Amazon Music and Heos finally got it right!

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Audiofan1, Sep 22, 2022.

  1. Audiofan1

    Audiofan1 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    States
    As noted above Heos under went an update this week and Amazon Music is ready for primetime (no pun). I copied this from part of the change log as it's the most critical change

    • (1) Amazon Music playback now supports track search, library search, track access in My Music, and adding prime tracks to the queue.
    Of course when I saw this I scrambled for my tablet and via my Marantz Sacd 30n went to one of my playlist in my Libraries and there it was in all it's glory waiting to push play !

    This takes care of my streaming needs 100% as this one two combo puts Heos (with Amazon HD) on top for me !
     
  2. Apesbrain

    Apesbrain Forum Resident

    Location:
    East Coast, USA
    I don't know much about HEOS. Is it "gapless" via Amazon Music Unlimited? Does it support hi-res (i.e. > 16/44)? Thanks.
     
  3. Audiofan1

    Audiofan1 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    States
    Yep!
     
  4. McWolfred

    McWolfred The power of the riff compels you!

    Location:
    Liverpool, UK
    Still doesn't stream surround music to a home cinema receiver... and that's a failing on both sides.
     
    AlbionBoy likes this.
  5. ChrisEfterklang

    ChrisEfterklang Forum Resident

    Location:
    the Netherlands
    I wish Spotify would get their act together and make sure that Spotify Connect (which is what HEOS uses) supports gapless playback.
     
  6. Tone?

    Tone? Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    Would be great if HEOS supported Qobuz.

    until then, they haven’t got it right for me
     
  7. Audiofan1

    Audiofan1 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    States
    Hmm! what makes Qobuz so special, I do see the name mentioned a lot on the forums but why?
     
  8. DyersEve726

    DyersEve726 Schmo Diggy

    Location:
    Michigan, USA
    I don't think there's anything inherently special about it. Slightly larger library on Qobuz. I, personally, use Tidal because it was the first to be supported by Roon. It has the edge over both for content catalog also, but all three sites seem adequately stocked. A lot of it probably comes down to what services people have tried, liked, and just stuck with. Nobody wants to be re-adding music, rebuilding playlists, etc., so they probably just stick with what they have.
     
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  9. cdash99

    cdash99 Senior Member

    Location:
    Mass
    This is great news. My question is whether Amazon is still Frankensteining albums by mixing hi-res and cd quality tracks into a single album?
     
    Ntotrar and Audiofan1 like this.
  10. Audiofan1

    Audiofan1 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    States
    Good question.
     
  11. MGW

    MGW Less travelling, more listening

    Location:
    Scotland, UK
    Sound Quality!
    I tried Tidal (with and without MQA), Deezer, Amazon HD and Qobuz won out by a distance. (Oh yes, also tried Spotify, ... best library but poorest sound.)
     
  12. TarnishedEars

    TarnishedEars Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Seattle area
    Unfortunately, I have encountered this, along with 16-44 tracks which have been mis-classified as "ultra hd" which means high-res in Amazon's nomenclature.

    That said, I really think that the HEOS software gets a worse wrap than it deserves. It actually works pretty well as a streaming solution on the whole in my experience. Plus, it's really cool being able to pipe almost any audio content (be it digital or analog) that I desire through the entire house digitally.
     
    Bananas&blow and Audiofan1 like this.
  13. ukrules

    ukrules Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kentucky
    My Spotify Connect is gapless.
     
  14. TarnishedEars

    TarnishedEars Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Seattle area
    What is it that QoBuz is doing differently which might explain why their service is supposedly superior to other lossless streaming services?
     
    Audiofan1 likes this.
  15. Raiderdave

    Raiderdave Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Chino, CA
    This (1) alone is a significant improvement!! Before it was just a new search for anything and was horrible.
     
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  16. cdash99

    cdash99 Senior Member

    Location:
    Mass
    I’ve had occasion to use HEOS, Bluesound, and Sonos. Of the three, Sonos is the most user friendly, followed by Bluesound, with HEOS bringing up the rear. It’s built into my Marantz 2 channel receiver, which can handle 24/192, but only practical way of getting the full capability out of it was to stream Qobuz to it via MConnect (as an Apple user).

