[robm321]

I've had all 3 and Qobuz was the best sounding. I dropped the other 2 and will never look back.

 

[CalvinandHobbes2020]

Is it me or does Amazon music HD dampen their music a bit?

Right now I’m currently trying out deezer hi-fi and comparing the two. Deezer sounds louder.

Of course, I realize that louder doesn’t necessarily = better. Hard to explain, it just feels more fuller than Amazon HD.

I thought Amazon sounded pretty flat as well.

These were my listening impressions of Amazon HD:


Round 3, Qobuz vs Amazon HD: Winner for me is Qobuz for the following reasons.
Amazon: Sounds more flat. Less drive than Qobuz so that some music sounds like it is plodding along. Sound is less full. Amazon HD doesn't necessarily do anything wrong (as does Tidal), but also clearly not as good as Qobuz to my ears.
Qobuz: Much more presence than Amazon HD. More 3-dimensional. Better pace and drive. Better low-frequency response & definition. More range to conveying the emotion in music: (i.e., calmer for calmer music & more drive & pace for more upbeat music)

 

[Pro-Jules]

I am war torn & jaded over paying out hundreds of £££ to Qobuz over the years for the Sublime Hi Res package (this worked great on my Mac for years - and now its cheaper) but I have more recently battled on 3 Android DAP's to get the Qobuz app to work properly..

My 'to be considered' list

Amazon Music HD
Cheaper
In app eq (Android only)
Scrolling Lyrics
Perhaps larger collection of music. Good for finding rock, pop & R&B, not so good for finding classical music & jazz

Qobuz
More expensive
No in app eq (Android only)
No scrolling lyrics
Perhaps smaller collection of music. Not so good for finding rock, pop & R&B, better at finding classical music & jazz


I like Rock, Pop, R&B, Jazz and Baroque + 'early music' classical

 

[mk00]

With Tidal I had major streaming problems when my connection was adequate plus their search function is problematic. An album may not appear under the group but if you write album's name you can find it. This happened to me many times.

I will try Amazon and Qobuz, thanks!!!

 

[Uebelkraehe]

I prefer Amazon HD to Tidal, too. SQ on Amazon HD is excellent whereas Tidal definitely has a bit of sound colorization and MQA at this point is largely a questionable solution in search of a problem. Not a big fan of Amazon's interface and recommendation algorithm, though.

 

[Pro-Jules]

DAP test

I did My Qobuz / Amazon Music HD listening test using a 96k 24 bit album I use for sonic testing - it's one of my 'benchmark albums'

On

Empire Ear Nemesis custom fit iems, Plussound Poetic cable & Sony 507 DAP, set to high resolution streaming

And also over LDAC Bluetooth to my main living room set up.

Playing my benchmark track - swapping quickly back and forth between Amazon Music HD & Qobuz to A/B test I could tell zero difference between the two platforms

But the Qobuz app took a few finger taps to start playing (oh no, not that again!) so that's me decided 100%. Amazon Music HD is the winner for me.

 

[CalvinandHobbes2020]

This is going to sound like heresy, but I suggest that those of you that are considering better usability than Qobuz or Tidal try Spotify Premium. My listening impressions are that Spotify Premium sounds better than Amazon HD and Tidal. Qobuz is my main streaming service, but I also have a Spotify Premium Family account. To my ears, both Tidal and Amazon HD commit errors of commission in their music reproduction, while Spotify has more sonically benign errors of omission. I can hear that Tidal and Amazon HD are trying to provide "more" in terms of sound quality, but in doing so, the sonic results are frequently not pleasing to my ears. Spotify doesn't try to push the sound quality envelope and succeeds in providing a consistently musical sound. Qobuz does provide better sound quality, but listening via Spotify is more than decent.

These were my listening notes for Spotify Premium vs Qobuz:


From a critical listening perspective in my auditioning sessions, Spotify actually is not bad at conveying detail, pace and presence from music. It sounds musical. Any shortcomings that it has are errors of omission rather than errors of commission. I can listen to Spotify especially in mobile settings and be engaged and immersed in the music. After listening for a longer period of time, Qobuz is clearly better at conveying detail, transparency/clarity, pace and presence, but Spotify doesn't do anything noticeably wrong.

 

[CalvinandHobbes2020]

I prefer Amazon HD to Tidal, too. SQ on Amazon HD is excellent whereas Tidal definitely has a bit of sound colorization and MQA at this point is largely a questionable solution in search of a problem. Not a big fan of Amazon's interface and recommendation algorithm, though.

