Yes, it is, at least in the Android app. It just doesn’t support hd “at this time.”
Anyone with a BluOS device tried this yet? How does the integration there work? Who’s on top?
@Bill_Janssen i tried it with a bluesound node 2i.
it does have amazon music integration but the album browsing sucks.
amazon app has better interface for album browsing and finding.
i cannot use amazon app to play to blueos.if i have to do it airplay is the only option
i have to use bluesound app for better quality with amazon but interface is not good
Thanks! That’s encouraging, though. Amazon has apparently provided an API for NAD to use here so that it could be integrated into the bluesound app.
The difference here is that Amazon Music Unlimited already worked on Bluesound before the audio quality upgrade, so, they didn’t really have to do much, if anything, for the higher quality streams to work with BluOS devices.
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Highly intrigued by this option due to the price, high res without MQA, and integration with Amazon/Alexa. Currently a Tidal subscriber. Haven’t even bothered with Qobuz because of the price and I’m happy with Tidal for now. Tried out Amazon Music today and here are my thoughts with various devices:
Google Pixel 3 > iBasso DC01 USB C to 2.5mm DAC/Amp dongle = Amazon Music HD - was capped at 24/48. Android limitation reared it’s ugly head as the stated max resolution was 24/48. I use USB Audio Player Pro to get around that typically, but no Amazon integration there yet
iPhone XS > Apple CCK > USB A male to USB C female > iBasso DC01 = also capped at 24/48, but curiously it showed the device capability at 24/192 (device is actually capable up to 32/384)
I also have an Astell & Kern SR15 and KANN CUBE, but I have not tried the side loaded Amazon app yet. A&K players should bypass the 24/48 Android limitation to the max supported resolution, but A&K confirmed on Head-Fi it is being limited to 24/48 and DAPs from other manufacturers have the same issue. Appears it is an issue on Amazon’s side on their mobile app for both Android and iOS.
Tried the desktop app on Mac. Mac > Massdrop x Airist Audio R-2R. Appears to be playing at max resolution. Set the capability in Audio Midi Setup to 24/384 and it displays the capability on the Amazon Music app and it appears to be playing up to 24/192 fine. As others have pointed out though, it’s not bit perfect and no exclusive mode. Annoying when an e-mail ding and the like chimes in.
Overall I think it’s a nice start and sounds very nice. Hopefully they fix the issue with the apps and allow for controlling the desktop app from a phone. Hoping for integration with USB Audio Player Pro for Android and with Roon. If that happens, I will probably drop Tidal. Otherwise, probably riding Tidal until the wheels fall off.
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As I am an Amazon Prime member signed up for the 3 month trial. I already have the Prime Desktop app on my MacBook so went into the Midi settings and selected 24/96 for the Audiolab M Dac. Listened to the Shannon Lay " August " Ultra HD album and sounded OK. While it was playing was prompted to and downloaded the latest version of the App. Resumed playing the album and straight away for me anyway there was a big improvement.
" When listening to music on Amazon Music HD, you can tap/click on the SD/HD/Ultra HD badge on the Now Playing screen and view the following streaming details -
- Track quality - The highest-quality file available for that track in the Amazon Music HD catalog.
- Device capability - The highest-quality audio that your device operating system reports that it is capable of.
- Currently playing at - The quality of the source file of the currently playing track. For streaming, the current source file quality may change due to varying network conditions.
Your choice of speakers, headphones, and listening conditions also impacts overall sound quality. ".
When Playing HD albums the DAC was still showing 24/96 on the display!, However the Prime App did indicate 16/44 24/96 and 16/44 respectfully.
The Bluesound App is a tad clunky with tiny album artwork but manageable.
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Oh gosh. I remember when Amazon announced these things, and I was like, “what are they for?” Now we know. I’m hoping Amazon’s idea is not that we’ll give up our existing Roon zones and replace them with Echo Links and Echo Link Amps.
There’s an Amazon hardware event on Sept 25th. You can be sure we will see a litany of devices that can take advantage of this offering
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I agree but I wonder where any blocker to Roon integration will come from.
