[rlw6534]

Apple Music lossless/atmos was announced this morning. In an apparent response, Amazon has reduced prices:

https://www.macrumors.com/2021/05/17/amazon-music-lossless-for-free/

 

[TK33]

Apple Music lossless/atmos was announced this morning. In an apparent response, Amazon has reduced prices:

https://www.macrumors.com/2021/05/17/amazon-music-lossless-for-free/

Thats great news. Got an email from Amazon today as well. They merged theirs HD and Unlimited plans and dropped the pricing down to the Amazon Music Unlimited tier.

Individual HD plan is now $7.99/month ($79 annual) with Prime and the family plan is now only $14.99/month ($149 annual). Too bad I just renewed my family plan.

https://smile.amazon.com/music/unlimited/hd?ref_=pe_44662510_583234550

 

[Marlowe]

Hmmm. For just eight bucks I might just add this along with Tidal, even though I absolutely despise the Amazon UI. It's arguably worth it just for the huge hole that Neil Young recently blew in the Tidal catalog (and my heart) by removing the vast majority of his work because he does not want it in the Masters (MQA) format. It appears to be a typically silly argument over semantics for the curmudgeonly Mr. Young, but I've loved his music for 50 years.

FWIW, this is Young's statement on pulling his music from Tidal: "TIDAL is calling their files of my songs Masters. But Tidal’s MQA files are not my masters. I make my masters - not TIDAL. I don’t need some hocus-pocus file manipulation that claims to improve my work. I made my masters the way I wanted them to sound. If TIDAL referred to their titles as TIDAL MASTERS, I would have no problem, but they don’t. They call them Masters. I had my music removed from that platform. They are not my masters."

 

[ForSerious]

I don't blame him. MQA dose apply modifications to the sound... but it could be argued that vinyl also modifies the sound.
Anyway, That's pretty sweet to hear about Apple making some more competition to Amazon music. Now I kind of wish I had waited a year to try their music trial.

 

[audiobomber]

Thats great news. Got an email from Amazon today as well. They merged theirs HD and Unlimited plans and dropped the pricing down to the Amazon Music Unlimited tier.

Individual HD plan is now $7.99/month ($79 annual) with Prime and the family plan is now only $14.99/month ($149 annual). Too bad I just renewed my family plan.

https://smile.amazon.com/music/unlimited/hd?ref_=pe_44662510_583234550

I would request a refund for the difference.

 

[audiobomber]

Hmmm. For just eight bucks I might just add this along with Tidal, even though I absolutely despise the Amazon UI. It's arguably worth it just for the huge hole that Neil Young recently blew in the Tidal catalog (and my heart) by removing the vast majority of his work because he does not want it in the Masters (MQA) format. It appears to be a typically silly argument over semantics for the curmudgeonly Mr. Young, but I've loved his music for 50 years.

FWIW, this is Young's statement on pulling his music from Tidal: "TIDAL is calling their files of my songs Masters. But Tidal’s MQA files are not my masters. I make my masters - not TIDAL. I don’t need some hocus-pocus file manipulation that claims to improve my work. I made my masters the way I wanted them to sound. If TIDAL referred to their titles as TIDAL MASTERS, I would have no problem, but they don’t. They call them Masters. I had my music removed from that platform. They are not my masters."

Ain't singin' for Pepsi
Ain't singin' for Coke
I don't sing for nobody
Makes me look like a joke
This note's for you

Neil Young isn't called the godfather of grunge just for his music, it's also because of his attitude.

 

[Jon L]

Thats great news. Got an email from Amazon today as well. They merged theirs HD and Unlimited plans and dropped the pricing down to the Amazon Music Unlimited tier.

Individual HD plan is now $7.99/month ($79 annual) with Prime and the family plan is now only $14.99/month ($149 annual). Too bad I just renewed my family plan.

https://www.amazon.com/music/unlimited/hd?ref_=pe_44662510_583234550

I just got the free upgrade to Amazon Music HD, and I must say the sound quality is very, very good. HD (16 bit/44.1kHz) appears to sound as good as redbook CD's I've ripped myself, and the Ultra HD files (24 bit and variable sampling rate "up to 192kHz") do sound great, but so far I've only found 24bit/44.1kHz files.
Give this album a listen for great music and SQ:
https://www.amazon.com/Best-Woong-S...d=1621398824&sprefix=woong+san,aps,200&sr=8-4

 

[judomaniak57]

ok , i am new to amazon, but how do i tell if a album is hi res or cd quality by looking at it before picking it. i only see what quality the album is once i am playing it

 

[TK33]

ok , i am new to amazon, but how do i tell if a album is hi res or cd quality by looking at it before picking it. i only see what quality the album is once i am playing it

On Android and the Windows app if you click the album and look at the tracks it should say Ultra HD for hires and HD for CD quality.

