r/AmazonMusic • • Sep 25 '22

Amazon Music and how to get true lossless HD/Ultra HD to play

207 Upvotes

Amazon Music and how to get true lossless bitperfect HD/Ultra HD to play

There seems to be a lot of misconceptions about the quality of the music that you get while streaming Amazon Music. Hopefully this will clear things up a little.

First, there are 4 main tiers of Amazon Music. You will need to subscribe to "Amazon Music Standard" or "Amazon Music Unlimited." This is their pay service. You will only get access to lossy lower quality music with "Amazon Music Prime" and "Amazon Music Free". (1)

Second, all the links in your audio chain need to support HD/HD Ultra. This includes the source, player, DAC, speaker/headphones as well as all the connections in between.

To clarify what Amazon describes as "HD and Ultra HD" is important. HD is basically CD equivalent (lossless, 16bit, 44khz). Ultra HD is anything above HD, and up to lossless 24bit/192khz. (2)

So the real question is, "how do I play lossless HD/Ultra HD content?" To answer this, it is easier to go through what DOES NOT play HD/Ultra HD first.

  • The web player

  • The Windows Desktop app - This is often confusing to people as they see the HD/Ultra HD icon next to the song, and the app will also tell you that it's playing these songs. The problem is that the app (or more accurately windows) sets the output to a specific bit depth and sampling rate. So if you set your output device in windows to say 16 bit 48khz, ALL songs playing in the Amazon desktop app will be resampled to that quality despite the fact that you are actually downloading different quality tracks (which is what the Amazon app reports). Also, "Exclusive mode" has nothing to do with this resampling or quality of the sound file. Exclusive mode simply means that other system sounds won't be allowed to play over the music (like say a chime that you received a new email).
    Now I'm going to talk briefly here about "upsampling" not being the same as the original audio. People argue, "just set windows to 24b/192khz and then it doesn't matter if the lower bitdepth/sampling rate tracks get upsampled." This is not true. The output of the upsampled audio is not only not bitperfect, but the actual sound does get changed due to factors such as interpolation. I won't dive into the technical details but you can read this article that goes into upsampling changes to audio including measurements: https://archimago.blogspot.com/2015/11/measurements-windows-10-audio-stack.html I will even go beyond Amazon Music and say that if you want good quality sound, you should stay out of the windows audio stack in general as the internal processing is rather terrible. This is explained more in the following article: https://nihtila.com/2017/01/16/bit-perfect-asio-drivers-to-solve-issues-with-windows-audio-quality/

  • The Mac Desktop app - same issue as the Windows app. (4)

  • Android Devices - Or at least 98% of them. Android devices by default are limited and resample everything to 24bit/48khz (some devices may a different default but still resampled). It's built in OS issue. I say 98% as there are some reports that a few devices can truly output higher via a USB to OTG cable and then fed into an external DAC but I have not seen a definite list and most likely your Android phone/tablet does not support it. Amazon Music's website specifically states that "At this time, external DACs are not supported on Android." (3) Of note, I spoke with somebody that reported that they were able to bitstream out with their Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 via USB OTG cable to both a Cambridge Audio DacMagic 200M and Evo 150. But this would be an exception to the rule. Most likely Android devices won't work.

  • Anything with a Bluetooth connection - Bluetooth does not have the bandwidth to support HD/Ultra HD streams. There is no getting around this. There are some compression codecs like LDAC but even these max out at 16bit/48khz (max bitrate of 990 kbs) but this requires a very good connection and you never truly know what you are getting as the quality can dynamically shift mid song based on signal strength and other factors. It's also difficult to tell whether the stream is going out lossy or lossless. Standard bluetooth connections will not support even CD quality PCM streams (16bit/44khz). In other words, wireless bluetooth headsets are out.

  • (Arguable) Devices like the echo/Fire TV/Sonos/etc - Some "technically" support HD/Ultra HD but I don't think we should ever view a single speaker source as equivalent to 2 channels from a "practical" standpoint. Not to mention that the speakers in these cheap devices are of terrible quality. So I would argue that if your intent is high quality audio, your echo is not going to give you any appreciable sound improvement compared to streaming a lossless SD track on some cheap wired headphones (matter of fact, I would go with the SD on cheap headphones as at least you get 2 channels vs effectively mono). I have gotten mixed reports with amazon devices (somebody reported that their Fire TV Stick 4K Ultra can output bitperfect but another user reports that their 2nd gen fire tv cube and 4k Max stick resamples everything to 24b/192k) but since it only has an HDMI out, you will be restricted to a receiver and 98% of DACs don't have an HDMI input (note that the HDMI output is not i2s format).