I personally don’t think any blocker will come from Amazon wanting to protect its hardware sales (although of course I could be wrong on that). Amazon is already listing third-party hardware partners on the “Learn more” section of its HD music site and for Alexa it has worked with Sonos to embed the assistant there. There’s even an Amazon web page for third party manufacturers to embed (Alexa for Device Makers) so clearly it is open to at least one of its services, Alexa, being available on more than just it’s own hardware.
Personally I suspect that Amazon will be more interested in driving as much revenue as possible to its monthly subscription service than protecting every last potential Echo-family sale. The sticking point though might be whether Amazon, with its vast scale and resources, thinks that Roon’s user base is a worthwhile addition to the momentum that it wants to get for capturing as much of the HD streaming market as it can. Might it take the view that, especially in the early days, everything that drives subscribers towards Amazon HD and potentially away from Tidal and Qobuz is worth pursuing or might it take the view that it is so huge and already has a relationship with so many customers, many of them Prime customers so already being offered a discount on the service, that it really doesn’t need the hassle of managing a Roon integration? For me that is likely to be the key.
If there are any Roon staff engaged right now in discussions with Amazon then I wish you every success. I think it’s pretty clear from the activity on these forums lately that there are many users here who are cheering you on from the sidelines.
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Update on my first impressions (previous review)
after a couple of days.
Amazon’s own Fire TV does not appear to support HD playback. The installable Amazon Fire TV Music app does not include HD. The Android app does not cast to Fire TV. The Android Alexa app does not see Fire TV as a playback device and also does not seem to include HD anyway. UPDATE/CORRECTION: Fire TV app plays HD files and ULTRA HD files in 16/44.1 over HDMI. (My receiver reports it as 48K, though.)
Most Android mobile/tablet devices are limited to 48K.
HD over Chromecast is not supported “at this time.”
The Windows desktop app supports HD, but it is not bit perfect. It uses the default Windows sound device in shared mode, so no way to select a device or specify exclusive mode to bypass the OS mixer. Everything gets resampled. It can incorporate your local library and play FLAC files, but the UI, playlist management, etc. is rudimentary and very limited. There is no DSP. Sound quality is pretty good, but not as good as a purpose built player like Roon or JRiver.
The only reports in the wild of anyone getting bit perfect HD/UltraHD playback seem to be from Bluesound users. But this is limited to their third-party app which doesn’t seem to have all the bells and whistles of the Amazon app. Amazon says other systems such as HEOS are supported, but a) I’m skeptical and b) the HEOS app is pretty lame.
So it’s not clear how Amazon intends for “normal” users to achieve full “HD” playback on their devices and especially not bit-perfect playback.
Questions in their support forum about all of this go largely unanswered.
They apparently have some big new announcements coming next week, so maybe there will be answers.
Further, they say they will play the highest resolution file that your playback device supports. So when the little HD button says the file is 24/192, your device supports 24/96 or 16/44.1, so playback is 24/96 or 16/44.1, how does that work? Is the app resampling? Is it being resampled on their servers, meaning, again, not bit perfect in either case? Or do they have a different version of the file in every possible resolution and determine which one to serve up at playback time? It’s very fuzzy.
And what about provenance of the files? Lots of discussion about that, but all of the streaming services have the same issue. At least Amazon is not serving up lossy MQA files and calling it hi-res. But where do their 24/96 and 24/192 files come from? Are they Amazon upsampled CD files?
It seems like they are just tossing something out there to check off a box. Their expectation appears to be that mass market consumers have maybe heard about “hi-res” music and now they can have it on their ear buds and Echo speakers and be amazed at how much more fantastic it sounds and tell all their friends so Amazon can get an extra $5 per month from them.
To their credit, the Amazon Music playlists, radio and recommendations are pretty nice and good for discovery or checking out new releases.
But, it doesn’t appear they are very serious about lossless cd or higher quality playback. After all, for years their streaming and download stores have told their market that mp3 is good enough and that’s all you need. Why the sudden change? For 90% of their customers who can’t tell the difference it is meaningless. Maybe it’s good enough for some of the 10% who care.