Yes, it was surprising to me how colored the sound was on Tidal. It seems to be a deliberate choice on the part of Tidal to provide a certain sound signature to how they deliver music. These were my perceptions of how the sound via Tidal was colored:

I think they have applied some equalization to boost the bass and treble. In the process, I think side effects of doing this is to take out some of the presence of voices and instruments and add an artificial quality to voices and instruments..

 

[originalsnuffy]

My standard for all of this has unfortunately been reduced to "good enough". Amazon HD has its share of issues but is priced well and has a reasonable catalog. Plus it fits my sound ecosystem so it wins. I have a dot hooked to a whole house stereo and that is fun. Plus is run on my DAP and my iphone. So game set match.

 

[KutuzovGambit]

My standard for all of this has unfortunately been reduced to "good enough".

This.

 

[snapandslide]

Yes, it was surprising to me how colored the sound was on Tidal. It seems to be a deliberate choice on the part of Tidal to provide a certain sound signature to how they deliver music. These were my perceptions of how the sound via Tidal was colored:

I think they have applied some equalization to boost the bass and treble. In the process, I think side effects of doing this is to take out some of the presence of voices and instruments and add an artificial quality to voices and instruments..

Going through UAPP on Android seems to sound a lot better than through the Tidal app.

 

[Digeeedad]

Using a Beyerdynamic 1990 Pro headphone, a JDS Labs El AMP II and Atom headphone amp, I listened pretty extensively to Amazon Music HD, Qobuz (with its own player and through Audirvana) and Tidal HiFi / Audirvana. For available library, 1. Amazon Music HD, 2. Tidal HiFi, 3. Qobuz. Just randomly searching for sometimes lesser know albums from 60's through the present, I was more likely to find what I was looking for on Amazon Music HD, with the most "missing" selections with Qobuz. I found Tidal to have a library just a bit behind Amazon Music HD. Comparative sound quality for me was 1. Qobuz/Audirvana, 2. Amazon Music HD and 3. Tidal HiFi/Audirvana. Truthfully the differences in audio quality were not profound, when choosing and playing songs with the same audio specifications. Qobuz/Audirvana, although difficult to describe is, for me, a bit better in audio quality consistently. Player interface/use 1. Amazon Music, 2.Qobuz/Audirvana and Tidal/Audirvana tied. Tidal HiFi was my first cancellation, being the most expensive and having a heavy emphasis on music genres I have little interest in. Currently listening the most to Amazon Music HD, which is not available on the Audirvana player, but Qobuz and Tidal both are. Actually currently liking the Amazon Music HD player more than Audirvana. I'm leaning towards cancelling my Qobuz subscription, as it has more missing albums and costs a bit more monthly than Amazon Music HD. I have to chuckle occasionally, when comparing costs for subscriptions for these 3. I haven't purchased an actual CD for a couple of years but for the cost of one CD, with any of these programs, I can listen to many dozens of albums per month. Beginning streaming has definitely renewed my interest and excitement for music and music equipment. Have to admit that I quite often do feel more than a little guilty, taking advantage of the music streaming world, as it definitely must have resulted in a major loss in earnings for the artists. I guess for the more popular performers, the money is now in concert revenue but COVID-19 has pretty much ground that to a complete halt.

 

[Pro-Jules]

@Digeeedad Great report!

Many thanks for it.

 

[VolumusMaximus]

Have evaluated Amazon HD and TIDAL. Amazon does sound a little flatter (vs TIDAL sounds a tad warmer), but has good energy. Fairly good air and detail, especially "Ultra HD" tracks. Catalog is extensive. Running on Windows 10 laptop, and Amazon app is superior (more comprehensive, and has a 'mini player' option)

Already have an Amazon account, so the price was cheaper than TIDAL.

 

[snapandslide]

Have evaluated Amazon HD and TIDAL. Amazon does sound a little flatter (vs TIDAL sounds a tad warmer), but has good energy. Fairly good air and detail, especially "Ultra HD" tracks. Catalog is extensive. Running on Windows 10 laptop, and Amazon app is superior (more comprehensive, and has a 'mini player' option)

Already have an Amazon account, so the price was cheaper than TIDAL.

Seems Amazon's offering isn't that bad - any idea how the catalog is for jazz? Damn I'd love to support the smaller brands, but Tidal are making it harder to do, they really need to lower their price.