It’s the time of year for saving money!
The “big woo” in the last couple of weeks in the world of audio is certainly Amazon Music’s entry into streaming CD and HD-quality music files. For some people this will be a big improvement in sound quality and their listening experience, while for others it could be a big Meh.
I know where I fall on the scale and why…
I’m already a high resolution-streaming convert. I use Tidal and Qobuz, usually via Roon, which lets me pick music from both services as well as anything on the local drives in my home network. This system works seamlessly, and between the two services I rarely find that I can’t find the music I’m looking for, so basically I’m completely happy with my current set-up.
And for those audiophiles like myself, who already have a working High-resolution-capable streaming digital music system, What does Amazon HD add to the feast? Not much. Besides potential cost savings if you’re already an Amazon Prime user, I see little reason to switch, especially right now when Amazon Music can’t be incorporated into my Roon ecosystem.
For those that do plan to switch to Amazon and close out their Tidal or Qobuz accounts, there’s the not insignificant issue of trying to duplicate the online library that you had with Tidal and Qobuz in Amazon Music. Even the “automatic” apps designed for such portages don’t deliver or insure that all your music will get to where you want it to be…chances are you’re going to lose around 10%…and then you can spend some time searching through Amazon music to see if there are substitutes.
And then there’s the issue of metadata and added background info, such as the liner notes, players on the tracks, and other info useful to music nerds – Tidal has some, Qobuz has more and Roon has the most fully featured information cache, complete with links to other contributing artists’ work.
I’m not a Spotify or Pandora user, but those folks who do use these services often mention that they have the best personal playlist and user “radio” options – even better than Tidal and Qobuz. Amazon does not have that level of user enrichment, yet…
A cynical critic might conclude that Amazon’s high-rez initiative will succeed, but not in the way that audiophiles hope it will. In the best of worlds naïve users would try Amazon Music HD and hear such an improvement that they will immediately search out Tidal and Qobuz to move up to a better user experience. But will that really happen? Or will most new Amazon Music listeners’ systems, connected via Bluetooth wireless to mediocre transducers, not hear an appreciable difference, and find no added value in the hi-rez service? If enough do, High-rez could even fail…
There is no doubt that Amazon Music’s foray will bring the concept of high-resolution music to a greater percentage of the public…but as to whether these horses will find the musical water any better than what they’re used to drinking is the question that remains to be answered…
I subscribe to Amazon Music HD and purchased an Echo Link to connect to my home stereo via WiFi. I use the Alexa App on my phone to control it. It works well.
Disappointing for the classical music fan. Anything with a violin in it seems to be classical. LOL
I respectfully disagree, the coverage and availability of classical music is as good or better than any other site and with Amazon Prime the access truly amazing. Like anything else HD it’s worth it if your equipment and speakers are up to the task. The HD quality is apparent with the Gen 3 Echos.
I think, for most users, this is a great thing. The incremental cost for a family plan to upgrade from streaming 256MBps to CD quality/Hi-Res is $50 per year. There is a very noticeable difference in the audio quality particularly for users of the most popular system on the market – Sonos. For those not aware, Sonos does support CD quality files but does not support higher quality 24 bit formats at this point (It will down-convert some 24bit 48KHz files to 16bit) . As someone who has purchased quite a bit of Hi-Res content since it’s inception (for playback on a Sony HAP-Z1ES player), I think the ability to stream this quality content at a price substantially less than some of the competitors out there is a huge step forward for any music fan.
Hello Bill,
I have the Sony HAP-Z1ES as well. I’ve been searching, but can’t find whether Sony will provide a firmware update to support the Amazon HD. Do you have any info about that?
The one thing that stands out for me is that all the CD’s I purchased from Amazon now streams in better quality than a MP3 and appears in my library without fuss.. Another plus is that I can stream in HD using my Iphone without externals, plus plus, the sound improvement using my Audioengine B T speaker is noticeable, Using either of these devices are for casual listening. My absolute favorite music is download in HI Res and resides in my J River Media Center. My bases are covered
Only thing worth mentioning — and I did the research on the files and posted the results on my blog — is the the stuff Amazon and all of the others are claiming is hi-res ISN’T. The marketing BS is disappointing and the acceptance by the audio media is surprising. Amazon says CD fidelity is not HD? Amazing.