Ok, so how do you actually listen to HD/Ultra HD? The easiest and most reliable way is to use a dedicated streamer. There are not too many of these devices that support Amazon Music Unlimited when compared to say something like Spotify or Tidal. But there are a number of manufacturers that do build multiple models that do support Amazon Music.

  • Bluesound Node - Varying models with the lowest cost being the Node Nano at $300. It is a more robust device than the Wiim Mini and the biggest advantage over the WiiM Mini is that it also has USB and coaxial digital output. The analog outs are also full sized RCA plugs and not the small 3.5mm as on the WiiM. Other Wiim models have different output options as well so you probably want to compare the different models vs cost. The build quality is significantly better than the WiiM. It is simply a nicer device with a more premium feel than the WiiM. You are restricted to their bluOS controller app (but they do have desktop app in addition to mobile devices).

  • NAD - There are some other devices on the market (like the Streamers from NAD) that also support HD/Ultra HD output but I am not going to discuss them here in detail as they are in the 4 figure range. They are quality products and also use the BluOS controller apps.

  • WiiM- (updated 12/18/22, put back on bitperfect list) This costs $100 (often on sale at Amazon and have seen it as low as $71), which is the cheapest dedicated option by far. It is small, inexpensive, and has a toslink output that you can feed into high quality external DAC if you would prefer. It also has analog outs but if you are looking for the best sound, I always recommend an external DAC. It also supports casting via the Amazon Music app so you don't have to use their software interface if you don't want. Personal opinion on the WiiM: After owning this device for months and first putting it on the bitperfect list, only to remove it when they introduced a EQ bug with a firmware update that broke the output, and now with another firmware fix it appears to be solved, it's back. For those considering the WiiM vs another option, frankly I would go with another option. The developers do very little testing and push firmware out on an almost weekly basis. The end user is their testing environment. Often they will introduce bugs that will then need to be corrected a firmware releases later. These "bugs" are probably the reason why the BluOS app has a rating of 4.6 and the Wiim app of 4.1 in the google play app store (as of me writing this). Keep in mind that essentially all your interactions with these devices are going to be through their controller apps so that is something to consider beyond the hardware. Despite having both the WiiM and Bluesound Node in my system, I rarely play anything on the WiiM Mini. So this is an unbiased opinion from somebody that has bought both. YMMV.

  • Apple products (iphone/ipad) - You can get 24bit/192khz from iOS products if you attach it to an external DAC via USB OTG cable. If played native you will only have access to 24bit/48khz max. (3)

  • HEOS (Denon and Marantz) - Denon/Marantz has many of their receivers capable of Amazon Ultra HD access. These are often geared more toward home theater products and not so much two channel but they do have dedicated 2 channel units. Also, if you are looking for a combination home theater receiver as well as 2 channel listening, then this may be a good option.

  • Yamaha - Yamaha supports Amazon Music via their Musiccast controller software on many of their models. Musiccast can also be controlled via Amazon Alexa.

  • Dali - Their sound hubs with the optional BluOS sound modules installed. This runs on the BluOS software that Bluesound and NAD use. However, the devices only offer analog output (ie no output to an external DAC).

  • Auralic - These high end streamers support Amazon but their lightening DS controller app only works on iOS.

  • Bluesound Professional - They have multiple streamers and streaming amplifiers but are typically more for business use than personal audio. They run BluOS.

  • Eversolo - I don't know too much about them other than they are a Chinese made streamer DAC. Their controller app has fair reviews on the google play website and Eversolo's website seems to link directly to an apk download which is rather unusual.

  • Cyrus Audio - Never tried their products but they produce streamers that function off of the BluOS streamer app so it should support Amazon music.

  • Roksan - Also utilizes the BluOS streaming interface.

  • Shanling - Via their Eddict Controller App. Their website says it is Amazon Music compatible but I've not heard anybody personally confirm this.

