Amazon HD Music goes live

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by BubbaMc, Sep 17, 2019.

  1. D700

    D700 Just Add Scotch

    Location:
    USA
    I tried Spotify but even when I YELL “Play Van Morrison‘s latest Album!” Spotify just sits there on my Mac, nothing happens. Alexa plays it no question and gives me a back rub. YMMV
     
  2. Stereosound

    Stereosound Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    How to Play Spotify on Alexa | Tom's Guide
     
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  3. 500Homeruns

    500Homeruns Peaceful Punk

    Location:
    Lehigh Valley, PA
    Staxus, timind, musicarus and 2 others like this.
  4. sami

    sami Mono still rules

    Location:
    Down The Shore
    Good question, but we already have Prime and Amazon Music, as my wife has it on the Echo devices most of the day downstairs and I always have it on when in the car. For $5 extra a month I can have pretty much anything I want to hear at 24/48 or 16/44 from my phone through my main system upstairs if I'm not spinning records, and it sounds fantastic. If they ever add exclusive mode to the Android app, it will simply be the cherry on top.
     
  5. sami

    sami Mono still rules

    Location:
    Down The Shore
    You have to ask for that very nicely. Depends on your Alexa, but mine is very amenable.
     
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  6. Stereosound

    Stereosound Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Because as of now Alexia can’t do that unless you have a girlfriend/wife with that name...
     
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  7. SKBubba

    SKBubba Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tennessee
    Anybody know what this does yet?
     
  8. JoeyGun

    JoeyGun Active Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I'm also on the new version 7.12.0.2203. Still no bit-perfect, sadly
     
  9. P300

    P300 Forum Resident

    I've decided on subscribing to Amazon HD. I'm going to purchase a Sonos Port in order to stream. It will get connected to my DAC (16/44.1kHz). Will I get 16/44.1kHz from Amazon HD using the Sonos Port? I'd rather not use my cell phone or a tablet as a controller. Is there a device like a Fire Stick or Roku that I can connect to my TV so I don't have to use my cell phone or a tablet as a controller? If there isn't a way to use my TV, is there an inexpensive Android tablet that anyone can recommend?
     
  10. mtrot

    mtrot Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tyler, TX
    I play Amazon Music HD via my FireStick on my TV and I am able to get 16/44.1 that way. I use an optical digital cable from the TV to my Onkyo AVR. Sounds pretty good.
     
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  11. sami

    sami Mono still rules

    Location:
    Down The Shore
    You can access Amazon Music through a Fire TV stick, but I'm not sure of the bit rate capability. I do it occasionally through a DAC into my system using an optical cable and it sounds fine.
     
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  12. HiFi Guy 008

    HiFi Guy 008 Forum Resident

    Location:
    New England
    I thought we could get 16/48 through Fire Stick. No?
     
  13. mtrot

    mtrot Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tyler, TX
    I'm not sure, but I don't think Amazon has much, if any, 16/48 content.
     
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  14. shug4476

    shug4476 Nullius In Verba

    Location:
    London
    Tried Amazon HD yesterday (having tried various streaming services over the past year).

    It's... good, but it still can't match CD, and is a long way behind vinyl. If I had to use one as my only music source I'd probably go for this.

    Ran via USB from MacBook Pro to Chord 2Qute.

    Sticking with Spotify for sheer convenience.
     
  15. imsjry

    imsjry Forum Resident

    Location:
    Fond Du Lac, WI
    If they made it easy to transfer my thousands of Spotify folders and playlists, I would do it in a heartbeat. I did lots of comparisons between Extreme Quality in Spotify to the Amazon HD and there is clearly an improvement. But due to how engrained I am with Spotify, I just can’t see moving over.
     
  16. 500Homeruns

    500Homeruns Peaceful Punk

    Location:
    Lehigh Valley, PA
    A service that offers something like Spotify Connect (control by smartphone) to existing hardware with hi-res would be ideal.
     
