[Andrew_WOT]

Hello everyone! New to this thread here. Quick question....

I use Amazon Music PC app. It seems to me that the amazon music app always upsample stream data to the max of what your "device" is capable of. In my case, my DAC is good for 192K... so the amazon music app always upsample the music to 192K. Would someone be able to confirm if that is the case? Thanks a lot.

OS Mixer does that, not AM player. You can get bit perfect by manually matching bitrate and depth in Windows Sound settings to played track.
Quite a hassle, especially on mixed playlists, or just leave it at 24/192 and let mixer upsample everything to common denominator. Biggest reason people abandoning AM.

 

[FractalSound]

OS Mixer does that, not AM player. You can get bit perfect by manually matching bitrate and depth in Windows Sound settings to played track.
Quite a hassle, especially on mixed playlists, or just leave it at 24/192 and let mixer upsample everything to common denominator. Biggest reason people abandoning AM.

Got it. Thanks a lot for the info!!

I guess the OS Mixer is being used even in "Exclusive Mode"? I put the AM PC app in exclusive mode, but my DAC shows 192K all the time

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Got it. Thanks a lot for the info!!

I guess the OS Mixer is being used even in "Exclusive Mode"? I put the AM PC app in exclusive mode, but my DAC shows 192K all the time

Exclusive just disables sound control in player and prevents other apps from sharing audio device, not sure why Amazon stopped there and didn't make it bit perfect.

 

[Jon L]

Exclusive just disables sound control in player and prevents other apps from sharing audio device, not sure why Amazon stopped there and didn't make it bit perfect.

More and more, this issue is becoming a problem because I am finding some high resolution GEM's on Amazon!
For example,
Whitesnake Unzipped 24/96kHz
Muse Uprising 24/96
Anthrax Antisocial 24/96
Metallica pretty much most albums available at 24/96
Many classical pieces have good hi res versions of them

 

[Nellie75]

So I’m noticing that songs will stream on my iPhone 12 in 24/192, or 24/96, but will not stream on my android devices that way. They will play that way if downloaded. Am I missing something? Or is this just they way it is now, songs used to stream in 24/192-96 on android, but the highest they will go now is 16/44.

You are not missing something. I stated the exact same issue on a android HiBy R5 I had recently bought. Downloaded played at the highest resolution and steamed did not.

All this is behind me now though. I dropped my Amazon subscription of the last two years and am happily enjoying Apple Music on a player I already own, my iPhone.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

More and more, this issue is becoming a problem because I am finding some high resolution GEM's on Amazon!
For example,
Whitesnake Unzipped 24/96kHz
Muse Uprising 24/96
Anthrax Antisocial 24/96
Metallica pretty much most albums available at 24/96
Many classical pieces have good hi res versions of them

What can I say, vote with your wallet and support companies that care. I believe at the moment the only option without MQA nonsense and working on PC is Qobuz, not sure what is going on with Spotify lossless and when they finally release it, but it wouldn't be high-res anyway.

 

[FractalSound]

I set my DAC (through Windows Sound) to 32 bit/384KHz... Amazon Music PC app display Device Capability as 24 bit / 384 kHz. Does anyone know how to make the configuration consistent?

 

[originalsnuffy]

As much as I like to have everything "bit perfect" and wrapped up in a bow, I wonder if we are looking for something we don't really need. Just supposing Amazon Music actually sounds good and is in fact hi res. Does it matter if the readings state 24 bit 192 when its really 24 bit 96? The key for me is whether the sound is excellent.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

As much as I like to have everything "bit perfect" and wrapped up in a bow, I wonder if we are looking for something we don't really need. Just supposing Amazon Music actually sounds good and is in fact hi res. Does it matter if the readings state 24 bit 192 when its really 24 bit 96? The key for me is whether the sound is excellent.

It's not just reading, you are not getting the original unaltered audio stream, it got modified by OS Mixer with less than mediocre resampler, can as well just settle for a high bitrate MP3, it sounds good too.

