Amazon Launches Lossless "Hi-rez" HD Music Service

Sure thing.  I would probably go for it if Aurender supports it.

Agreed. I believe many will. 

“Aurender says they are in contact with Amazon”

Great news indeed. I am a Aurender user for 5 plus years and looking forward to Amazon streaming within Conductor app. 

I did sign up for Amazon HD earlier today. The HD catalog seems pretty limited at this time but their regular CD quality catalog is comparable with Tidal. Given the the aggressive pricing and vast CD quality catalog, I would give edge to Amazon HD over Tidal. 

Way to go Amazon!!!

"audio quality matters v. seven notes and a set of vibrations"

Nice read. Brit humour. And truth.

https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/amazon-music-hd-dos-sound-quality-matter-2549294

I have the student discount Tidal subscription. Also I have the Oppo105 which has Tidal streamer build in (no need of USB). And I am lucky to have the last batch of Oppo205 (MQA decoder). As an audiophile and Tidal customer, I would stay with Tidal for a while until Amazon lower their UltraHD to $9.99 and with more 192/24 library.

I purchased and downloaded a Led Zeppelin song at 24/96 and the spectrum shows a brick wall filter at 20K like it is an upsampled redbook CD, it may be a 24/96 file but it is only about 5 Mb compared to the same song at 24/96 from HDtracks that is over 90 mB... In preferences I chose to buy and download at Ultra HD resolution. The Amazon file is also MP3.... something fishy at Amazon I think

No, say it's not true. Bezos wouldn't do something like that, would he?

Historically HDTracks is no ’true-resolution’ saint either, tho’ fishyness at their scale is/was small ... fry? compared to what A-zon is capable of. And they seem to have cleaned up their act several years ago, after some ’high-profile’ exposure of their antics.

I am a Prime member but this would be my first time with any service. I have a nice DAC but need the software/ hardware(??) between like Bluesound as I've read.....not sure how to link the service to my DAC. Don't want to use a computer or phone/ tablet. What are the units Amazon HD can work with?
Hope I explained that right.

Some [Some] current Amazon Products, Sonos, BluOS products, Marantz, Denon, etc. [Note: they may have restricted maximums for resolution / decoding]

https://www.whathifi.com/us/news/first-wave-of-product-support-for-amazon-music-hd-confirmed

https://positive-feedback.com/industry-news/bluos-among-first-to-integrate-amazon-music-hd/

I got this on another forum

"Those settings are for the "offline listening" downloads that are tied to your Amazon Music / Music HD player and streaming subscription. Cancel your streaming subscription and they're gone.

Purchased downloads that you can keep permanently come from the regular Amazon store, in MP3 only. From Amazon's perspective it's natural to cross-sell, but I think a lot of customers are going to be confused and unhappy

.

so even though in Amazon HD you have the option to select HD downloads after you purchase a song, you only get an MP3 file when you do it

So Bezos would do something like that.

I've been using my laptop pc via usb to my dac and compared with Qobuz, Amazon HD does not sound harsh but the sound lacks substance.  Seems too thin and polite.  No punch.  Voices and instruments do not have that palpable presence.  Qobuz is better in that regard but the sound is bit harsh and more digital like.  What do you guys hear?  

Auralic are reaching out to Amazon, no timescales as of yet.

I am on vacation now and so I will have to wait until I return to try it on my Bluesound gear.  I currently stream Qobuz through Bluesound and it’s a very good quality but I find subtle differences between that and both CD replay or ripped CDs played back via Bluesound, so there is some room for improvement.
i currently use the limited Amazon streaming that my Prime Membership buys but it doesn’t do well with hapless playback.
  I do wonder at the economics.  Amazon has the cash reserves to take a loss on this but once they have driven the the high Rez streaming competition out of business can raise the price through the roof

Sadly, due to the Google vs Amazon war the neat and effective Chromecast Audio is not, nor ever will be I doubt, compatible with Amazon Music.   This means it is a no-go for many users, a shame as it is £10 a month cheaper than Qobuz.

Awesome overview of streaming services available. Should be very helpful to members new to streaming.

https://www.consumerreports.org/streaming-media/best-music-streaming-service-for-you/

Note: not all services are covered. For example, Qobuz.

From inner/Fidelity:

https://www.innerfidelity.com/content/amazon-hd-music-launches-questions-remain

Thoughtful post by John Darko:

https://darko.audio/2019/09/global-feedback-do-you-classify-cd-quality-as-hi-res-audio/

Let the upsampling - remonetization begin!!!
Very rare to source undithered 192/24 files.
Ear training schools will be needed.
12 mb mp3 to a 280 mb 192/24 bit files sound the same to most untrained ears. Heck some pay top dollar for vinyl cut from poorly dithered 44.1/16 bit files. One never knows the true source file unless it comes off the console - and most studios multitrack at 48k with poor summing. Sorry to crash the party - just speaking from the other side of the glass.

