Hey, your 2 cents is worth every bit as much as my 2 cents. I get what you are saying, but small players that put out great products survive sometimes. Only time will tell. To me in the U.S. Qobuz has to get it together with the catalog. That’s killing them right now. I have no idea how all that works, but they must keep me in their app for all my music needs . Once I have to go to Tidal or Amazon to find what I want they make me question how I spend my music dollar. I’m pulling for them.
I’m located in Europe and I must say that over here the Qobuz catalog has been growing substantially. I’m still missing 7% of the albums I had on Tidal, but on the other hand I do find albums not to be found in Tidal.
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I’m listening to Amazon right now using Bose Soundtouch to stream to my Bose system. I’m wondering why I need Tidal and Qobuz. If I don’t need Tidal and Qobuz, I don’t need Roon. Decisions.
You’d need roon if you want your local library combined with your streaming service.
I personally don’t even worry about my personal library since almost all of it is available to stream. I’m a lifetime member but if might be willing to just ship if Amazon doesn’t get integrated and offers an easier solution.
So Amazon’s offering is less about price and more that it combines Qobuz true hires files with Tidal’s catalog size. The fact that it’s half the price of Qobuz is even better. I have a hard time continuing to pay more for a service that offers less.
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not right now, but i hope they will.
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You don’t need Roon if you have a Bose. Bose is what you need to get rid off… J/K
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I don’t have a local library. No need to buy music if I can rent it. Until/unless I buy a very upscale sound system (not likely), I think Amazon alone will meet my needs for $15 a month. It’s just hard to let go of the others.
So roon would only be needed if you like their interface better or want send music to more end points. Also can do upsampling or combine with HQPlayer.
I’d be happy with just an Echo that outputs up to 192k. I’d prefer roon’s interface but not enough to stick with Qobuz. Not only does Amazon have a bigger catalog but they also have a lot of albums in hires that are only in cd Quality in Qobuz.
And to comment on the high end system. If the new Echo links can output to 192k with optical/coaxial/usb then just hook to any dac you want. My Chord Hugo 2 works best with optical, that’s all I really need.
I think you have all you need NOW, as optical can only does 96/24, same as Echo Link.
Not true. My late 2014 iMac does 192k. Picked up cheap one just for that reason.
I know, but you only need optical out, right? 192/24 will be down sampled to 96/24 to Optical.
I’ve always thought optical will only do 24/96. I was also told that by Bluesound when I was thinking about a Node 2i.
This is not true. Optical can go to 192/24. The Chord lights up blue when playing those files and green for 96k.
Optical only does 96/24 max, please take a look @ Audio Midi Setup.
Not on that model Mac mini. I specifically got that one for that reason. The later model completely removed optical.
Not sure what you meant, you said you only need optical?
However, the theoretical limit of optical is 96/24, USB can go much higher than this.
I don’t have time to find the links to prove you wrong but that’s the old limit. Chord dacs can go up to 192k optical and late 2014 Mac mini can output at that level.
Here:
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Yes, you are right, my apologies.
96/24 is the old limit, and this is new to me, thanks @iamoneagain
No problem. I thought this too until a got a Chord dac. Then I started looking into a source that could do just that. Turned out didn’t have to spend too much.
So yeah, If they announce an Echo link that can do that as well, I’m good. Can hand the Mac mini to my kid. Or use again when amazon is integrated with roon.
Amazon just unveiled the “Echo Studio”, an apparent $200 Sonos-killer.
Supports Dolby Atmos, two of them can be paired; has a woofer, 3 mid-range drivers, directional tweeter. “3D sound” (a feature of Atmos?). Automatic room calibration via built-in Alexa microphones. No info yet on whether it has inputs or outputs.
Also: can speak like Samuel L. Jackson if you want to pay an additional $0.99. 
Update: This speaker supports the HD audio streaming formats, plus a 3D audio format.