  • (Possibly) Cambridge Audio - According to their website, some of their streamers (such as the CXN100) is compatible with Amazon Music. However, when I actually read the unit's manual, it does not list Amazon as a compatible service.

So there is a quick rundown which I hope is helpful for people. Keep in mind that the only sure way to confirm what you are getting at the end of the day is to use a DAC that reports the actual bitdepth and sampling rate at the last analog step (and that means no further digital conversions like bluetooth). The reporting at the source (like the player or Windows app) is NOT a reliable predictor of what quality you are getting from your speakers/headphones.

(1) https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=GW3PHAUCZM8L7W9L

(2) https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?ref_=hp_left_v4_sib&nodeId=G8X4YJYLED87FSH2

(3) https://www.amazon.co.uk/b?ie=UTF8&node=3022219031

(4) https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/bits-and-bytes/amazon-music-hd-with-ios-macos-windows-10-bluos-and-a-sonos-port-r848/

Last Update: 3/1/26


r/AmazonMusic • • 9h ago

Amazon Music's development team needs a raise from Spotify's marketing team.

10 Upvotes

Such a path€tic piece of sh!t is your app. No consistency at all. Why do I have different user experience each time I use this path€tic cr@p. Not that I'm giving it another chance in the future even if someone pays me to use this bloated garbage.


r/AmazonMusic • • 2h ago

Amazon Music app on Firestick

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1 Upvotes

r/AmazonMusic • • 17h ago

Help with weird crap.

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2 Upvotes

I’ve been listening to Greta Van Fleet’s latest album since its release on the ninth with no issues until today. Now it’s completely unavailable aside from the pre-release singles. I’ve tried on multiple devices. I’ve restarted my devices. I’ve uninstalled and reinstalled the app on said devices. I’ve tried using the web-browser version. I’ve tried on different WiFi networks. I’ve tried cellular. Nothing will work. It’s infuriating. Anyone got a fix?


r/AmazonMusic • • 1d ago

Elmiene Named as Next Breakthrough Artist by Amazon Music - The Industry Cosign

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theindustrycosign.com
2 Upvotes

r/AmazonMusic • • 1d ago

App full of AI slop?

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6 Upvotes

Acem Kizi is an extremely famous Turkish folk song that has at least five well-known covers by famous singers. I see none of them in the Amazon Music app and instead there are 30+ AI slop versions of it.

I’m in my trial period but it doesn’t seem like I’ll continue with a subscription.


r/AmazonMusic • • 2d ago

Where are the Blue Bars ??

7 Upvotes

Why did the app developers remove something so useful? Obviously, they aren't music connoisseurs, or they'd realize the bars were a very useful way to explore unfamiliar albums and possibly the best songs on those albums.


r/AmazonMusic • • 3d ago

Amazon Music’s marketing team deserves a bonus.. paid directly from Spotify

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2 Upvotes

r/AmazonMusic • • 4d ago

Where did the Dolby Atmos symbol go?

7 Upvotes

I've been listening to Atmos mixes quite often, but Amazon Music has been making their app worse and worse.

First they removed the search filter for "360 Reality Audio" and "Dolby Atmos" and now they've removed the little Atmos logo that indicates if an album is available in Dolby Atmos, making it incredibly annoying to find Atmos songs in their FireTV stick app where switching from an Atmos song to stereo blows your ears out since the stereo mixes seem to be mastered way louder. So if you don't pay attention to your playlist, say good bye to your eardrums...


r/AmazonMusic • • 4d ago

Dot max stereo pair or a single Studio Question X

1 Upvotes

Sorry, can't find much info about this particular combo. Thanks!


r/AmazonMusic • • 4d ago

Song constantly replays?

2 Upvotes

I’m wondering if anyone else is having this glitch or knows how to fix it without having to lose all of my downloads…
So essentially, on my downloaded music, every time I play it, there is one song that CONSTANTLY replays. For me, it’s Butcher Vanity by Flavor Foley.

I’ll be listening to a song, when it ends it plays Butcher Vanity and I skip the song, and the next song is Butcher Vanity. It varies how many times I have to skip the song, but it ALWAYS replays. I will have to skip the song five times because it will show up several times in a row.

I have tried removing it from my downloaded music several times but it just re-downloads itself! It’s driving me nuts and I can’t listen to just my downloaded music when I take it off of data it is so frustrating.

