Amazon Music streaming (1 Viewer)

[Bartman]

For years I've only streamed via my Logitech Bluetooth receiver, the sound quality was OK but I wanted something better. Amazon Music HD/UHD is the best music streaming deal if you're already a Prime customer. So I checked the app interface, it seems usable. On Black Friday I ordered the popular Wiim Mini and the Amazon Echo Link streamers.
The Mini arrived first, was quick to set up using my wife's smart phone but refused to discover/pair a couple of know good Bluetooth devices, then it refused to play Music HD again despite resets & reinstalls etc, something was corrupted. Some of this may have been due to my very old Fire tablet not being capable of running the latest Music & Alexa software, so I ordered a new Fire HD 8 tablet. The Mini went back to Amazon. If you're solely using your smart phone (I don't own one) some of these problems may be avoided.
The Echo Link is a similar unit, setup & control is via the Alexa & Music HD apps on the tablet (or phone). It paired my Bluetooth devices no problem. Although it's an Echo device there's no microphone, so no Alexa privacy concerns! The internal DACs are higher quality than the Mini, so the analog sound quality is good. I purchased a Schiit Modi 3E DAC to use with the Echo Link & a Sony Blu-ray player repurposed for audio discs. The Modi provided another step up in sound quality.
The Amazon Music HD/UHD library is extensive (100 million tracks) but as with all things audio, it's all in the mastering. Often the tracks marked UHD have been futzed with (Frank Sinatra 24bit remasters anyone!), & you're better off with prior HD releases, if available. Music HD sound quality is very good & I've been going thru the Mercury Living Presence & RCA Living Stereo classical catalogs playing albums I don't have on CD or SACD. Overall I'm impressed.

 

[Todd Erwin]

My biggest issue with Amazon Music, especially its "Unlimited" tier, is that they claim Dolby Atmos support, but if you want to listen to their tracks that are available in Dolby Atmos thru your home theater system, unfortunately there is no hardware support to do so. Amazon Music only supports Atmos on select Amazon Echo and Sony wireless speakers, even though theoretically their FireStick 4K models and the Fire TV Cube should be able to do so based on their audio capabilities.

 

[Bartman]

My biggest issue with Amazon Music, especially its "Unlimited" tier, is that they claim Dolby Atmos support, but if you want to listen to their tracks that are available in Dolby Atmos thru your home theater system, unfortunately there is no hardware support to do so. Amazon Music only supports Atmos on select Amazon Echo and Sony wireless speakers, even though theoretically their FireStick 4K models and the Fire TV Cube should be able to do so based on their audio capabilities.

I have absolutely no interest in Dolby Atmos (or any other surround sound format) which I assume, in most cases, is synthetically produced (matrixed) from the basic stereo tracks. You could probably do the same processing with your AVR.
I do want good sound & a large catalog at a reasonable price & that's what Music HD/UHD gives.

 

[Lord Dalek]

My biggest issue with Amazon Music, especially its "Unlimited" tier, is that they claim Dolby Atmos support, but if you want to listen to their tracks that are available in Dolby Atmos thru your home theater system, unfortunately there is no hardware support to do so. Amazon Music only supports Atmos on select Amazon Echo and Sony wireless speakers, even though theoretically their FireStick 4K models and the Fire TV Cube should be able to do so based on their audio capabilities.

I don't even think its works on the Echo Studio TBQH. I own one and in no way is there any sense that that upward firing speaker is actually creating some sort of height effect.