 

[originalsnuffy]

It's not just reading, you are not getting the original unaltered audio stream, it got modified by OS Mixer with less than mediocre resampler, can as well just settle for a high bitrate MP3, it sounds good too.

I think there is a big difference between minor bit modifications of hi res and MP3.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

I think there is a big difference between minor bit modifications of hi res and MP3.

How big?
https://archimago.blogspot.com/2015/11/measurements-windows-10-audio-stack.html
You can minimize this ill effect by matching Mixer sample rate with the actual material, but it's quite a hassle especially on mixed playlists featuring CD and hig-res tracks.
You pay for lossless, but not getting original bit-perfect quality.
In the end it might not be that big of a deal SQ wise, but it's matter of principle whether you are willing to support business ignoring numerous requests to add that feature to the service since its inception or not. And based on them being completely deaf to all these outcries, looks like audiophiles are not their primary audience.

 

[originalsnuffy]

How big?
https://archimago.blogspot.com/2015/11/measurements-windows-10-audio-stack.html
You can minimize this ill effect by matching Mixer sample rate with the actual material, but it's quite a hassle especially on mixed playlists featuring CD and hig-res tracks.
You pay for lossless, but not getting original bit-perfect quality.
In the end it might not be that big of a deal SQ wise, but it's matter of principle whether you are willing to support business ignoring numerous requests to add that feature to the service since its inception or not. And based on them being completely deaf to all these outcries, looks like audiophiles are not their primary audience.

I am far from an expert on all this. But isn't this article criticizing upsampling from within windows? Unless I am missing something, I thought the upsampling discussed here happens within the Amazon app. To my knowledge there are no analyses for that. If my assumptions are correct, which they might not be, then it follows the archimago's comments do not apply to the matter at hand. I also don't see how we make the jump from criticizing upsampling from fairly hi res material to lossy formats. Redbook flac is hi res compared to lossy formats especially MP3. I would agree that Apple's AAC codecs are more musical than MP3, an assertion originally made by Jobs.

I listen quite a bit to Amazon Music on my HiBy R5 DAC and it sounds pretty close to my FLAC (and hi res FLAC) records when I have done comparative listening. I would go so far as to point out that I can mainly tell the difference when I hear the occasional technical glitch on Amazon and then I can say "oh that's Amazon".

 

[FractalSound]

I am far from an expert on all this. But isn't this article criticizing upsampling from within windows? Unless I am missing something, I thought the upsampling discussed here happens within the Amazon app. To my knowledge there are no analyses for that. If my assumptions are correct, which they might not be, then it follows the archimago's comments do not apply to the matter at hand. I also don't see how we make the jump from criticizing upsampling from fairly hi res material to lossy formats. Redbook flac is hi res compared to lossy formats especially MP3. I would agree that Apple's AAC codecs are more musical than MP3, an assertion originally made by Jobs.

I listen quite a bit to Amazon Music on my HiBy R5 DAC and it sounds pretty close to my FLAC (and hi res FLAC) records when I have done comparative listening. I would go so far as to point out that I can mainly tell the difference when I hear the occasional technical glitch on Amazon and then I can say "oh that's Amazon".

Based on what I have read so far... it doesn't look like there is a way to bypass the windows mixer using the Amazon Music app. Given that's the case, maybe take a look at the link below. It seems setting the windows mixer to 24/192 can push whatever the deficiencies introduced by the mixers to above the audible frequency range. ... and setting the mixer to 24/96 is not getting as good a result as 24/192

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...udio-quality-debate.19438/page-16#post-958026

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Or just show amazon middle finger and move somewhere else where you don't need to jump through the hoops to get something you are paying for.

 

[originalsnuffy]

Based on what I have read so far... it doesn't look like there is a way to bypass the windows mixer using the Amazon Music app. Given that's the case, maybe take a look at the link below. It seems setting the windows mixer to 24/192 can push whatever the deficiencies introduced by the mixers to above the audible frequency range. ... and setting the mixer to 24/96 is not getting as good a result as 24/192

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...udio-quality-debate.19438/page-16#post-958026

I always set the audio setting to 24 / 192 anyway,