good news for Amazon Music subscribers…they now offer lossless music and no increase in subscription price. they have also opened up their ‘spatial audio’ feature / function to work on headphones as well.
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It’s so dope.
what is? that they went lossless? or went lossless with no price increase? or that they added the spatial audio support for headphones? or something else?
also, how does Amazon’s catalog compare against Spotify?
I use Amazon HD and I’ve been very impressed for years and haven’t seen a reason to use Spotify or anything else really.
I will say as far as HD offerings, Amazon’s catalogue is very impressive. Some of the features are extremely nice and the exclusive mode does actually show an improvement in sound quality. I’ve tried some of the spatial stuff already on the Amazon HD → Sagra → AB1266 and just wow… it’s an experience.
I use both services and find that about 70-80% of the catalog cross over and if I can’t find it on one it’s more often that not in the other. I would switch completely over to Amazon HD, but I do a shared playlist with some friends on Spotify and they don’t give a hoot about using Amazon HD/ paying for it so I keep it mostly for that reason. My wife would use whichever one I tell her we are paying for.
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I am playing around with this now. I reckon that is why they did an update to the app recently. I gotta tell ya… It’s so DOPE! I’ve got some Spatial 3D classical courtesy of the London Philharmonic
and when I fired this up I went
It’s f*cking fantastic! I’ve got the Sundaras on using the TA-20 as a pre to the SP200 THX. I also started poking around my audio configuration and I have found something called Sonic spatial sound for Windows. I don’t remember seeing that there before, but I turned that on, too. And it’s fucking fantastic. I have not heard classical like this. I close my eyes and I’m there. The music just wraps around you and the stage is huge. It’s fu - well, you know what it is. This is great.
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^^^ X2 I left Tidal 1+ years ago for Amazon and have never looked back or felt the need to try any other service.
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@DagoRed 3d was introduced a while ago and this’s my response in June as I had no way of turning it off in my settings then or was even told about it…Maybe it’s cool just not something I’m interested in LOL…
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I have been trying Amazon HD for about a month now. Prefer the UI of Spotify,especially the search function, but AHD is a real step up in quality…definition, depth, hall resonance, all better. I had Primephonic for quite a while (until they disappered into Apple) and I feel the AHD quality is nearly as good…would have to AB in order to actually choose. I am waiting to see what Spotify offers with their promised lossless by the end of the year to see whether they stop at CD or will go full blown to 24/192, though most of the 16/44 I’ve heard on AHD sounds just fine to me. PS also tried Qobuz…sounds great, but too many holes in their catalogue with some of my favorites.
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QoBuzz is where I got to purchase music, AmazonHD is where I go to stream it.
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I dig spatial audio, gets me to discover new music.
I guess I will sign up for the free 4 month trial and check out the spatial audio!
so…signed up. where do I find the spatial audio setting(s) as I didn’t see anything under the ‘settings’ option in the PC app. I have not installed or looked into the mobile app.
I did turn it on in the Windows settings…but I assume there’s something to manage in the AM apps as well?
Doesn’t work on my MacBook pro 
can now select it not on my android DAP 
In the app you can select under options if you want 3d audio or not if available not Shure if there’s the option on PC or i haven’t found it till now 
@Raptor168 Hmmm. Just tried the London Classical Spatial sampler. I kind of expected it to sound “artificially manipulated” but actually sounds quite nice. Like I’m standing on the podium or by my timpani Within the orchestra. Wonder if those are old samples which are somehow redone, or new recordings with LOTS of mics within the orchestra. Something to search for on the net I suppose, lol. Nice mix of tracks, though. In short , interesting, but I still prefer a more traditional presentation for orchestral, with a “from the audience with natural hall reverb” kind of sound.
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My findings too for all music 
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Think im still sticking with apple music.
Spatial is a boon for HT. Now that techology favors the format only worry is apple and amazon creating their own codec.
Funny thing… As I read more about spatial sound on Amazon, it’s available on Apple OS and Android. So in reality what I was hearing was the recording itself and the changes that I made to the audio configuration. Which hey, I aint complaining about!
What I may do is take this old iPad I rescued and try out Apple music. Orrrrr… Just whip out the trusty V40 and do it the Android way. That way I can experience their new thang.
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Sounds like some fun options to play with!!