I totally agree - I use both Tidal and Qobuz but would like to drop Tidal as their focus doesn’t match my music taste. I do like Qobuz but their catalog is too limited. My experience so far with Amazon Music HD has been good but would like to see the service supported by Roon which is my preferred interface. The Amazon catalog is phenomenal and doesn’t have a particular genre focus - I’m a fan.
2 Likes
I’m confused. How would I use this thing?
All my endpoints are either Chromecast (CCA, Google Home, Insignia speakers) or RAAT with Raspberry Pi streamers. The Amazon thingy doesn’t seem to support either (they apparently do Sonos, HEOS and PlayFi, which is where that laundry list of manufacturer logos comes from), but that doesn’t help me.
You can use Chromecast That works for me. Up to 24/96 with a fire tablet.
Priced at USD12.99 to USD14.99, it is definitely cheaper than Tidal Hi-Fi and Qobuz Studio Hi-Fi. It is lossless FLAC HD (16/44.1k) and ultra HD (up to 24/192k).
Sounds like a steal!
I wonder if this means that artists will receive even less from Amazon than the pittance they receive from the other streaming services.
Cheers, Greg
Another down side to Amazon’s App is no editing capabilities. Even sorting is goofy. You sort albums by artist and the first one is Adrian Belew followed by Al Di Meola. I know some of you use first names to sort, but to me that’s just goofy. Also, it doesn’t seem to be importing all my albums. No idea why.
You mean, access the service with the Amazon app on a Fire tablet, and cast the resultant music stream to one of my Chromecasts? Yeah, that might work. But what to do about the Pi endpoints? Perhaps this is a job for RopieeeXL?
If you have a hat in your Pi endpoints you can stream amazon music hd with an apple iphone or tablet via airplay to your RopieeeXL endpoint. I can confirm: works.
max resolution: 16/44.1
Purchase Amazon endpoints instead? I am sure an Amazon version of the “Chromecast Audio” is coming at some point in the near future.
In this day and age deliberately blocking interoperability really makes me mad. Had I known at the outset that a Kindle doesn’t include the Google app store I wouldn’t have bought it. Makes a reasonable Roon remote and portable video player though.
Adding Amazon’s service to Roon could be a huge win. Not really sure how many lives Tidal has left, and I didn’t like Qobuz when I tried it.
2 Likes
The Amazon app for Windows can not be used via Asio or Wasapi. No exclusive mode is possible right now. You have to go through the Windows Mixer and set the resolution for your Dac.
Means, the output is not bit perfect.
Used with a Mac, you have to set the resolution manually too.
Enough testing for me. This is all very basic and incomplete atm.
1 Like
Oh, I hadn’t thought of that! Thanks for point that out.
Are you sure? Amazon says HD over Chromcast is not supported at this time.
Amazon’s definition of HD is CD quality, so that’s not even 16/44.1?
No, I am not sure.
But I tried it again now and I read on the app that I stream Ultra HD and HD to a Cromecast device.
I have no idea if there is a down sampling from 24/192 to 16/44.1.
Like I said it is all very basic right now. I will look into it in a couple of weeks. Free test period lasts until mid December. So there is some time left for necessary improvements.
I think maybe it’s playing the mp3 file.
Also possible, as I have no experience with that cromecast device.
Chromecast is not officially supported by Amazon
I know. It still works.