    The Amazon interface was a disaster until now and Tidal is limited to 16/44.1. The HEOS program was effectively forcing a very capable receiver to function with one hand tied behind its back. Hopefully this will be the start of better things.
     
    Bananas&blow likes this.
  17. MGW

    MGW Less travelling, more listening

    Location:
    Scotland, UK
    Apart from hires, who knows exactly. It could even be part of the way in which they stream. There are a couple on threads on Qobuz here and those that have tried it seem too find out the best of the bunch. Well worth a read if you are genuinely interested in getting better quality streaming.
    Apart from the lower sound quality,v the massive gaps in catalogues and associated aberrations made Amazon HD a complete non-starterv for me, even though it was much cheaper.
     
  18. Audiofan1

    Audiofan1 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    States
    Streaming at this point and for the foreseeable future still takes second place to hard disc , I'm an sacd fan from yester year and consider it and hi res well recorded music my reference point. I think Amazon HD sounds fantastic and has a great library and it will now get more use simply due to ease of use via Heos , the major benifit to me and another reason when doing my recent upgrades , I choose the Marantz 30n sacd due to it upsampling everything to dsd and with heos on board and no outboard dac necessary (though my original streaming plan was to use my Gustard A18 dac via usb from an Blue sound Node but that feature took far to long to come about if it even has! ) it seemed to be a solid choice and that bet has now paid off in spades as all Amazon music needed for me was an better interface to really showcase its HD platform which Heos now brings to the table.
     
  19. TarnishedEars

    TarnishedEars Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Seattle area
    If I didn't already own one of the finest DACs I've ever heard, as well as own a great streamer, I would have been tempted to purchase a Marantz 30n. Although I might have opted for a Ruby in combination with a Marantz NA6006 instead.
     
  20. Sadcafe

    Sadcafe In the kingdom of the deaf, one eared man is King

    I have the Marantz Model 30n also. Yet to explore it's potential with SACD but CDs sound amazing. I updated Heos yesterday and the Amazon HD is way ahead of my Tidal. Happy days.
     
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  21. Audiofan1

    Audiofan1 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    States
    Oh my! put checking out it's sacd prowess on your short to do list!
     
  22. DancingSea

    DancingSea Forum Resident

    Location:
    Maui, Hawaii
    Quboz is a small outfit in France run by actual audiophiles. Their high res is genuinely high res. But they lack a Connect app which makes integrating into non-computer based systems a bit wonky. And things like airplay cannot stream high res.

    Tidal has sold its soul to the darkness that is MQA, a lossy format that they claim as high resolution. But their app is solid and the Connect feature makes integrating into non-computer based devices a snap.

    Amazon’s service seems rather half hearted, but inexpensive. And in the past they’ve mixed up CD and high res music. But they have put forth the effort in integrate seamlessly into non-computer based systems. Apple Music has not put forth that effort, and once again, AirPlay cannot stream high res.

    When you add all that up, Quboz are sort of the good guys in that particular stew, especially from an Audiophile perspective. They only reason I don’t use them is the lack of a Connect app, something that has been rumored to be in the works for a very long time, and will hopefully arrive soon.
     
    Audiofan1 and TarnishedEars like this.
  23. Slowhand

    Slowhand Forum Resident

    Location:
    Usa
    To be fair to the HEOS developers, it was Amazon that was restricting access to the APIs. I’m guessing the HEOS folks finally gave in and paid what Amazon was asking.

    As an early adopter of the SACD 30n, I am thrilled it has finally happened.
     
  24. Sadcafe

    Sadcafe In the kingdom of the deaf, one eared man is King

    Not got much by way of SACD (going for the one, straight shooter dual layer). A few 5.1 but guessing they won't play stereo on 30n
     
    Bananas&blow likes this.
  25. cdash99

    cdash99 Senior Member

    Location:
    Mass
    Perhaps Sound United’s new owners had the flexibility or, more likely, this upgrade is a smaller part of a larger deal involving their medical device technology.
     
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