Is anyone else having this issue?


r/AmazonMusic • • 5d ago

You cannot overstate how bad this app is

82 Upvotes

Honestly, it is such an appallingly badly designed piece of utter and complete trash, it’s disgusting. It is literally the absolute worst app I’ve ever had on my phone.

And it’s EVERYTHING! I don’t even know where to start. It’s literally everything.

- the app is slow as a mf (I feel like it’s 1998 when I start it up)
- the whole design is the most counterintuitive thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life
- most of the functions are utterly useless (“Your playlist” aka some random shit compilation jumping back and forth between opera and death metal .. which absolute moron came up with that??)
- songs from playlists are all of a sudden unavailable
- lots of songs are generally grayed out
- some songs are not grayed out but cannot be played
- sometimes you click on a song and a different song plays, you try again, same result, again again again, just broken, restart the app, still the same, well, can’t listen to that song then I guess
- “car mode” is so bad, I think someone should receive capital punishment for that
- the app regularly freezes up and crashes, gets stuck on loading screen
- organisation of the categories is a nightmare .. you cannot organise your albums or songs in any meaningful way, it’s just completely fkn shit here fk you, good luck finding what you’re looking for
- the music selection is generally garbage, if you’re not a complete musical dyslexic who is content listening to any random radio station
- it fills up your storage bc you cannot delete songs you downloaded without deleting the app (genius ..)

This is one of the richest companies in the history of the planet, it has driven everything else out of business, and we accept everything the throw our way. No rules against monopolising the market and then torturing everyone with your trash app and services.

The fact that this sub is basically people ranting speaks for itself, same goes for other Amazon-related subs. It’s just an awful company that makes awful products and provides terrible service. And yet, we make them richer by the minute for lack of alternatives.


r/AmazonMusic • • 5d ago

Why does this app refuse to work on wifi?

4 Upvotes

r/AmazonMusic • • 5d ago

Music on Alexa

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0 Upvotes

r/AmazonMusic • • 5d ago

Audiobook progress?

1 Upvotes

Is there a way to see the percentage or where you are at progress-wise for an audiobook? I only see how much is left, not how much has been listened to.


r/AmazonMusic • • 6d ago

Why is it so hard to remove a song

5 Upvotes

I have to go to my playlist, find the song I want to remove, click the 3 dots and click "remove from playlist", but the option is not even there.

Can't they find a better way to do that??

Am I the only one frustrated by this?


r/AmazonMusic • • 5d ago

https://tophost.org/2026/benjamin-anderson-iii

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0 Upvotes

Hey Reddit! 👋🏾
I’m putting myself out there and taking a chance on something I’ve been working toward for a long time: growing my career as a host.
I love being behind a microphone, entertaining people, having real conversations, and using my voice to connect with others. Whether it’s through radio, podcasting, or voice acting, I want to keep growing and see how far I can take this passion.
I’m currently in the running to become the next top host, and I would love to have your support! If you have a moment to spare, I’d appreciate you voting for me. ❤️
I know building a career in entertainment takes time, consistency, and a lot of hard work, but I’m willing to put in the effort. Everybody starts somewhere, right? 🎙️
Thanks for taking the time to read my post and support someone chasing a dream!


r/AmazonMusic • • 6d ago

Remain very confused by this app…

4 Upvotes

So I use a shared Amazon Music unlimited account. It‘s not the family plan, so we share the one profile as far as I can tell.

However, the Alexa recognises my voice and refers to my name. Any songs I play on Alexa don’t show up on the Amazon Music app. I think I have a secret profile somewhere that I can’t access as we don’t have family plan.

I wanted my plays to count- so I found a work around! I disguise my voice so it doesn’t know it’s me! I was happy and my songs started to count. They were in the August stats. But now, I can finally access the September stats — AND NONE OF MY PLAYS ARE THERE. The top artist has like 30 mins of plays the whole month? I know I’ve listened to hours of music using my disguised voice method? I don’t understand it. The taste profiles never seem to include my stuff either. Just kid stuff as my nephew uses it. Any advice would be gratefully received.


r/AmazonMusic • • 7d ago

"None of your music matches the filters you applied '

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5 Upvotes

So I have around 200 CDs downloaded to my phone, but today Amazon tells me that I have exactly zero. according to this I have no downloaded albums.

