Amazon Music HD

Unfortunate as I would very much prefer to avoid Alexa.

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I must admit I am anti Alexa as well. We have one and found that it was ease dropping on conversations and then shockingly we would start getting adds related to our conversations. ā€œyou know, we still have not taken that trip to Tahiti that we wantedā€¦ Oh look there are three adds in our email for deals to Tahitiā€ā€¦ Unhooked and in a box now.

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Iā€™m a little confusedā€¦

So am I correct in assuming one would need to have some form of Amazon HARDWARE to implement their service in our HiFi type systems, or does oneā€™s present hardware only need to be able to connect to Alexa?

I presume one would tell Alexa to play the music on the PSA dac - it would do it via wifi.

UPDATE - sorry not wifi but via ethernet to a Bridge.

I posed the same question to Damien at Audirvanaā€¦weā€™ll see what he says. My streamer is a SOtM-sMS-200 running Eunhasu, so that will play a factor in my situation. My guess is that Iā€™ll have to wait until Audirvana officially supports it like they currently do with Tidal & Qobuz.

Yeah, Iā€™m confused on this as well. I know my Audirvana software bypasses all the noise-making crap on my laptop to bring a high-end signal to my SGCD, so running amazon HD music thru my laptop will NOT do this? That does not intrigue me so muchā€¦
And Alexa? What will that app do to my signal?

AMU will only be interesting to me if/when Roon supports it.

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I recognize that Sonos doesnā€™t get a lot of respect in discussions of of high-end streaming options, but it looks like Amazon Music HD will bring lossless CD-quality streaming to Sonos (just like Qobuz does). In my 2-channel audio system, I send a digital coax feed from my Sonos Connect to my SGCD, which bypasses the Sonos DAC and produces excellent sound. I have been planning to get a Qobuz subscription to provide a lossless signal to my system, but it would be cheaper to get a Amazon Music HD subscription since Sonos canā€™t take advantage of any resolutions above standard CD quality regardless of whether Qobuz or Amazon can provide those options.

Comparing Qobuz vs Amazon HD, does either have access to more song choices or provide better sound quality at standard CD resolution? If not, then Amazon HD would be the less expensive choice for those of us limited to CD-quality music.

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No special hardware required. I downloaded the Amazon HD App onto my Windows 10 machine and since the USB is connected directly into my SGCD, if Amazon is displaying 192/24, then thatā€™s Iā€™m playing into and out of my SGCD.

One issue. Any physical discs that I bought on Amazon, originally allows you have a 320kps copy for use in the non hd Amazon Music App. You have top go to unlimited tab to play the hires or CD quality version there.

Thanks for the important clarification on accessing higher resolution playback for previous purchases.

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Same here, Iā€™m happy with Qobuz and donā€™t mind paying the small premium.

Same here. Iā€™m very happy with Qobuz SQ (minus them trying to steal money w/ auto monthly PayPal after going Sublime for a year). I have to wait till May 2020 before need to evaluate themā€¦ Being a Roon whore, they need to integrate into Roon and Alexa and her spy Mom not allowed in our houseā€¦ ā€œAlexa, fall into the sink full of dishesā€ā€¦

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Same here, no Alexa or Google Portal type devices allowed in my house. At some point if they just do it like Spotify Connect it would work for me and then the streamer companies could integrate it into their apps the same way.

They catch the CEO of Facebook lying and he doubles downā€¦ I donā€™t trust any of that stuff. It is all about spying, selling data, and being part of critical data breaches. I started back paying cash for most thingsā€¦ not looking to help criminals fleece meā€¦ we have civil CIA, no need for the government to spy on you everydayā€¦ thank goodness for answering machines, avoid all the sales and criminalsā€¦ got a gate at my courtyard locked with bell on inside to avoid criminals and salesā€¦ have cameras to help police identify criminals. Thank goodness for the social media, now I have a legitimate reason for avoiding the general publicā€¦ before I had to make up excuses. Good to get back to things that matter and avoid all the noiseā€¦

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Alexa is listeningā€¦

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The amazon service integrates with McIntosh, Arcam, NAD and a bunch of non-audiophile type brands, with more compatible companies to be announced next week. So its not going to be limited to just Amazon devices. The big question for many of us remains Roon, and Roon ainā€™t saying nothinā€™ so farā€¦

I donā€™t use Alexa. Just my Windows 10 PC USBā€™d directly (for now) into my SGCD/Preamp. Works and sounds great. One day Iā€™ll get an I2S Sonore or Matrix-2 Box.

Aqualung%20PC_SGCD%20Settings

FWIW Iā€™m streaming Amazon HD from my Samsung S4 to my Chromecast audio into my Gain Cell DAC with excellent results. On my system it sounds the same as TIDAL.

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Welcome, mp5310!

Hello. It seems to my ears that the Amazon stream has a smoother sound than Quboz. In particular in the midrange. On my system , maybe more spaciousā€¦IDK. For example, having been a long time resident of Pittsburgh, I attended many Pittsburgh Symphony concerts at Heinz Hall so I am familiar for the sound there. I listened to some of their recordings at Amazon. The space seemed more realistic to me. Then again the mind always plays tricks.