I just joined the Amazon streaming site.
sound is God-awful!!!

Just re-installed app.
Sound is normal now.

Wellllllll.....I am a early Roon adopter with a lifetime purchase..I have HiRez Tidal, I use iTunes for ALAC and I installed Amazon Music last night.  I’ve been using it for a few hours now....My initial impressions are very good.   Selection-excellent, sound quality-excellent (I signed up for UHD), navigation-interface much better than Roon and Tidal.  I don’t like Amazon (the business model) but I gotta say I like this.  Now, I also like Tidal for MQA so I’m not going to doing anything drastic yet...But I’m beginning to have dark thoughts that I could live with one service and Amazon may be it for me....say it ain’t so...RIGHT?

Most will not be hi res.  If they were originally recorded before digital recording, they cannot be high res as the source was not.  Putting them in a high res package, does not improve the resolution.

It works with Bluesound node2

Glad to get rid of Tidal pushing Rap on me.

I can’t stand amazon and usually stay away , but I did install the app and will give the 90 day trail a go . So far I really like the App,and sound quality has been excellent . Amazon’s app blows away Qobuz and I also enjoy it better than Tidal . I have already canceled Qobuz due to the weak library they have , and Tidal will more than likely be next .great job so far Amazon . 

This is very exciting news for music streaming and I am anxious to use it on my Aurender Music Server.

However, based on my understanding, Amazon needs to build an API for music servers, like the Aurender, Innuos, etc., to use to build their Server Apps (like the Aurender Conductor App) to interface to Amazon. This will take some time. We will see.

I am ready to use Amazon Streaming on my Aurender server. Do you have any information on when Amazon will release their API (if ever)?

Amazon on Tuesday introduced CD-quality 24-bit “Ultra HD” music.

I'm disappointed that Amazon has fallen into the depths of deception along with everybody else.  CD quality is 16bit.  Putting a 16bit recording in a 24bit "container" won't make it sound any different.  And they "borrowed" the term Ultra HD which describes the resolution in 4K televisions.  Saying "CD Quality" is all they need to do...unless their full library of music was ORIGINALLY recorded in 24bit.  

CD quality, in my memory, has always been referred to as Standard Definition (16/44.1) yet Amazon has decided that 16/44.1 is now the new High Definition even though they are merely FLAC rips of regular CDs.  And then they take those same recordings, wrap them in a 24bit container and magically they are now Ultra HD Music.  Slick marketing but deceptive.

Fidelity ENDS in the recording studio.  You cannot add quality/definition to a recording after the fact.  Why do otherwise intelligent people not get this.

@dynaquest4  Did you read John Darko's thoughts on this? Linked 10 posts above.

dynaquest4"Fidelity ENDS in the recording studio."
This is completely erroneous fidelity ends with the Music Reproduction System and the room within which it is engaged the recording system itself can account and represent for no more than half of the final end result at the user's ears.

david_ten:

Oops...no I had missed that article but I am (as you have read) in perfect agreement.  And I thought the Hi-Rez Audio definition ONLY applied to equipment, not media.  Did Amazon just wave a wand and change that? 

The world of music media (And hardware) if full of dishonesty and deception...preying on people who do not appreciate the powerful influence of expectation bias.  

I switched from LPs to CDs in the late 80s and never looked back.  I played around with SACD in the 90s and decided, while it sounded better, it wasn't a significant enough improvement to buy all my music over again.  Many, like me, caused that marketing effort to fail.  I'm thinking Amazon may end up with egg on their face.

...fidelity ends with the Music Reproduction System

You are confused, clear (or not-so-clear) think.  The engineers in the recording studio are not concerned with your equipment (music reproduction system?).  they are concerned with the quality of the recording and the media that contains it.

You are always contrary so I will not debate this further with you.

44.1K/16bit is not a HD format. I don't know why Amazon call it HiRes. for most people an MP3 320kps is more than enough and compact on mobile device. For audiophile folks on this forum, 96K/24bit is barely minimum. I would say 192k/24bit or DSD64 get you into real HiFi. And only Qobuz have the most HiRe. Tidal's MQA is 2nd next to Qubuz.

Thank you usery for your link to the https://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html link.  Now i know for sure that the higher res files (beyond cd quality) don't matter to me and that I couldn't really tell a difference between Spotify at high quality sound setting and Amazon cd quality or ultra high resolution sound quality.  Of course i also discovered on the audiocheck.net website that i can't hear anything above 13kHz either! 

