Amazon Music Unlimited Subscribers Can Now Enjoy Lossless Audio at No Extra Cost

[Tsing]

Image: Amazon



Apple announced today that its music streaming service, Apple Music, would be getting new spatial audio and lossless audio options beginning June 2021 at no additional cost to subscribers. Not to be outdone by one of its biggest competitors, Amazon has followed suit by similarly making its lossless audio tier, Amazon Music HD, free for all Amazon Music Unlimited Subscribers. Amazon Music HD allows users to stream more than 70 million tracks in lossless quality (16-bit/44.1 kHz) and more than 7 million songs in “Ultra HD” quality (24-bit/up to 192 kHz).

Image: Amazon



“When we first launched Amazon Music HD, our goal...

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[Uvilla]

Well I cancelled Spotify, mostly because their algorithm sucks. It wasn't bringing me new music I like, after 2 years and tons of liked songs.. its like it never knew me.
Im with amazon music, we will see.

 

[hubaduba]

I'll let my wife know. I tried "Unlimited" on the family subscription because she wanted it. Tried listening at work on my phone connected to a BT speaker. Sound quality was garbage and their app would freeze up loading a song. I cancelled before the trial ended. She might do an individual subscription if there is decent quality now.

 

[Peter_Brosdahl]

I admit I haven't really given this a shot but with the Hi-Res lossless audio options, I am curious. Prime video has always been a bit hit or miss with its ability to maintain a constant stream vs what I experience with other services/apps with 4K so I was hesitant to think of what corners they were cutting in that arena since I'm very picky when I sit down to enjoy hi-res audio. I am aware that audio uses much less bandwidth, even hi-res, but if they follow similar decision-making for its delivery it could be pretty bad. I'll try to check this out let see how it fares.

 

[AntiQuark]

Please post your experience of max bitrate (24/192) [glitch free + quality] and its ability to choose music you like, thanks!
Also whether it uses MQA or some other method of not giving true original quality.

I'm looking for a good system to help choose new music and my Hifi doesnt take any prisoners.
It will be used from wired home broadband, if its possible to compare vs mobile use

What does it cost?

 

[Brian_B]

I really liked Pandora's algorithm, but their library was small - after a couple of weeks the repeats got really annoying. I jumped to Spotify a couple of years ago.

Spotify has a much bigger library, but yeah, their algorithms suck and I don't care for their interface. I do like that you can cast to other devices and use your phone or whatever as a controller without streaming through that controller. I wish it would support multi-room casting though (or if it does, I haven't figured it out yet).

I wonder if Pandora is any better now that it's own by Sirius... I'm tempted to give Apple a shot, as I have Apple devices, so it's not that bad for me. I've tinkered with Amazon a bit, but haven't jumped in -- I may go see if some of my past Amazon music over there is available in lossless just to see if I can notice the difference.

 

[Peter_Brosdahl]

edit:

I really liked Pandora's algorithm, but their library was small - after a couple of weeks the repeats got really annoying. I jumped to Spotify a couple of years ago.

My Onkyo has it, and a bunch of others built in. We use it every now and then. I really like the sound quality but after a while the selection limits really become apparent. Still nice for those moments when I just want something sort-of random on in the background.

 

[Peter_Brosdahl]

Please post your experience of max bitrate (24/192) [glitch free + quality] and its ability to choose music you like, thanks!
Also whether it uses MQA or some other method of not giving true original quality.

I'm looking for a good system to help choose new music and my Hifi doesnt take any prisoners.
It will be used from wired home broadband, if its possible to compare vs mobile use

What does it cost?

Will do! I've got a pretty good internet connection although I really need to upgrade my router but that should be happening soon(been procrastinating for weeks on that).

 

[Armenius]

Please post your experience of max bitrate (24/192) [glitch free + quality] and its ability to choose music you like, thanks!
Also whether it uses MQA or some other method of not giving true original quality.

I'm looking for a good system to help choose new music and my Hifi doesnt take any prisoners.
It will be used from wired home broadband, if its possible to compare vs mobile use

What does it cost?

