BTW... I do not think Amazon upsamples anything. It will send the max bit rate the receiver accepts. Thus, if the receiver accepts 192kHz/24-bit Amazon will send a track at that setting if that is the highest quality version of the track. It will downsample for a system set at lower quality levels.
I can confirm that this is the case. I use Amazon Music HD, mostly for financial reasons and because Echo Dot is the easiest way to let my kids stream music in their rooms. I have my MMB2 set up in Windows to be at 24/192, and Amazon Music plays each track at whatever its highest bit depth and sample rate is, up to 24/192. I use Exclusive Mode and it definitely locks down the device, because no other audio will play while it's on. In fact, YouTube videos will refuse to play and show an error because the player can't get hold of the audio device.
Right! I have Audirvana and it does take charge of the digital pipeline. Same thing with WiiM.
BTW... I do not think Amazon upsamples anything. It will send the max bit rate the receiver accepts. Thus, if the receiver accepts 192kHz/24-bit Amazon will send a track at that setting if that is the highest quality version of the track. It will downsample for a system set at lower quality levels.
When I first tried Amazon's UHD I had it for a short time and could not tell any difference so I cancelled that and went back to Toadish NonDef because I did not wish to pay for something I could not clearly hear was "better". Shortly thereafter Amazon decided that UHD was what you got with their Unlimited Music and so it was back on the menu with no price increase for me.
Back when I had a garage, and back before my '79 Triumph Bonneville got stolen, I would burn a CD to match my mood before going out to the garage to work on my bike.
I would pick a seed song, set the random playlist to be a maximum of 72 minutes, give the result a quick once over to make sure there were no stinkers, then hit burn.
I really enjoyed that, and it's a great regret of mine that when I had to move someone helping me pack up threw them all away - they were little time capsules of summer days and pleasant recollections.
So I guess what I'm trying to say is I approve of and enjoy that random playback nonsense ☺☺.
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I like streaming random music, if I don't really know the CD sequence. But, it makes me nuts, when the CD song order gets shuffled during playback. I don't even like a remastered extended CD, that has extra tracks! I'll skip the extra stuff, so I only hear the sequence I know...!
I can confirm that this is the case. I use Amazon Music HD, mostly for financial reasons and because Echo Dot is the easiest way to let my kids stream music in their rooms. I have my MMB2 set up in Windows to be at 24/192, and Amazon Music plays each track at whatever its highest bit depth and sample rate is, up to 24/192. I use Exclusive Mode and it definitely locks down the device, because no other audio will play while it's on. In fact, YouTube videos will refuse to play and show an error because the player can't get hold of the audio device.
I suspect that there are many people with wrong bitstream setups and they find quality differences because different client players behave differently; they hear differences due to transcoding when pipelines are wrong. As you confirm Amazon requires the user to take care of those details; when the pipeline is correct the data sounds good. The 192kHz tracks from Amazon are quite good sonically.
In my previous post I mentioned the bedside kit.
I discussed a while back about the decision to set up this kit and that I was unsure if it is worthwhile for me.
I am finding that it continues to be a hit and miss use case.
I have given up on using full sized headphones, specifically the closed Beyerdynamic DT 1770 or the Focal Elegia. They are too impracticable for this.
I am now trying out various IEMs. Actually fell asleep listening once so far; that is a positive improvement.
The Schiit stack seems a bit silly and overkill for falling asleep with IEMs on a random occasion or two.
Should it stay or should it go?
I can confirm that this is the case. I use Amazon Music HD, mostly for financial reasons and because Echo Dot is the easiest way to let my kids stream music in their rooms. I have my MMB2 set up in Windows to be at 24/192, and Amazon Music plays each track at whatever its highest bit depth and sample rate is, up to 24/192. I use Exclusive Mode and it definitely locks down the device, because no other audio will play while it's on. In fact, YouTube videos will refuse to play and show an error because the player can't get hold of the audio device.
I think the point is, and I could be wrong obviously, that with Amazon HD/UHD Windows is still getting it's grubby little hands on the file and the sample rate is what you set there. It's not exclusive mode, like Qobuz is. Qobuz blocks system sounds and other apps too, but it's bypassing Windows sound control and sending the file direct to the DAC. Amazon isn't doing that.
I think the point is, and I could be wrong obviously, that with Amazon HD/UHD Windows is still getting it's grubby little hands on the file and the sample rate is what you set there. It's not exclusive mode, like Qobuz is. Qobuz blocks system sounds and other apps too, but it's bypassing Windows sound control and sending the file direct to the DAC. Amazon isn't doing that.
I don't know about in the past, but what I'm trying to say is that it is an actual exclusive mode--the behavior is exactly as you describe with Qobuz. And, at least to my ears, there's a distinct difference in sound quality between exclusive mode and non-exclusive mode.
I think the point is, and I could be wrong obviously, that with Amazon HD/UHD Windows is still getting it's grubby little hands on the file and the sample rate is what you set there. It's not exclusive mode, like Qobuz is. Qobuz blocks system sounds and other apps too, but it's bypassing Windows sound control and sending the file direct to the DAC. Amazon isn't doing that.
You should be able to set Window's bitstream pipeline as you wish. My point all along is that the perceived differences for the same lossless track is not its source provider but the pipeline settings on the user end.
Does anyone else remember reading somewhere or watching on youtube, the results some guy was getting when he compared the bit stream settings he selected vs what his actual data usage was on his home network?
If I recall correctly the author thought Amazon was playing around with the data, using some kind of compression or filtering to save bandwidth.
Basically the stream from Amazon was telling the DAC it was looking at 192 khz music but the actual data rate being downloaded was far less. And it was manipulated whether HD or Ultra HD was being used.
I cant recall where I saw it, this was pre-covid, seems like a different lifetime ago.
Oh how I wish I had that much energy. I've got plenty of hobbiest enthusiasm, but I have suffered from chronic deficiency in energy since I hit puberty. Even sleeping 15 hours a day every day can't fix the constant need I feel to go back to bed. Last time I ran on 3 hours of sleep I felt ill and my hands were shaking. And no coffee does not help ;-;
Basically what I'm saying is- Give me yours
Now >:3
That Red thing looks cool because it's in red. ... I have no use for the useless (to me!) ROoN. I can hit the "random" button on my 300 disc CD changer ...
Yes, definitely yes on the red. World needs more red.
No on the roon. Roon Radio is less random and more like a drunkard's walk through that music map thing. IIRC, they may even have fixed it to play entire compositions and not just a movement from classical pieces. :fingerscrossed:
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