 

[judomaniak57]

On my android using BluOS to control my Blusound node 2i there is no indication of Ultra HD or cd quality, same on my windows based computer when i look at music there

On Android and the Windows app if you click the album and look at the tracks it should say Ultra HD for hires and HD for CD quality.

 

[TK33]

On my android using BluOS to control my Blusound node 2i there is no indication of Ultra HD or cd quality, same on my windows based computer when i look at music there

If you use Amazon's apps, it will say "HD" or ULTRA HD" but it will not say exactly that in the BluOS app. In the BluOS app I have a little circle under the album art (between the Amazon logo and track title) that says "CD" or "HR" instead.

 

[ForSerious]

Well, Amazon considers 44.1kHz 24 bit to be Ultra HD but not 48kHz 16 bit. Personally I put more weight in frequency for HDness, but that's probably because 12 bits of depth more than covers the all of the dynamic range of the analog tape reels used to record most of the music I listen to.

 

[Danrov2223]

Hello. I am new to this forum so hopefully I am adding my view here in an appropriate manner , but if not, I am pretty sure that one of you will let me know.
Here goes. I really want Amazon Music HD to do the job of playing back in 24 bit UltraHD as Amazon refers to these music files
For rock music which is my favorite , Amazon Music has every artist and album that companies like HD Tracks offers for sale between 24/44, through 24/192. and also along with this, I like the interface that Amazon Music offers apart from the suggestions which once I selected the Artists that I like in my favorites, it isn't a problem.

Before I progress, please take for granted that I have the latest updates, know which switches go where in the app and have made sure that "exclusive mode is selected, atleast where that option has been available to select ( unfortunately in my Windows 10 pc desktop setup it needs to be re-selected every time that I start the app up...)

Here are my issues.

1. In my desktop setup which is Alienware Area 51 m - Chord Hugo2 and Adam A3X/ Adam Sub 7 , when all the right ticks and exclusive mode is selected, the Chord Hugo 2 which displays the incoming frequency of a track by colour, is only showing the indicated colour of the current setting in Window sound properties so, for example sound card set to 24/196 in Windows and playing back a 24/96 track from Amazon shows up in the Chords Hugo 2 " as 24/192, and no matter what frequency plays it back as, end of.

2. In my lounge setup, I have a Denon 8500H and an Oppo 205 . I bought a Amazon Firestick 4k (which recently was advertised as supporting Amazon Music 24 bit UltraHD) and updated it and the installed Amazon Music HD app to the latest and greatest firmware and software.

I then tried playing back Amazon Music 24 bit Ultra HD tracks with first the firestick plugged directly into the Denon amp and then second , into the Oppo 205, (which is connected to the Denon amp). The result was showing 16 bit playback rather than 24 bit which is displayed on our Sony KD-65AG8 , acting as merely a monitor of this.

I might mention that I have 24 bit music files and they all play back perfectly from my hard drive via USB input in both the Denon amp and the Oppo .

Using the HEOS app that is built in to my Denon amp Amazon music cast from my phone using the HEOS Andriod app plays back bit for bit perfect with all Amazon 24 bit UltraHD tracks. My problem here is that I personally find the HEOS app terrible.

All this has cost me a few hairs and a serious amount of time trying to get 24 bit playback from the Amazon 4k firestick in the lounge and getting a track frequency change showing once music reaches the Chord Hugo 2.

It isn't all bad....enter Qobuz!

I am on a free 1 month trial with them now which allows me to playback their 24 bit files.

The interface at first wasn't to much to my liking but after a day, I picked my artists and added them to my favorites. Excellent .
Next, played back all 24 bit variations that they have to offer and each one going to the CH2 in my desktop setup changed the colour indicator of frequency of each track immediately, from 24/44 all the way to 24/192, which clearly demonstrates that the output of music files from my pc are totally bypassing Windows and going straight to the Hugo 2. Perfect!!

In the lounge, after installing a small android free app called mconnect light (Bubble UPnP also works here and can be downloaded at Google Play as well) I could playback Qobuz 24 bit music perfectly and still have my playlists and favorite artists and albums at my fingertips! YES!

An extra, which surprised me is that with the Qobuz App and either of these two programs on my phone, I could stream Qobuz music bit for bit to our Denon 8500h and or Oppo 205!

I am passing this info on here since I believe that quite a few enthusiasts are being troubled by my same previous issues with Amazon Music.
I hope that Amazon take literally a page or two out of Qobuz's operation and allow their 24 bit // Ultra HD music to play asa it should and like it does with Qobuz.

HOpefully this will help one of you. Thank you for reading this, especially if you got this far. I don't like to type but this is one time I thought that if anyone else has been fed up with not being able to interface Amazon ultra hd music , here is a solution until they get their act together!
Cheers!

