what to listen for, or it is there but too minor to hear.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

The only noise you can get over USB is ground loop, and it's easy to fix. Most high end USB DACs have isolation circuit just for that.

 

[GlennDS]

The only noise you can get over USB is ground loop....

Do you know if HDMI connection is affected by electrical noise inside the PC?

 

[praxis22]

Developer Options doesn't set the default codec. It only sets the codec for the current Bluetooth session and will reset at the next reconnection.

To set LDAC as default, use the setting in the Bluetooth pairing list:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/radsone-earstudio-es100.867366/page-243#post-14689093

Turns out I already had that enabled as the App talks you through setting that up. But having written my post I had a spellunk through my phone's settings just to see what it was actually set too.

 

[praxis22]

I agree that Bluetooth is very convenient but I had been avoiding it until your mention of the E100Mk2 earlier. You peaked my interest in DACs with Bluetooth, so I checked it out. I ended up ordering the new Fiio BTR5 which arrives tomorrow.

I know that PCs are supposed to be full of electrical noise but I don't notice anything through my HDMI output. Either I don't know what to listen for, or it is there but too minor to hear.

Yes, I saw the Fiio, but I was more interested in the Mk2 due to the (P)EQ built in. I saw a video by Oluv's gadgets where he was comparing a HE4xx, Elex and the Sen 820 and he was using the Mk2, so he provided a (P)EQ to make the HE4xx, (which I have) similar to the Elex. Then I bought an Elex...

Anyway... I personally have no problem with the noise of a PC, but I don't use it as the PC itself is noisy. I have the HE4xx plugged into the Dragonfly black on the PC. But knowing how anal people are about signal purity that would remove it from the equation if I was so inclined. A deeper issue is one of control. You can install Foobar2000 and have the Android app. But that requires a lot of setup. Especially when you can just use your phone, and have it all at your fingertips. I was actually looking this up yesterday and they was a study at a university in the US somewhere and 25 students could, (mostly) not tell the difference between a DAC @48KHz and 96Khz. It all becomes a numbers game at some point, how many angels can you fit on the head of a pin.

That said, the Elex arrived yesterday and via the SMSL DAC when hooked up via OTG was registering both 48KHz and 96KHz when running Amazon Music HD, on the music I tried on my phone. UAPP was actually only clocking in at 44KHz but I have it running in Bit Perfect mode and optimised for Bluetooth handoff not Android native, so that may account for that. I'm all for tweaking, but only so far as I get appreciable gains. My PC is water-cooled and I run a hardware overclock on the CPU, but I'm not interested in maxing out the Memory timings as that is just too fiddly and too much of a moving target. The Mk2 is an upgrade over the USB DAC I had before, as that was an upgrade over the Dragonfly black. But having seen what Foobar would require, and then I'd have to make my PC quiet. Meh.

 

[ForSerious]

Sorry I don't have time to read all 74 pages.
I've been using using the desktop app for about two months with the bit accurate option enabled on my sound card. It's supposed to activate ASIO every time it gets fed a lossless source. Not sure if it works with the app, but I can usually tell when it's off while playing from Foobar. Haven't bothered to test with Amazon.

Anyway, I have found that about three in ten of the normal HD tagged albums have a nasty swishing sound added to them. You can listen for yourselves from the zip file uploaded here. I have not noticed that swishing noise with any of the Ultra HD songs. Just a note: The swishing existed before in mp3s purchased from Amazon music as far back as 2013. I would guess they are using the same sources as back then for most of their CD quality tracks. Maybe that's what they were given.

By now I'm pretty sure that they only have one copy of most songs in their database. So even though the track may appear in many albums, it's always the same file that gets played unless it has another name. Sometimes it will even play the wrong version of a song if it has a similar name. Though that only happened once. Maybe it was a fluke because I got it to play the right version the next day.
One time I found an album that has the titles tagged wrong (Like track five plays track 7). They are very reluctant to accept the idea that they are mistaken, so that may never get fixed.

P.S. It makes me laugh that anything 24 bit gets tagged as Ultra HD but 16 bit 48kHz is just HD.

 

[psikey]

I agree that Bluetooth is very convenient but I had been avoiding it until your mention of the E100Mk2 earlier. You peaked my interest in DACs with Bluetooth, so I checked it out. I ended up ordering the new Fiio BTR5 which arrives tomorrow.

I know that PCs are supposed to be full of electrical noise but I don't notice anything through my HDMI output. Either I don't know what to listen for, or it is there but too minor to hear.

Excellent choice. Loving mine with balanced SE846's at 990kbps LDAC. Even slightly better as a wired DAC/AMP.

Just sold my Dragonfly Cobalt DAC and Sony A105 walkman I'm that impressed with the BTR5.

Also sounds better than the Fiio X5III or M11 I had too.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Do you know if HDMI connection is affected by electrical noise inside the PC?

Same thing, only optical is isolated, but it has other issues.
BTW, ground loop is not PC specific issue and can affect any sort of equipment sharing common ground.

 

[435279]

Excellent choice. Loving mine with balanced SE846's at 990kbps LDAC. Even slightly better as a wired DAC/AMP.

Just sold my Dragonfly Cobalt DAC and Sony A105 walkman I'm that impressed with the BTR5.

Also sounds better than the Fiio X5III or M11 I had too.

What kind of battery life are you getting in that combination? I'm only getting around 4-5 hours Balanced->LDAC, which is probably about right by Fiio's estimate but I would have liked a bit more say 5-6h