[Richter Di]

Yeah I did. Current Amazon HD is 16.2.5 so I even tried going back to 16.2.4. Nothing has worked. I give up and I'll just continue to use Tidal.

I have 16.2.5 OTA (#20510)
Did you use the track I linked and did you use the Onkyo HF Player?
I hove no idea if it is important but it worked for me.

 

[harpo1]

I have 16.2.5 OTA (#20510)
Did you use the track I linked and did you use the Onkyo HF Player?
I hove no idea if it is important but it worked for me.

I did use the track and Onkyo HF Player. It's no big deal since I'm retired military and actually pay less for Tidal than Amazon will be charging after the trail period. Plus I've been using Tidal for several years now and I'm use to the layout so I'm good sticking with them until Amazon fixes this issue with DAP's or not. I guess time will tell.

 

[grokit]

So I'm thinking the dropouts I'm experiencing when playing Ultra HD songs may be due to my wifi being limited to 2.4GHz. I'm using an obsolete Airport Express as my router. Even though it works fine with my HD streaming sticks and Fire TV etc. I have a newer 5GHz 'normal' router that I can install, just don't want to hassle with it if it's not going to solve the issue. I'm using the desktop app on an old mac mini. I guess I should figure out if it even has a 5GHz airport card first; maybe just run a cable.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

So I'm thinking the dropouts I'm experiencing when playing Ultra HD songs may be due to my wifi being limited to 2.4GHz. I'm using an obsolete Airport Express as my router. Even though it works fine with my HD streaming sticks and Fire TV etc. I have a newer 5GHz 'normal' router that I can install, just don't want to hassle with it if it's not going to solve the issue. I'm using the desktop app on an old mac mini. I guess I should figure out if it even has a 5GHz airport card first; maybe just run a cable.

You can also download, Amazon is one of the few streamers allowing downloading to desktop app.

 

[hifi80sman]

Is it me or is the Amazon stream fatiguing? I just had to take my isine off as my ears felt like they were going to bleed. I may have to go back to Tidal and see if it's me, my headphones or the streaming.

@clerkpalmer I think you're on to something. When A/B with Spotify, I do notice a slight increase in volume (unchanged on the device itself). It may play a little louder to enhance the wow factor for people going from Apple, Spotify, etc. to Amazon Music HD. Sneaky, sneaky!

Even with the quirks, for a similar price point, it's a clear SQ upgrade from Spotify, Apple Music, etc., although for me, Spotify's library is better. Still in the 90 days trial, so hopefully it'll get better along the way.

 

[hifi80sman]

So I'm thinking the dropouts I'm experiencing when playing Ultra HD songs may be due to my wifi being limited to 2.4GHz. I'm using an obsolete Airport Express as my router. Even though it works fine with my HD streaming sticks and Fire TV etc. I have a newer 5GHz 'normal' router that I can install, just don't want to hassle with it if it's not going to solve the issue. I'm using the desktop app on an old mac mini. I guess I should figure out if it even has a 5GHz airport card first; maybe just run a cable.

You may have a point. Wireless-G or Wireless-N are definitely inferior to Wireless-AC, and deficiencies of the former are amplified even further if you have multiple clients using your network simultaneously. If that's the case, I would recommend no less than an AC3200 router.

 

[runssical]

After comparing the 2 platforms over the past 2 weeks, I would say Amazon initially sounds Good, but becomes fatiguing after a while
everything sounds too bright and thrashy not how it should sound in my opinion.
Like iv'e said before even complete albums seem to have differing quality audio, where as the original albums do not. On Tidal this doesn't happen.
Casual listening in the car via bluetooth maybe ok, but not through decent Headphones

I've noticed the same "bright" harshness when using Amazon HD. It's really unfortunate.

 

[TjPhysicist]

My experience with the Android app is that you can't trust that "Currently playing at" information. For example, look at the following:



In all three cases, this is what it was actually doing:



Amazon's app seems to be handling the upsampling itself, and to their credit, they're at least doing this with floating point, which avoids some of the most egregious errors that are audible at low volume with 16-bit integer-based interpolation, which is what Android's mixer will usually do:



However, Amazon's Android app is still re-sampling almost everything. As a result of this silly oversight, its SQ is not as good as Tidal's or Qobuz's, even for redbook FLAC, and you are not getting Ultra HD from any Android device right now (even on Android devices that are perfectly capable of playing back 44/16, 96/24, 192/24, etc.). Amazon's Ultra HD claims in the Google Play Store are false advertising.

Yea, I mean, Amazon's "Ultra HD" claim is tenuous at best on basically all platforms. I THINK the ONLY platform that actually doesn't do weird re-sampling is iOS? And just going through this thread even iOS app is kinda iffy. So basically, amazon released Ultra HD music, with no reliable way to actually PLAY ultra HD, ESPECIALLY on gear where you'd notice it (cuz let's be honest, you're not gonna notice the difference between a good quality Mp3 or a 44.1 FLAC and higher bitrate files on an alexa speaker).