Any chance of gettin´a pluggin for Squuexebob (logitech media Server)?

herman:

Welcome to the world of "you're not smart enough to figure out we are lying to you."  Especially on this forum where you will find people who tell you you need to spend $1000 for a power cord or must break in your $300 AC receptacle by plugging it into your refrigerator for a month.

I just A/B'd the Amazon Prime Unlimited vs Audirvana on my Macbook Air with a Dragonfly black and a pr of hd600s.  Selected track- AC/DC For those about to Rock.....great intro for testing guitar and kick drum.....Anyway it was NO CONTEST!  Audirvana smoked APU. APU was lifeless by comparison. Still I make keed APU for access to 50m + songs.

I like my CDs. They always sound great.👍

All of these platforms are just another way to reach deep into your pockets. I, myself, have a rather limited range of music that gives me great pleasure. Think of it as a Marie Kondo approach to music: keep what gives you joy and throw out the rest.

Most of what passes for music I don't care for, but that's just me. Granted, radio isn't what it used to be but its still free. And, there's internet radio as well. I can search for new music without paying for it, or rely on some algorithm to steer me to music that I could care less about, and which is never right.

All the best,
Nonoise

Update on Amazon HD with NAD C-388 w/BluOS2i MDC module...
It works great - fully integrated. Controls and automatically updates on Bluesound mobile and Win10 apps and sounds very good.

Bandwidth testing reveals: CD-quality tracks seem to average 1 - 2Mbps, while "HR" (UltraHD) seems to average 4x higher. However, it is variable, and I’ve seen HR peaks high as 16.1Mbps. Random HR examples:
The Cars, My Best Friend’s Girl (Best of UltraHD station) 4.8 - 6.5Mbps
Eurythmics, Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) [2018 Remastered] 1.5 - 4.4Mbps
The Chainsmokers, Closer (feat. Halsey) flutters between 0.5 - 1.5 Mbps
Interesting, because The Cars (above) sustains ~5 Mbps throughout the track.

In all cases, between songs Mbps drops to "Idle", and bandwidth to the controlling device (in this case a Samsung tablet) is also measuring "Idle".

One thing that annoys me a little is the occasional volume imbalance between some tracks. Tends toward older tracks (example: Pretenders, Brass in Pocket) have a lower volume level than other (newer?) music. Maybe not a very ’audiophile’ statement, but I prefer some volume leveling (especially on a music ’station’). It’s a strange phenomenon, though - because it’s not all older tracks (example: Fleetwood Mac, The Chain) is normal volume relative to others - wow that track sounds good in HR on direct digital NAD integrated and electrostats with Polk T50’s added to extend broadcast of the highs.

So far, I’m liking the added quality of a service/membership partner I’m already connected with.

Any word from Cambridge on the CxN streamer adding the Amazon app?

First Half 2019 performance (financial) for Streaming, etc. Impressive growth. From, the 'High Resolution And Digital Audio' site:

https://www.hiresaudio.online/us-music-revenues-grew-18-in-first-half-of-2019/

I am giving the 90 day free trial a go and so far Qobuz smokes Amazon Music HD in sound quality.  Amazon is crippled because it uses Windows sound mixer in shared mode, exclusive mode is not an option. Neither is Roon or Audirvana integration.

The best streaming sound quality I have on my desktop rig using a Yggdrasil DAC is playing Qobuz through Audirvana+. Audirvana uses Wasapi exclusive mode and sounds a bit better than the Qobuz desktop app.

@duckworp,I did read that Chromecast compatibility in the FAQ section, and it is sad that through Chromecast, only standard streaming, not the CD or higher quality.

Going to wait this one out for a bit.
Was very dissapointed with Amazon last go around.
Word so far is that this relaunch is not quite as rosy as they say.
Big surprise.....
Not!

How are you guys getting your Amazon app on your BluSound device. Under “ More Music “, in the BluOS app I don’t find Amazon listed.....?

This was on another Amazon thread, not sure if it will help you.

Amazon HD resides within the Amazon Music service on the Node, its just not very well implemented yet. Hopefully this will change. Unlike Tidal and Quboz where you get album thumbnails that show what the resolution is, Amazon Music just shows albums as a list, with no way to know what the resolution is until you start playing. Once playing, the album resolution will show in the now playing box. I haven’t found a way to search by resolution. This is with the BlueOS app on iPad. Hopefully, Bluesound will issue an update to address this. I’ve signed up for the 90 day trial of Amazon HD but won’t renew unless there is a change in the Bluesound app. If I’m missing something, hopefully someone will point me in the right direction.

I can’t find Amazon music anywhere on my Node 2i.....

There are 17 separate steaming services available on my Node 2 I....but Amazon Music isn’t one of them.....