Amazon HD Lower Price

I posted this on another Amazon thread (that already existed), but here's the email I received...

We have some great news for you – going forward, there will be no extra charge for HD as part of your Amazon Music Unlimited subscription.
You will continue to have full access to all of your HD content, but at no additional cost. This change will be reflected in your next billing cycle.

I've been using AmazonHD since they announced it. Ended the Tidal (Masters?) subscription. Tidal was ok, but the focus on Rap/R&B/Pop was annoying. I play it with BluOS products, NAD C388 (with BluOS2i MDC card), and Node2i - they have been great, and both stream at 24/192 while listening through LXmini + OB-subs with either ATI 6012 (class AB) or Hypex FA123 (Ncore class D).

BluOS is great, control either Blu units with phones, tablets, PCs and even group (at will) for whole home (same stream). Also plays nice by voice, with Alexa skill.
Allows access to AmazonHD custom playlists (unlike Denon/Marantz HEOS - which does not). However doesn't allow creation of custom playlists from within BluOS.

Another cool thing is AmazonMusic family plan, which allows multiple (think 6) family member accounts. So each family member can have their own favorites/custom playlists/history/etc. and they're not all mixed into one account. That means I don't have to listen to Pretty Wife's country music when I choose to listen to my UHD favorites playlist! UHD shows as FLAC (BTW). Family plan also allows multiple simultaneous UHD streams being played on any devices. Example: I'm listening to my "Chill Sounds" on 2-ch system, wife's on Sun porch on her phone BT to Edifiers, Son is streaming to IEMs from his phone, Nephew is in basement on the HT system (Denon HEOS) via Echo Dot control.

It's actually very futuristic now that I think about it. A massive catalog (I've never not been able to find a track I've search for), playable in CD+ quality, anywhere an internet connection is available. Tech has come a long way since my early audio years with cassettes and LPs. "Someone go flip the record over." - not!

omm0910

It’s only a matter of time until Qobuz and Tidal become irrelevant. Amazon, and now Apple, and probably soon Google Play music, want this market. Last time I checked they had rather more money, customers, and additional products that they can tie into, compared to Qobuz and Tidal. They can keep the price low for years until they bleed out. Frankly they are not even on Amazon Apple and Google’s radar. They are dead men walking ...

I would not be so certain. Not everyone bases their purchases solely on price, and that’s especially so in audioland. The big question is: Can providers such as Qobuz find a profitable model at what will be a relatively niche level of volume? Presently none of the streaming providers are profitable.

I am using Tidal (with the masters option ) and am loving it. Some songs pull up in MQA and some pull up in CD. Some MQA songs don’t sound as good as CD and some sound better. As far as it’s rap oriented I don’t care what songs it thinks I might like. I just type in the song I want and hit play. The Blu os app is great too. I always figured that 5 or 10 bucks extra a month for people here wasn’t too big a deal. I am not well off but I hope Tidal and Qobuz stick around. 

Apple has about 200 billion dollars in spare cash laying around. Google (Alphabet) 135 billion. 

How much does Qobuz have? 

Prices will remain punishingly low. They'll bleed Qobuz for a while, then someone will will acquire them in a fire sale, mostly to get their subscribers, and possibly a few of their coders. Ditto Tidal. Even Spotify. Even if they could come up with some new feature, the big dogs could just copy it. I don't see a new business model for them either. All they can do is pray to sell to the highest bidder.

See the fact, and start transitioning now. True, there are reasons to distrust any or all of, Apple, Amazon, Google. I see Google as the lesser of the evils, and I see them as having the best AI prowess, but they haven't announced a hi-fi tier for Google Play music yet, though I think they have to.

Apple did more than just enter the streaming music market. They are introducing, in June, a disruptive technology called 'Spatial Audio' in addition to 'lossless' for no extra charge. This is for headphone/earbud users and the effect is amazing. It can only be enjoyed using their own proprietary chip set that encodes the Dolby Atmos signal.

I have listened to music through my Apple Airpods and I can tell you the effect is like nothing I ever heard. You know how headphones put the music inside your head? Spatial audio takes the music outside your head. The lead singer is now standing out in front of you. The location of other band members is clearly defined around you. Sound is NOT coming out of the head phones instead it's coming from it's recorded location. Holographic imaging on steroids. The effect is completely different and it's REALLY good!

Live events are incredible. It sounds...Live! The band out in front, clearly defined with ambient sound coming from ANY direction around you. You can hear voices or applause coming from behind you. You're at the performance and no longer is the music inside your head. It's out where it belongs.

The mixing process uses more microphones to achieve the desired effect.

THIS IS A GAME CHANGER and takes the music experience to a new level. Amazon has 3-D audio also (but requires their own proprietary software and hardware). So the industry seems to be supportive but Apple, using Dolby Atmos, is a powerful force to compete against. 

This is why Amazon and others have lowered their prices.