I have a long history of “HiFi” and for the past 20 years “Home Theater” big booming built-in powered subs in each of my Def Tech speakers, However, I also use Spotify for whole house sound system which consists mostly of Polk in-ceiling and Patio speakers. Spotify works perfectly well since its fairly impossible to sit anywhere in the house perfectly between a left and right speaker to try to appreciate tonal quality. So now I have very recently set up in my home theater a Rega Brio, Bluesound Node2i, a turntable, CD player and an Alexa echo (sans speaker) all into the Brio. I also have a pair of Buchardt S400s speakers. The Echo allows me to play any song that might come into my mind simply saying “Alexa play Rod Stewart’s Every Picture Tells a Story” I can specify the source including Tidal as well as Amazon Music. The Bluesound Node 2i streamer can connect just about all of the music sources including Tidal et al,
Spotify is ten bucks, Amazon ten bucks, Tidal 25.99/mo. I had Tidal for one month but found it difficult to justify the price (I can afford it but really!). However, I am still looking and waiting using Amazon Music and shelfs full of reference CDs as well as my Vinyl collection.
To date myself; I was 10 when the Beatles came out. I measure musical decades by the 4th year e.g. 1954,64,74 etc.
I find the “Remastered in 2000 whatever” designation on MP3s worthless & maddening, first because it obscures the original release/production date and secondly because I don’t get the bitrate or sampling frequency and know what quality sound I’m getting. I always hated the sound of CD’s and could not bear to listen to them after the first spin. I purchased every DVD audio I could get my hands on. Now I listen to Spotify. But again who knows what the sonic quality is? I swear even I’m only getting one channel on some classic (pre-2004) Rock music and the vocals seem suppressed. I have wide and deep musical interests which include everything except Rap, C&W and post 2004 “whiny chick” drivel. I will try Roon, probably mostly for Classical and Jazz pieces. I am a AMZ prime member as well. My critical listening is done via Computer thru HDMI to an NAD 777 to a pair of original Tekton model “Lores”.
I have tried the HD/UHD Prime Music on my 4K Firestick over a 5.1 medium end sound system. It is the alternative to Pandora which I have been using for years. It definitely sounds better and UHD even better. I know, some say you can’t hear the difference because the actual stream is the same, but my ears say the UHD has a better sound than the HD, and much better than Pandora. The only thing missing is the “Shuffle” function Pandora has. Amazon has “shuffle” but I believe it is within the same album, not within all “stations” like Pandora. I like to mix up my artists as I listen. I haven’t found this “shuffle” function on the other HD services or I would have subscribed by now.
I Completely disagree with this article, sounds like a Tidal/ Roon fan trying to bash Amazon and or play down the significance of this. Most people have no idea what Roon / Tidal even is. The small niche of Audiophile willing to pay for it. This will change the whole industry down the road and there will be no reason to have roon. Sure right now getting the true HD bit perfect is a bit of a challenge but it will take on and become the norm causing other companies to follow suit with higher quality streaming. This is great news for Audiophile but many are to head stronge to recognize it they pay for Tidal and bought Roon so nothing could be better than that. Roon will soon probably have Amazon Prime HD in its software a many companies are all ready jumping toward it because they know they have to.
I think it sounds very good and works good I can make playlists or listen to there HD stations and it will only get better. The price is affordable and easy to listen to. I think Amazon prime HD is a great thing I’m shocked they did it. Soon the will put the HiRes Download stores in hurting status because they make you buy whole Albums where Amazon will be selling HiRes Download songs individually.
” sounds like a Tidal/ Roon fan trying to bash Amazon ” and you, my friend, sound like an Amazon employee… 🙂
I think Amazon Unlimited HD is by far the best streaming service, better than Tidal, better than Qobuz and so much better than spotify, it’s easy to use, great quality and cheaper than all the rest,to me the is no contest, but hey each to their own 🙂
Classical music fans will certainly differ with your opinion.
I signed up for a few months of Amazon HD. The biggest shortcomings I found were lack of output options. There is no way on Windows to direct output to anything but the default audio device; and on Android, the same, and no way to direct output to a DLNA system. Without the ability to handle output correctly, Amazon HD is of little use to me.
If it improved in that way, I suppose it still would compare unfavorably to Qobuz in terms of metadata and downloadable booklets.
On the positive side: of the 4 or 6 albums I couldn’t find on Qobuz during that period, all were found on Amazon HD.
I tested Amazon Music (Ultra) HD against Qobuz Studio and Amazon is waaay louder !
It seems to have less Dynamic Range in their Songs..
Nice for “Boom Boom” Listeners.. so i skipped Amazon therefore
Well, making the Amazon feed louder is a nice quick and easy way to get folks who think “louder is always better” into their fold….