NEWS: BluOS to integrate Amazon Music HD

I have a couple of BluOS devices so will definitely give the 90 day free trial a go.
 
Quality very good, I have streamed it direct to my Marantz amp using HEOS app, get fully quality. Will look at BluIOS devices
 
I'll sign up for the trial tonight in that case. I've just got a Bluesound Node 2i and am really enjoying the interface.

Amazon might be the long-term replacement for Spotify for me if I can access some hi-res files and get integration into BluOS.

Does Amazon Music work with Apple CarPlay. Spotify have an awful app that doesn't work properly, so if I could get better access there it would definitely be an advantage.
 
The quality is good streaming through heos direct to my marantz 7011. Lots of ultra HD (192/24bit) playlists available in categories and by artist.
 
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Does anyone know if there is a one-device tier of Amazon Music HD like there is with the regular Amazon Music?
 
I am trying the amazon music hd on 90 day trial.I have been a long time subscriber to tidal.To my ears the HD streams on amazon music sound slightly better than CD equivalent on tidal,but the ULTRA HD high res stream on amazon even though sounds very good does not sound as good as tidal masters equivalent.I think the MQA coding is making the difference bit more detail siblance around acoustic instruments etc.
 
One other thing I have noticed,but it's not the end of the world you could argue it's a gimmick.If you ask ALEXA to play music off amazon music with skills on my DENON av receiver it will not play HD (cd quality) it defaults to lower quality AAC stream.But if I search through the DENON/HEOS manually then it will play HD or ULTRA HD stream depending on quality it is available in.
 
but the ULTRA HD high res stream on amazon even though sounds very good does not sound as good as tidal masters equivalent.I think the MQA coding is making the difference bit more detail siblance around acoustic instruments etc.
Fair enough you find TIDAL's hi-res version (presumably when comparing the same tracks) better sounding than Amazon's, but to attribute that to the MQA encoding is a bit of a leap IMO, given that you've no proof of provenance. For all you know, the Amazon hi-res tracks that you've listened to have been taken from a different master source to TIDAL's and/or even just upsampled from standard CD res.
 
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I suppose there is that.I mean high resolution is not a wonder it all depends on the original recordings if the original recording is poor a high resolution version will not make it sound any better.I take it you are not a massive believer in MQA then.
 
I take it you are not a massive believer in MQA then.
Not personally, though I don't dispute that it may produce a subtly different sound via the leaky minimum phase filter used by the MQA renderer stage in MQA supporting DACS, that some prefer - akin to liking the effect you got from the old stereo wide setting on 80s ghetto blasters.
 
I like MQA have heard some good recordings in it.But a little over hyped not all recordings sound excellent in it.A lot do though.Thanks.
 
As an Amazon Prime member signed up for the 3 Month trial. Sounds good using a OSX app through my Audiolab M-DAC. Cannot see any way to purchase albums in Ultra HD though I may be missing something!.
 
I'm hoping for ROON compatability with this. If that's the case, I'll cancel my TIDAL subscription straight away as I'm a Prime member so will benefit from the discount. :smashin:
 
I like MQA have heard some good recordings in it.But a little over hyped not all recordings sound excellent in it.A lot do though.Thanks.
I like Tidal MQA but HiRes is technically better as MQA is a lossy format. To many peoples ears they say HiRes is better, but others say they can't tell the difference or it's content dependant, so it's not clear cut. Also they may not all use the same source master as already mentioned and some may just upscale and call (and charge) it HiRes which is criminal. Whilst you think you may be comparing like for like sources, in reality you are unlikely to know. I have a couple of standalone BlueOS streamers and a NAD HiFi amp with BluOS built in and love BluOs, MQA & HiRes it. In my mind from not too scientific listening, Tidal MQA sounds better than CD (local or streamed), but HiRes (local or streamed from Qobuz) sounds better again. Thing is not all is controlled in the production of the HiRes and some things like MQA may sound a bit louder, may also not help, although this extra loudness may be deliberate to make people think it sounds better, bit like FM vs DAB, in my car DAB is always louder...
 
I'm enjoying it overall. Great sound via my Node 2i, but I have experienced some drop outs when playing hi-res material.

I'm sure it isn't a problem with the Node 2i which has been rock-solid since I have had it. It shouldn't be my network as I stream hi-res to the Node 2i from my NAS all the time, and it shouldn't be my incoming broadband connection as it is 200mbps and I'm not using anything else. Everything wired directly to the router.