For everyone else, us few remaining geezers who value sound quality and rich people who need their stuff to go to 11 never bought in to Amazon’s music ecosystem in the first place. As it exists today, Amazon’s offering isn’t going to get those people to switch from Tidal, Quobuz, or even Deezer, or dump their curated local libraries and playlists to use inferior apps and services.
It might, emphasize might. pull in a few casual, price-conscious Tidal or Deezer users, but it’s unlikely there will be a mass exodus. It certainly won’t get any Qobuz converts. The Spotify consumer mass market has already said mp3 (ogg or whatever) is good enough so they won’t be converting, plus their app is superior and so is Spotify Connect.
I’m starting to wonder “what’s the point?”
So how does this affect Roon? Right now it doesn’t. This is not for Roon’s market. But mostly, Roon users aren’t going to defect because they would have to give up too much to save $7 per month. Even if Amazon were to allow some sort of integration, the massive effort on Roon’s part would not likely result in converting many Amazon users because 90% of them don’t care about this stuff and the other 10% are just looking for cheaper alternatives.
Audirvana might benefit from some sort of rudimentary integration. JRiver won’t do anything because JimH suspects Amazon will soon be going out of business so why bother?
Or something. I could be wrong, because I frequently am.
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I think that’s exactly what Amazon are hoping for!
With any luck, we might see Qobuz drop their prices to compete!?
Thanks for the updated impressions. On your conclusions though you do ask a few questions to which there are no clear answers right now, in particular…
I’m wondering how your conclusions might be affected were the answers to the above to turn out to be favourable (i.e. not down-sampling for lesser devices and source files not all up-sampled from CDs).
If this isn’t a cynical tick-box exercise on the part of Amazon then perhaps Roon can add value as a pretty much ready-made bit-perfect path to many high-end devices for the audiophiles who really do care about that and have already invested a significant amount of money in said devices (high-end DACs either stand-alone or in active speakers).
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I have to say I’m more than a bit depressed at just how many ‘audiophiles’ and Roon users are ready to throw out the baby with the bathwater in order to save a few bucks. Here’s what I wrote yesterday on AS:
I surely hope that those in the audiophile community support the likes of Tidal and Qobuz over Amazon just for the sake of consciousness. A community that regularly discusses the ins and outs of 4, 5, and 6 figure speaker, DACs, cables etc shouldn’t then try and save the equivalent of a fancy fuse or dc cable - or to put it in even more real world perspective - the cost of about twenty five coffees out a year - to save on their music service. I’d rather support Jay-Z or some French entrepreneurs vs Bezos.
FTR we have a family Prime account, use it, and living in Seattle I have numerous friends that work for Amazon, and my wife works for the ‘devil’ Microsoft, and when you go into the Amazon Music HQ in SF there’s a sixteen foot big photograph of mine. So I’m not one of those anti-Amazon crazies, though their sins are well documented. If it ever does get integrated in a way that I could actually use with Roon and my system, I could possibly see it as an addendum to Qobuz, though Hi Res is overrated imo, and just how much time do we actually have to listen to THAT much music? I’m one who actually values silence as well.
I still have plenty of friends who are happy with their old Yamaha or Marantz receivers and buying records by the oodles and playing them on their cheap turntables. A lot of them being musicians themselves. They are the ones who are truly keeping it alive. So stay true and please continue supporting the little guys. Keep the soundstage wide…
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Considering that Amazon is advertising 16/44.1 as HD, chances are that is not clear for them either…
In the “audiophile” world Roon is the only inexpensive thing, no matter the price. Everything else is expensive, no matter the price! 
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Well said. Let’s not forget that Amazon’s tried-and-true strategy has always been to:
- start off with an aggressive pricing strategy
- drive out most of the competition (ends up being the smaller guys, ie Tidal & Qobuz)
- insidiously raise prices
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I can have my bills forwarded to you, if you’d like 
My landlord and electric company unfortunately don’t accept consciousness as a form of payment.
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If you can afford the gear to stream hi-res, you can afford the equivalent of one to two cds a month or a dinner or tow out to stream from Qobuz or Tidal. But perhaps everything in life should be free or as cheap as possible, including how you get paid for what you do. Get real…
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