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Amazon launch HiRes streaming.

Jim Audiomisc said:
Erm... The BBC continue to use NICAM for their distribution to FM transmitters.
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OK, I was told by a friend who used to work for BBC that they had moved on to AAC, but he might be wrong.

And the deciding if it is better/worse than mp3 would probably depend on the case - e.g. choice of mp3 encoding rate, settings, etc. However it is worth noting that for low level audio NICAM doesn't lose any bits that would come though using LPCM. And stations like R3 spend a fair portion of the time at low modulation.
Click to expand...

Right - I just remember listening tests comparing NICAM to 320k MP3.
 
cooky said:
Hi just signed up for their hires service, how do I know what bit rate is playing.
Played a few albums that I know is 24/192, my dac is not showing 24/192.
Click to expand...
Right I am now playing ultra hd.
I mostly use jriver from windows.
I reinstalled amazon music from inside jriver, which then used the asio driver for my dac.
Hope this helps anyone to get ultra hd working.
 
JLN said:
I have been a long time amazon music family member and have just upgraded to the hd service. Painless update, works brilliantly on my iPhone iPad echo devices shows info on streaming quality and is a lot cheaper than tidal family £19.99 vs £30 a month I think it’s a game changer for a mainstream provider to offer this and perhaps Spotify and Apple Music will now have to follow
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I very much doubt Spotify will.
They can barely get people to pay for premium as it is.
 
I was convinced 2 or 3 years ago that Amazon Prime was the only realistic platform for mass HD music. This all ties in nicely now because the mass market is headphone users and it is only the most recent generation of phones (Samsung S10 and a few others) that can output 24-bit audio files.

I did a trial listen last night (Amazon Music Unlimited on MacBook Pro to Devialet Expert Pro 250 using Devialet Air) and it sounds the same as from Qobuz OSX via the same route. The one odd thing was that it seems to have been attenuated down quite significantly.

There are no booklets and the interface, whilst excellent for general use, does not suit mainly classical listening. I'll stick to Qobuz for the time being, especially as I use it via Roon.

My son just got a Samsung S10 and I've not tried the audio quality compared to my Huawei P20. A new phone eventually (S10+?) may see my Chord Mojo retired, but still using Qobuz iOS.
 
AMZN wins, the other "niche" (their words) services will fold sooner than later. AMZN has managed to elevate FLAC, as a "thing" to the public mainstream. Regardless of the terminology they use of HD and ULTRA-HD, this is a real kick in the ... at $12.99 per month here in the States, this becomes so much of non-brainer for those who are already Prime customers, The additional $2 for those who are not is not going to be a deal-breaker.

Whither MQA? Whither Spotify?
Google could make another attempt. AMZN might just better Apple Music with this offering.

As for those "niche" services the writing is more than just on the wall. The global audiophile community in comparison to the mainstream is and in our lifetimes remain at best a "rounding figure."
 
davidavdavid said:
AMZN wins, the other "niche" (their words) services will fold sooner than later. AMZN has managed to elevate FLAC, as a "thing" to the public mainstream. Regardless of the terminology they use of HD and ULTRA-HD, this is a real kick in the ... at $12.99 per month here in the States, this becomes so much of non-brainer for those who are already Prime customers, The additional $2 for those who are not is not going to be a deal-breaker.

Whither MQA? Whither Spotify?
Google could make another attempt. AMZN might just better Apple Music with this offering.

As for those "niche" services the writing is more than just on the wall. The global audiophile community in comparison to the mainstream is and in our lifetimes remain at best a "rounding figure."
Click to expand...

This must surely be a killer blow for Tidal and MQA, no loss as I never used Tidal and consider MQA a fraud. I'm not sure Spotify will be badly affected. It's users love the interface and services and how many will want HD?

Qobuz is not intended a true mass-market product. It's business plan is to be niche, a superior product with booklets, biographies, reviews etc, focusing on classical and jazz, needing far fewer subscribers to be viable. I suspect quite a bit of its content will not be on Amazon. I don't think it will lose out much.
 
I'm not that well versed in streamers even though I do have one and subscribe to Tidal.

Are there any streamers out there that will connect to the Amazon service?