I guess I'll just have to see if it improves. The integration with BluOS isn't quite as good as I had been hoping, but turning Autofill on makes up for the fact that I can't automatically add a whole album at once.
 
I like Tidal MQA but HiRes is technically better as MQA is a lossy format. To many peoples ears they say HiRes is better, but others say they can't tell the difference or it's content dependant, so it's not clear cut. Also they may not all use the same source master as already mentioned and some may just upscale and call (and charge) it HiRes which is criminal. Whilst you think you may be comparing like for like sources, in reality you are unlikely to know. I have a couple of standalone BlueOS streamers and a NAD HiFi amp with BluOS built in and love BluOs, MQA & HiRes it. In my mind from not too scientific listening, Tidal MQA sounds better than CD (local or streamed), but HiRes (local or streamed from Qobuz) sounds better again. Thing is not all is controlled in the production of the HiRes and some things like MQA may sound a bit louder, may also not help, although this extra loudness may be deliberate to make people think it sounds better, bit like FM vs DAB, in my car DAB is always louder...
The other thing that may influence MQA comparisons with lossless CD res and hi-res is the audible distortion caused by the digital watermark added by some record labels (such as those owned by the Universal Music Group) to the music they supply to streaming services such as TIDAL:
Universal's Audible Watermark

MQA is already protected from piracy by its encryption, so might not have the digital watermark added to it and therefore sound better in those comparisons.
 
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I'm enjoying it overall. Great sound via my Node 2i, but I have experienced some drop outs when playing hi-res material.

I'm sure it isn't a problem with the Node 2i which has been rock-solid since I have had it. It shouldn't be my network as I stream hi-res to the Node 2i from my NAS all the time, and it shouldn't be my incoming broadband connection as it is 200mbps and I'm not using anything else. Everything wired directly to the router.

I guess I'll just have to see if it improves. The integration with BluOS isn't quite as good as I had been hoping, but turning Autofill on makes up for the fact that I can't automatically add a whole album at once.
Although I have everything wired, I do find my router or switches or a bit of rouge kit can from time to time slow my network down so a reboot of the offending kit can solve my issue. My problem is finding the rogue bit of kit!!!!
 
the tidal app does indeed play around with the loudness and has been proven ( i cannot remember where but have seen this)

at £12.99 it's a substantial saving over tidal and seems to a great catalog. i will likely bee cancelling my tidal subscription and switch once my free trial is over
 
Cancelled my £19.99 Tidal subscription yesterday after being on it for around 7 months or so. Now signed up to the free 90 day Amazon HD music offer on the family subscription of £19.99 when it becomes due in December. Told kids and wife they'll have to migrate from Spotify to Amazon. I like the way Amazon displays the Ultra HD albums in a much clearer format than Tidal does and it seems to my eyes anyway that there seems to be a lot more HiRes availability on Amazon HD music than Tidal.
It sounds just as good on my Bluesound Node 2 also. I was hoping that Spotify would make the Hi Res move first but obviously Amazon beat them to it. Tidal must be worried !
And if Tidal rang me up now (unlikely i know) and offered to match Amazons deal im not sure Id go back to them to be honest.
 
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Quality very good, I have streamed it direct to my Marantz amp using HEOS app, get fully quality. Will look at BluIOS devices
Can you access your own Amazon playlists on HEOS yet?
 
Can view playlist but not your own, hope they change this
Apparently this is up to Amazon to implement and not Denon. According to Denon anyway and they have no time frame.

I hope the BluOS functionality is better.
 
BluOS can view your own created Amazon playlists, just tried it now. You can not however create, edit or append anything to those playlists from the BluOS app.

I've been using BluOS and AMHD all week, I think overall it's very good. But I'll need to be using the Mac client to start adding music and creating playlists to my library if AMHD is going to take over from my FLAC collection. - Still undecided on that one!
 
Will it play the tracks at the correct frequency [44.1, 96, 192 KHz] based on the actual song or will it do what it has been doing on all Windows, Mac OS, iOS systems which is to falsely upscale everything?

This is the biggest complaint about the service and why so many users after trying Amazon Music HD have gone back to TIDAL HI FI.

I expect you have some contacts with NAD, so can you do us a favour and find out about how BlueOS and Amazon Music HD will hand this implementation, since you also published this article and opened up a discussion.

thanks.
 

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