Don't know the technical details, but it sounds pretty good through my Logitech Z-5500 speakers and Sound Blaster AE-5. Amazon is also able to read my musical preferences like a book now. Still prefer my own rips as there is some muddiness in the mid range that I can't seem to get rid of on the stream compared to my own copies, but it's convenient at work. You can download local copies of the Ultra HD quality onto your phone and it sounds great through the radio in my car. Better than my USB stick since it seems to use the phone as a wireless "amp."

 

[Peter_Brosdahl]

Don't know the technical details, but it sounds pretty good through my Logitech Z-5500 speakers and Sound Blaster AE-5. Amazon is also able to read my musical preferences like a book now. Still prefer my own rips as there is some muddiness in the mid range that I can't seem to get rid of on the stream compared to my own copies, but it's convenient at work. You can download local copies of the Ultra HD quality onto your phone and it sounds great through the radio in my car. Better than my USB stick since it seems to use the phone as a wireless "amp."

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Haven't had a chance to check this out yet but that's some pretty awesome news! Thanks!

 

[Denpepe]

If I want to hear music I put on a CD, people should try it, it's nice.

 

[Brian_B]

If I want to hear music I put on a CD, people should try it, it's nice.

I can remember CD players in cars skipping over every pothole, buffing out scratches, those stupid cases, disc changers that I could never find the right CD in, people hanging them from their rear view mirrors like bling, and the 72-minute limit (with some distributors trying to do flip sides /sigh).

I don't miss CDs at all. Especially since the biggest gripe most people can come up with on digital formats is -- apart from stupid distribution / sales spats that tend to muck up an otherwise good thing -- just picking one.

 

[AntiQuark]

If I want to hear music I put on a CD, people should try it, it's nice.

You stumbled on the wrong thread

 

[Denpepe]

I can remember CD players in cars skipping over every pothole, buffing out scratches, those stupid cases, disc changers that I could never find the right CD in, people hanging them from their rear view mirrors like bling, and the 72-minute limit (with some distributors trying to do flip sides /sigh).

I don't miss CDs at all. Especially since the biggest gripe most people can come up with on digital formats is -- apart from stupid distribution / sales spats that tend to muck up an otherwise good thing -- just picking one.

My biggest gripe would be having to keep paying to be able to keep listening. CDs are a pay once listen as much as you want, also they can be ripped so you can listen to it digitally if you prefer.

I don't mind the odd thing you need to pay to use, I use netflix, but for me there is a limit to how much of these kind of things I want to have at any given time.

 

[Brian_B]

My biggest gripe would be having to keep paying to be able to keep listening. CDs are a pay once listen as much as you want, also they can be ripped so you can listen to it digitally if you prefer.

I don't mind the odd thing you need to pay to use, I use netflix, but for me there is a limit to how much of these kind of things I want to have at any given time.

Totally agree with you there, but that's where I draw a distinction between a digital format and streaming services. I don't think one necessarily implies the other.

 

[Peter_Brosdahl]

My biggest gripe would be having to keep paying to be able to keep listening. CDs are a pay once listen as much as you want, also they can be ripped so you can listen to it digitally if you prefer.

I don't mind the odd thing you need to pay to use, I use netflix, but for me there is a limit to how much of these kind of things I want to have at any given time.

I usually purchase all my hi-res through HDTracks. Sure there's no physical but they have great files and often get them in advance of the physical releases anyways. The one or two times I've had an issue their support has been great to resolve.

 

[Dogsofjune]

This is nice news. I bounce between Spotify and Amazon. Both of them haven't quite figured out my taste in music, either that or I just have really eclectic tastes.
Music is subjective, depends on mood.

My CD collection, which I still have, has been ripped and resides on a hard drive. Plex supports my desires to relive bad 80's music.

I do need to properly setup a decent sound system one of these days. I have been eyeballing some Dayton speaker kits to use, after I replace my 30 year old Denon receiver.