Thanks
 
MQA are due to report their latest figures this month. Last year they said:

Principal risks and uncertainties
The principal risks in the business are:
• Our ability to achieve profitability within the time provided by available cash resources;
• Continued influence of the business strategies (and associated timeframes) of music labels that impacts the acceptance rate of MQA — specifically MQA's dependence on the completion of agreements between labels and music retailers in which they agree their licensing terms for high quality audio;
• Dependence on key personnel;
• Emergence of competitors.
Given the widespread acceptance by key opinion makers in the music industry and journalists, as well as the business model adopted by the first licensees, the board remains confident that MQA is well positioned to succeed.

1. They will probably run out of money soon, anyway.
2. If the big labels are distributing FLAC via Amazon, why on earth will they bother with MQA via Tidal? The whole point of MQA was to tie the big record labels into MQA rather than other HD formats.
3. Have any rats fled yet?
4. AMAZON anyone?
 
indus said:
I'm not that well versed in streamers even though I do have one and subscribe to Tidal.

Are there any streamers out there that will connect to the Amazon service?

Thanks
Click to expand...
The full list is at there end of this page:
https://www.amazon.com/b?node=14063680011

I can connect in my Bluesound Powernode 2i. The Node 2i is a superb streamer and does Roon.
48754393357_dae2b0b4d2_c.jpg
 
zippy said:
I bet that half the people who are going to try out Amazon 'hi-res' will try it via a means that doesn't actually support hi-res (as AndyU hints) and will go away thinking that it's not very good.

p.s. for those who've taken the free trial - don't forget to cancel it !
Click to expand...

Can you cancel it before the 90 days are up and still use the app unit the time runs out?

Jack
 
I listened to the new Gruff Rhys album Pang and tried some songs on the latest Sam Fender and Pixies LPs, released last week. The quality is very good.

The app seems to have automatically replicated some CDs I bought in the past into Flac/Hi Def under My Albums.

Don't particularly like the app layout. It seems to push you towards work from similar artists, in the hope Amazon can sell you an album or CD.

Prefer the set up of Roon and Qobuz. Nonetheless I'll keep using the Amazon app for the next 90 days.

Jack
 
Julf said:
OK, I was told by a friend who used to work for BBC that they had moved on to AAC, but he might be wrong.



Right - I just remember listening tests comparing NICAM to 320k MP3.
Click to expand...

The aac is generated by the iPlayer system - i.e. for internet delivery to end users. The radio feeds from BBC stations get branched for NICAM, DAB, AM, iPlayer.

As you'll know, judging mp3 is tricky as so much depends on the quality/settings of the 'judgement rules' etc as well as the rate. I can recall listening to the AVRO 320k mp3 feeds some years ago and realising that at low audio levels they fell apart because the judgement rules decided so many components were 'below audability' when they weren't because not masked. Not an mp3 problem per se, but someone setting up the encoder made a mistake which louder audio levels didn't show up.
 
sls4321 said:
I was convinced 2 or 3 years ago that Amazon Prime was the only realistic platform for mass HD music. This all ties in nicely now because the mass market is headphone users and it is only the most recent generation of phones (Samsung S10 and a few others) that can output 24-bit audio files.

I did a trial listen last night (Amazon Music Unlimited on MacBook Pro to Devialet Expert Pro 250 using Devialet Air) and it sounds the same as from Qobuz OSX via the same route. The one odd thing was that it seems to have been attenuated down quite significantly.

There are no booklets and the interface, whilst excellent for general use, does not suit mainly classical listening. I'll stick to Qobuz for the time being, especially as I use it via Roon.

My son just got a Samsung S10 and I've not tried the audio quality compared to my Huawei P20. A new phone eventually (S10+?) may see my Chord Mojo retired, but still using Qobuz iOS.
Click to expand...

There is a “Loudness Normalisation” option in the settings which might account for the difference in level. The Qobuz app also has a volume control which might not be at maximum.
 
No it's nearly all albums not just that one, I've gone through pretty much all the new album releases and all are only showing 4/5 tracks from each album.

It all works and displays fine using the amazon app on my MacBook.
 
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