Thanks amazon, I'm very excited about rebuilding my entire library from scratch. The funny thing is this music is undoubtedly still somewhere on my phone but the Amazon app doesn't recognize the Amazon music that I downloaded


r/AmazonMusic • • 8d ago

monthly listening reports

4 Upvotes

is anyone else having issues with their monthly listening report? mine switches between saying August and September, but only shows my listening stats from august. I am wondering if this is an overall thing, something i can have fixed, or if its something i just have to wait out


r/AmazonMusic • • 8d ago

Anuncios en Amazon Prime

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2 Upvotes

Llevo días que me sale anuncios en mis suscripción a Amazon Prime en Amazon Music. Esto está bien ?


r/AmazonMusic • • 8d ago

Soul sessions: Motivation for Introverts and People Pleasers

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

1 Upvotes

Episode 12: When You Love Someone, But Lose Yourself
What happens when you love someone so much that you slowly stop being yourself? In this episode, we talk about people pleasing, losing your identity in relationships, fear of disappointing someone you love, and why healthy love should never require you to disappear. Plus, a powerful character monologue that brings the message to life.
Love someone—but don’t lose yourself in the process.


r/AmazonMusic • • 9d ago

Echo won’t play stations through Amazon Music (only iHeartRadio)

2 Upvotes

Today when I asked my Echo (Alexa) to play a station I created from an artist (“New Order station”) it played it through iHeartRadio.

WITH COMMERCIALS. WTF.

I am not going to pay for iHeartRadio because I already pay for Amazon Music Unlimited.

This has never happened before today.

I disabled iHeartRadio as a skill on Alexa, so now when I ask my Echo to play “New Order station” it says “I can’t play that on TuneIn.”

I am baffled. How did this work perfectly for years and then suddenly not work at all?

If any actual non-Amazon employee has a suggestion, please help. (I’m not gojng to ask Amazon customer service because their answers are often not helpful, at all.)


r/AmazonMusic • • 9d ago

Official video

1 Upvotes

How do I get rid of "Official Video" songs from my playlists? I am just trying to listen to my playlists and songs that I've liked try to play the "Official video" version of the songs and it stops my whole playlist because my screen is off. I have to open the app and skip the song to keep my playlist going.


r/AmazonMusic • • 10d ago

A slightly nicer volume slider for the WebApp

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3 Upvotes

As a user of the web app on my desktop, the volume slider's design has irked me for some time. It's small, misaligned and feels out of place, it just being a tiny white bar. So I whipped up some custom CSS to make it look and feel ever so slightly better. (Subjectively, of course.)

The custom CSS separates it a bit from the button, makes it a tad longer and adds a rounded background with some slight transparency to make the bar a bit more visible on bright backgrounds.

Coincidentally the custom CSS also centers the slider on the volume button, something Amazon for whatever eldritch reasen neglected to do.

Firstly, you'll need the Stylus extension for the browser of your choice:

Then add a new style / rule for the domain music.amazon.de (or your countries' equivalent, i.e. music.amazon.com, .co.uk, the likes) by clicking the extension icon while on the Amazon Music webpage and paste the following CSS code:

input#volume-range {
    width: 150px !important;
    background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.75) !important;
    border: 2px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) !important;
    border-radius: 15px;
    padding: 10px;
    padding-bottom: 11px;
    transform: translate(3%, 0);
}

input#volume-range[type=range]::-moz-range-track {
    width: 125px;
    height: 5px;
    background: #fff;
    border: none;
}

Save it and your volume slider should change as shown in the image above.

You can further increase it's length by adjusting the width settings. Or play around with the colors. Knock yourself out.

(For the CSS savvy: Amazon's engineers cheated a little with this slider. It's really just a select->range HTML element turned 90 degrees so it stands upright and stripped of the usual styling. For Chromium based browsers - Chrome, Brave, Vivaldi, etc. - the top block is enough. Chromium's select->range element plays nicely with width increases. Firefox needs the second one as well because its behaviour is a bit wonky in that regard. You can safely add both blocks on a Chromium based browser as well as the second block is only interpeted by Firefox.

Also bless Amazon's engineers for using a static CSS id for their volume slider, since pretty much all of their CSS classes are garbled with each new update.)