 

[Jon L]

Hello. I am new to this forum so hopefully I am adding my view here in an appropriate manner , but if not, I am pretty sure that one of you will let me know.
Here goes. I really want Amazon Music HD to do the job of playing back in 24 bit UltraHD as Amazon refers to these music files
For rock music which is my favorite , Amazon Music has every artist and album that companies like HD Tracks offers for sale between 24/44, through 24/192. and also along with this, I like the interface that Amazon Music offers apart from the suggestions which once I selected the Artists that I like in my favorites, it isn't a problem.

Before I progress, please take for granted that I have the latest updates, know which switches go where in the app and have made sure that "exclusive mode is selected, atleast where that option has been available to select ( unfortunately in my Windows 10 pc desktop setup it needs to be re-selected every time that I start the app up...)

Here are my issues.

1. In my desktop setup which is Alienware Area 51 m - Chord Hugo2 and Adam A3X/ Adam Sub 7 , when all the right ticks and exclusive mode is selected, the Chord Hugo 2 which displays the incoming frequency of a track by colour, is only showing the indicated colour of the current setting in Window sound properties so, for example sound card set to 24/196 in Windows and playing back a 24/96 track from Amazon shows up in the Chords Hugo 2 " as 24/192, and no matter what frequency plays it back as, end of.

2. In my lounge setup, I have a Denon 8500H and an Oppo 205 . I bought a Amazon Firestick 4k (which recently was advertised as supporting Amazon Music 24 bit UltraHD) and updated it and the installed Amazon Music HD app to the latest and greatest firmware and software.

I then tried playing back Amazon Music 24 bit Ultra HD tracks with first the firestick plugged directly into the Denon amp and then second , into the Oppo 205, (which is connected to the Denon amp). The result was showing 16 bit playback rather than 24 bit which is displayed on our Sony KD-65AG8 , acting as merely a monitor of this.

I might mention that I have 24 bit music files and they all play back perfectly from my hard drive via USB input in both the Denon amp and the Oppo .

Using the HEOS app that is built in to my Denon amp Amazon music cast from my phone using the HEOS Andriod app plays back bit for bit perfect with all Amazon 24 bit UltraHD tracks. My problem here is that I personally find the HEOS app terrible.

All this has cost me a few hairs and a serious amount of time trying to get 24 bit playback from the Amazon 4k firestick in the lounge and getting a track frequency change showing once music reaches the Chord Hugo 2.

It isn't all bad....enter Qobuz!

I am on a free 1 month trial with them now which allows me to playback their 24 bit files.

The interface at first wasn't to much to my liking but after a day, I picked my artists and added them to my favorites. Excellent .
Next, played back all 24 bit variations that they have to offer and each one going to the CH2 in my desktop setup changed the colour indicator of frequency of each track immediately, from 24/44 all the way to 24/192, which clearly demonstrates that the output of music files from my pc are totally bypassing Windows and going straight to the Hugo 2. Perfect!!

In the lounge, after installing a small android free app called mconnect light (Bubble UPnP also works here and can be downloaded at Google Play as well) I could playback Qobuz 24 bit music perfectly and still have my playlists and favorite artists and albums at my fingertips! YES!

An extra, which surprised me is that with the Qobuz App and either of these two programs on my phone, I could stream Qobuz music bit for bit to our Denon 8500h and or Oppo 205!

I am passing this info on here since I believe that quite a few enthusiasts are being troubled by my same previous issues with Amazon Music.
I hope that Amazon take literally a page or two out of Qobuz's operation and allow their 24 bit // Ultra HD music to play asa it should and like it does with Qobuz.

HOpefully this will help one of you. Thank you for reading this, especially if you got this far. I don't like to type but this is one time I thought that if anyone else has been fed up with not being able to interface Amazon ultra hd music , here is a solution until they get their act together!
Cheers!

Yup, Amazon is so huge, I doubt they are interested in their music app serving the niche market like quobuz, Roon. Highly doubt Amazon will share their API so others can mold the Amazon platform to our needs.

What you don't mention is how you found the SQ through your various journey. I used to care a lot about things like bit-perfectivity, bit-depth, sampling rate, etc, but I have found that the master and mix quality WAY trumps over any of that by a mile, to the point I hunt for the well-done mix and not care so much about the numbers.

For example, I compared the Amazon Exclusive mode to default Win mixer, but in My system, I preferred the exclusive mode off. This is a personal preference, but Default sounded more alive and more "raw," which is what I usually lean towards.

 

[rlanger]

For example, I compared the Amazon Exclusive mode to default Win mixer, but in My system, I preferred the exclusive mode off. This is a personal preference, but Default sounded more alive and more "raw," which is what I usually lean towards.

Me too, especially since APO/Peace doesn't function in Exclusive Mode. I find I get a much better experience running in shared mode with my preferred EQ, than any bit perfect setup.

Not surprising since I can barely, if ever, tell the difference between 320 and Flac. So, I'm with you, mastering and mixing trumps all else for me.