  17. Hymie the Robot

    Hymie the Robot Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Funny. I was going to ask this specific question. I found out Saturday that Tidal doesn't do that, so I guess Amazon doesn't either?

    I had Tidal going through Kodi and could control it (on laptop) through phone. But I didn't save my config file and now Kodi Tidal add on doesn't work :(. The Spotify connect feature is so seamless...but Tidal sounds much better in exclusive mode.
     
  18. smartiepants

    smartiepants Senior Member

    i'm going to have a look at the free 90 day trial next week, I think the offer ends on the 18th. Been a long term Spotify Premium user for a long while now but the HD upgrade does tempt me, to be honest 95% of my Spotify listening is through my android phone so i'm not sure if it would be worth it just for the extra 5% of the time when I stream it to my dedicated music room via my Marantz AV amp (that I currently stream spotify to) so no seperate DAC, I have a Fiio X5 DAP that works ok with downloads but is so slow & clunky with spotify that I cant be bothered with it, I fear it will be worse with Amazon HD
     
  19. imsjry

    imsjry Forum Resident

    Location:
    Fond Du Lac, WI
    Well i have my Spotify set to High Quality with the Normalization off and i use Airport Express to get it to my stereo. I assume Spotify Connect would work to get it to other streaming devices, no?

    But no, it's not high-rez but when i went back and forth between it and Amazon HD, it was very very close. The 320kbs Spotify HQ uses is very very good.
     
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  20. Admittedly haven't read 105 pgs of this thread.

    The bars [like a dozen] under the song title when in album format; what do they represent?

    Just joined, listen to one new song [enjoyable], then checked out some of "Hot Rocks" & all of "WYWH" [of course!].
    Guessing it's a popularity pole.

    Anyone?!?!

    Thx

    Impressed w/the SQ; compared "Wish You Where Here" [HD/bars full] to YouTube download...
    though not terrible, no comparison [detail & "richness"].

    Only w/a LG Stylo 5 - IKKO Zerda - JVC HA-FW01 [Woodies/fresh cut so may improve/just gotten today too]

    F-N-A!!! Autoplay just went from Floyd to Jimi.
    The Wind Cries... FAN-F-N-TASTIC!!!
     
  21. cdash99

    cdash99 Senior Member

    Location:
    Mass
    It’s been a while since I’ve been on this thread, or tested the service, but are they still Frankenstein-ing albums, in terms of mixes, masterings, or resolutions?
     
    Rickyyy likes this.
  22. vegafleet

    vegafleet Forum Resident

    Yes, that all still exists but seems to be less than before.

    My current pet peeve is on the resolutions. Last night I was listening to an album in Ultra HD (over 16/44.1) and this morning when I go to listen to the exact same album I can only get it in HD (16/44.1). Restarting the app, resetting the tablet and re-choosing the album, none of these things got me back to Ultra HD streaming. Annoying. If you want to be sure to get an album in Ultra HD consistently, you have to download it first. Ultra HD is the only reason I stick with this.
     
  23. mtrot

    mtrot Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tyler, TX
    Hmm, care to tell us the name of the album? I'd like to see what resolution I can get from it. If what you describe is going to be common on Amazon Music, then that is a very big issue, as I also am mainly there for Ultra HD resolution.
     
  24. vegafleet

    vegafleet Forum Resident

    QUADROPHENIA BY THE WHO.

    But it happens pretty frequently (50/50?) that an album is advertised as Ultra HD and I can only get it at HD. I am playing it on an Amazon Fire 8 tablet over pretty good home WI-FI. I understand that the app checks your streaming speed capability and then decides what resolution you are going to get. I may be wrong here.

    Anecdotally I seem to have better luck when I am streaming from an iPhone 6 over WI-FI. But the sure fire way is to download the album before listening.
     
  25. mtrot

    mtrot Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tyler, TX
    I just tried it on my laptop pc and it's playing in 24/96, and on my Galaxy S8+ it is playing in 24/48. I do note that two tracks on that album are in SD and one is in HD. All the other tracks are Ultra HD.
     

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