This is exactly how I see it. Amazon doesn't sound as good as Qobuz, but it has market reach. It will do more than anyone else to boost high-res content and awareness, so it's a super important player. I also like, personally, that the first major into the high-res fray isn't doing MQA.
This is a big deal, even if the SQ isn't up to Qobuz. I just hope Qobuz survives.
With the Fire Stick and App already in place, Amazon HD is an easy change over for anyone with a home theater system and they can branch out to other audio devices if they have not already. I used Amazon music for some content I just could not find in other locations.
Having an Amazon Prime account already, the price point for Amazon HD is quite tempting for me. My hiccup is that I do not have an easy integration into my stereo system as I use LMS on a Raspberry Pi for digital stuff (well, digital stuff that is not in CD format). Since I did not have Amazon Unlimited, I do get the 90 day free trial so I might ride it out a bit and see how much I really use it and if it is worth maybe going back to Qobuz or... something.
(I still rather prefer vinyl, so I look at that $250 per year subscription cost and think how that is 10 albums I will probably buy... and also how finding more music on a streaming service will undoubtedly result in me buying it in at least one other format...)
Having an Amazon Prime account already, the price point for Amazon HD is quite tempting for me. My hiccup is that I do not have an easy integration into my stereo system as I use LMS on a Raspberry Pi for digital stuff (well, digital stuff that is not in CD format). Since I did not have Amazon Unlimited, I do get the 90 day free trial so I might ride it out a bit and see how much I really use it and if it is worth maybe going back to Qobuz or... something.
(I still rather prefer vinyl, so I look at that $250 per year subscription cost and think how that is 10 albums I will probably buy... and also how finding more music on a streaming service will undoubtedly result in me buying it in at least one other format...)
I use a few Pi's for different purposes, I will have to play around and see what I can figure out. For a Prime member, the yearly single rate for Amazon HD is at $10 a month roughly, I want to say $129 a year but I am going from memory. Amazon is certainly attacking with price and library of music.
I've given up on Spotify offering lossless ... I just wish they'd support ROON integration. I'm running Tidal HiFi through Roon for the house, and Spotify Family for on the go, but would like to have the ability to combine both libraries through Roon.
I used to have Tidal and Qobuz but as Qobuz expanded their catalog was able to drop Tidal. Since I already have Amazon Prime I took advantage of the free 90 days of Amazon Music HD. Good Lord, they use Windows Sound Mixer and there is no ability in their desktop app for exclusive mode for your DAC as in Qobuz or Tidal. Amazon Music HD sound quality is noticeably inferior to Qobuz. I hope Amazon opens up their API. What they are providing right now is not the sound quality we are used to from Qobuz or Tidal.
I used to have Tidal and Qobuz but as Qobuz expanded their catalog was able to drop Tidal. Since I already have Amazon Prime I took advantage of the free 90 days of Amazon Music HD. Good Lord, they use Windows Sound Mixer and there is no ability in their desktop app for exclusive mode for your DAC as in Qobuz or Tidal. Amazon Music HD sound quality is noticeably inferior to Qobuz. I hope Amazon opens up their API. What they are providing right now is not the sound quality we are used to from Qobuz or Tidal.
Sol has great potential and what I saw at RMAF was proof, just a few niggles to iron out.
A turntable is after all a tinkerers paradise....
Anyway the world is your oyster, all at Schiit deserve congratulations on the undertaking. We are currently in Edinburgh and one of the first stores we came across at the mall where you can tour the Royal Yacht Britannia was this:
Amazon, like Spotify and Apple Music, will not integrate with Roon or Audirvana. It is not about access to music files. They want control over the user experience for business reasons — user profiling, individual targeting, data collection, etc.
Tidal and Qobuz allow 3rd party integration because they are very small businesses and need to attract every customer they can. Some perspective about how small these businesses are... Tidal has such a small market share (less than 1%) that it is often not even mentioned in survey reports about the streaming music industry. Even Pandora and Deezer are many times the size of Tidal. And Tidal dwarfs the size of Qobuz. In August, Qobuz announced that they have signed up 25,000 paying customers in the US. Think about it... half of a football stadium. So Tidal is a roundoff error in the industry, and Qobuz is barely detectable noise. I'd like smaller businesses to succeed but it will be a tough road ahead.
The frustrating thing here is if you want to buy a track for download you still get an mp3 despite the fact that they could offer a flac download with much higher source quality if they wanted to. I suspect licensing rights play a part as the rights are no doubt negotiated separately here vs. the streaming platform (gotta keep everything as complicated as possible of course....), but in the year 2019 the selection of music you can purchase and then download to keep in a lossless format is still amazingly small and looks to always remain that way.
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