Oh well, back to tidal I guess. I really cannot function without at least being able to ASSIGN output device in windows to whatever I'm using to play music. It's really sad too, one of the biggest selling points about amazon music HD was actually more that it's a much bigger company. So not just more likely to have more licensing deals in place but also less likely to one day just go under.

Honestly IDK who at amazon thought this was a good idea, but this is like if when Netflix had started going 4K, they forgot to include 4K output support on ANY platform. Then again, a lot of platforms are still limited to 1080p in netflix. Even then it's MILES better than what amazon is doing, there's at least some hardware devices that are actually capable of properly displaying quality 4k (like good quality TVs) that can do 4K netflix for instance.

 

[grokit]

You may have a point. Wireless-G or Wireless-N are definitely inferior to Wireless-AC, and deficiencies of the former are amplified even further if you have multiple clients using your network simultaneously. If that's the case, I would recommend no less than an AC3200 router.

My mac mini's airport card has 802.11n but not 802.11ac, meaning I can do 5GHz but not the faster version. So even though my newer router will do 802.11ac, an ethernet cable will be a better option.

edit: a really long ethernet cable. At least it's in the same room as the router, not too inconvenient.

 

[435279]

Yea, I mean, Amazon's "Ultra HD" claim is tenuous at best on basically all platforms. I THINK the ONLY platform that actually doesn't do weird re-sampling is iOS? And just going through this thread even iOS app is kinda iffy. So basically, amazon released Ultra HD music, with no reliable way to actually PLAY ultra HD, ESPECIALLY on gear where you'd notice it (cuz let's be honest, you're not gonna notice the difference between a good quality Mp3 or a 44.1 FLAC and higher bitrate files on an alexa speaker).

Oh well, back to tidal I guess. I really cannot function without at least being able to ASSIGN output device in windows to whatever I'm using to play music. It's really sad too, one of the biggest selling points about amazon music HD was actually more that it's a much bigger company. So not just more likely to have more licensing deals in place but also less likely to one day just go under.

Honestly IDK who at amazon thought this was a good idea, but this is like if when Netflix had started going 4K, they forgot to include 4K output support on ANY platform. Then again, a lot of platforms are still limited to 1080p in netflix. Even then it's MILES better than what amazon is doing, there's at least some hardware devices that are actually capable of properly displaying quality 4k (like good quality TVs) that can do 4K netflix for instance.

I certainly notice the quality difference when listening to Amazon music @ 192Khz on my NAD T 758 V3, its BluOS streaming module works perfectly with the service.

I have to agree with you though it is very, very difficult to actually listen to Amazon music at its best and basically totally impossible when out and about.

 

[Richter Di]

The problem is Amazon HD only works for very few people with the M11. All we get is a spinning wheel and it never plays any music.

Problems are back! Magic switch is gone
Uninstalling the Amazon Music App does not delete the files on the SD card!
Deleting the files and folders with the M11 explorer is not really easy but it worked.
Will let you know if I get it going again.

 

[Richter Di]

@harpo1
Found the magic switch for a functioning Amazon Music on the FiiO M11 again.
You have to play the 88.2 track with the Neutron player not the Onkyo HF player. After that everything works again perfectly.

For all the ones who want to try here is a link to a free 88.2 Sample Track from eClassical: https://www.eclassical.com/custom/eclassical/files/BIS1447-002-flac_24.flac

 

[harpo1]

@harpo1
Found the magic switch for a functioning Amazon Music on the FiiO M11 again.
You have to play the 88.2 track with the Neutron player not the Onkyo HF player. After that everything works again perfectly.

Where did you get Neutron? It's not free correct?

 

[Richter Di]

Where did you get Neutron? It's not free correct?

@harpo1 I got it from their website. It has a try out time which allows to see if it works as magic switch.
After the try out time you can look for a different music player who does the trick. Or maybe even amazon has created a new version.
In case you like the Neutron they have a possibility for purchase without google playstore.

 

[Soundizer]

I received the Audioquest Cobalt yesterday which includes a 2 month TIDAL HIFI subscription.
Plugged into my iPadPro and using Focal Clear headphones - I did the following A/B tests, again and again:

1. Diana Krall - Album = "The Look of Love".
- Amazon Music HD = 24bit/96KHz.
- Tidal HIFI = Master.
I verify these are output by the colour led on the Cobalt = light blue and purple.


2. Album = "Ready Player One = movie soundtrack".
- Amazon Music HD = 24bit/96KHz.
- Tidal HIFI = Master.
I verify these are output by the colour led on the Cobalt = light blue and purple.


Based on my A/B testing to me TIDAL HIFI for the above tracks and format sounds:
- just that little bit sweeter.
- less harsh.
- just a little more depth.

if i did a blind test I probably could not be able to tell the difference, but because i was deliberating doing A/B in 10 second clips I could hear the above 3 areas of advantage to TIDAL.