Amazon Music "HD"

[California Creme Puffs]

So I have long wanted to get into the vinyl scene because 1.) the sound quality of vinyl music is reportedly better than digital music and 2.) artists make more money off of actual record sales than music streaming, and I want to support artists that I like.

All the music that I have listened to over the past 2+ years has come from Spotify. Before that, it was Youtube. Youtube could be a mixed bag obviously if the song was not uploaded by the artists' official page themselves, but I've always thought Spotify sounded just fine. Actually, not just fine, but great. But then I have read people say things like "You don't know any better, once you listen to vinyls (or at least CDs), you'll immediately see the difference and never listen to Spotify again." I heard one guy say that listening to digital music is like getting 85-90% of the quality of the song as it was intended. CDs are closer to 95%, and vinyls closer to 97-99%, according to him.

Problem is, I'm still closer to the left side of the Broke ------> Loaded continuum, so I don't want to shell out a grand or even $500 for a vinyl record player, and then $10-$20 on top of that for each record. I'd love to some day, but it's just not feasible right now.

You can imagine my excitement then when Amazon announced they were releasing a brand new service/feature called Amazon Music HD. It promises 50+ million songs in HD (lossless audio) and "millions of songs" in Ultra HD (Highest quality lossless audio). Here is a promotion page on it.



Now I'm not an audio engineer, so I have no clue what the fuck any of that shit means. But I know that Amazon was trying to fulfill a growing niche market of audiophiles through cheaper, digital music instead of buying vinyls/CDs.

I already have an Amazon Prime account, so I got the first 90 days free. They said that my laptop would be able to play Ultra HD songs, but that my phone could only play in HD (it would still play the Ultra HD songs, just in the HD format).

Anyway, after a month of that shit, I've just got to say: the fucking sound quality of Amazon Music HD is fucking horrendous. It actively hurt my ears whenever a "loud" part of the song came up. I constantly had to increase/decrease the volume based on where the song was at.

I am truly appalled. For one, I never thought Spotify's sound quality was bad (and finally admitting I was wrong about Amazon Music and going back to Spotify is amazing). For that matter, I don't think I've ever listened to a song and been like "This sound quality is shit," unless it was like a bootlegged recording or something like that. So imagine my surprise when the first "Ultra HD Highest-Quality Lossless Audio" product comes out, and it is the first time that I can actually positively say that the sound quality is shit. I mean, it would be one thing (and somewhat understandable) if I couldn't tell a difference between Spotify and Amazon Ultra HD, but when your Ultra HD is actively worse???

Sorry for ranting. Anyone else had any experience with Amazon Music HD or want to weigh in on the topic?

TL-DR: Fuck you you weak minded millennial pussy for trying to take the easy way out and read an abridged version of a 2 minute internet post. If you don't have 2 minutes to spare to read the OP, why and how do you have the time to continue reading this, fuckstick? I hope you get AIDS and die in a hole in South Africa.

 

[TheDayMan]

 

[huskers1217]

View attachment 222230

 

[TheDayMan]

But seriously, just use Spotify or Apple like a normal person. Collect vinyl if it’s your thing. It’s cool and has it’s own kind of sound, and it’s its own kind of experience. But however you got this idea that it’s the best possible sound quality... that’s silly. As far as reliably and consistently reproducing the intended sound quality and dynamics, uncompressed digital audio (CDs) is superior.

There’s a reason technology worked up to the CD format.

 

[huskers1217]

 

[California Creme Puffs]

But seriously, just use Spotify or Apple like a normal person. Collect vinyl if it’s your thing. It’s cool and has it’s own kind of sound, and it’s its own kind of experience. But however you got this idea that it’s the best possible sound quality... that’s silly. As far as reliably and consistently reproducing the intended sound quality and dynamics, uncompressed digital audio (CDs) is superior.

There’s a reason technology worked up to the CD format.

I'm more so miffed about Amazon Music HD than anything related to vinyls or CDs.

 

[TheDayMan]

I'm more so miffed about Amazon Music HD than anything related to vinyls or CDs.

A good chunk of your post was on the topic.

as far as Amazon HD goes, I don’t know anything about it, I doubt many will. Use Spotify, sounds like you previously had a good experience with it. Don’t worry so much about if you’re getting the best possible quality, unless it sounds bad.

 

[shopson67]

How can you call one format lossless, then another highest quality lossless? Sounds like lossless isn't truly lossless...