Barryabko

Got it. Thanks! I've set that to "Off" and listened to more songs. I'm hoping I'm now actually getting the highest resolution available through Amazon although the app does not seem to indicate the actual resolution for each song. I was parked in my driveway so my iPhone 8 was streaming though my 300 Mb house router. On three songs there was a several second pause after a few seconds of play as if some buffering was going on (a progress wheel showed when this happened). The rest of the songs played without any pauses although I didn't listen to most of the songs all the way through. I listened to HD Ultra tracks and the best sounding ones I heard were:

You Are the Sunshine of My Life - Stevie Wonder
50 Way to Leave Your Lover - Paul Simon
Man in the Mirror - Michael Jackson
The Way You Make You Feel - Michael Jackson
Charlie Puth - I Warned Myself
Janelle Monae - Make me Feel
Heart of Gold - Neil Young
Steve Miller - The Joker
Eagles - One of These Nights
Roberta Flack - Killing Me Softly
James Taylor - You've Got a Friend
Fleetwood Mac - Rhianon

As I've said before, the 2019 ES Mark Levinson system is very revealing and it clearly showed every song's unique production and sonic quality. Each of these songs sounded terrific in their own way.

If I can get the app to stream successfully as I'm driving I think this Amazon Music HD Ultra should be pretty great!

kalel2127

I also wasn't able to locate the quality on each song in the app or pc. It will probably be added in the future since the FAQ's state is should be on the "Now Playing" screen.

I download the songs to my phone before I play them to ensure there isn't any type of interruption.

Barryabko

In the phone app, if you swipe up on the song playing at the bottom of the screen it will open a new, larger window for that song. Then click on the ULTRA HD icon and the resolution will show.

I think I read on the Amazon Music forum that the iPhone OS limits audio playback to 24/48 but there is a work around to get it to play full resolution. I'll post about that when I learn more.

For example: Heart of Gold by Neil Young is 24/192 but the device capability says 24/48 and it's currently playing at 24/48.

Barryabko

More great sounding songs on Amazon Music HD Ultra:

Katy Perry - Never Really Over (Wow!)
N.E.R.D - Lemon (Bass!!!)
Allman Brothers - Midnight Rider
Ed Sheeron - Beautiful people
Fleetwood Mac - The Chain

kalel2127

I had the same issue when the song stops for a few seconds and that happened with a song that I downloaded to my phone. It seems to be on par with Tidal so hopefully, they add a lot more content soon.

Dolby announced yesterday that they will be releasing Atmos music on Amazon sometime in the near future, we shall see how that plays out.

DavidZ

I just started an Amazon trial. Very cool! Amazing sound!

How do you know when your download to an iPhone is finished?

kalel2127

I suggest the first thing you do is go to settings followed by 'Download audio quality' and change it to "Best Available".

Under "Recents" there is a section that will appear named "Downloading" when there are songs queued for download.

DavidZ

Thanks.

I'm having a problem navigating the Amazon app in CarPlay. I can't get back to the Now Playing screen. I can hear the track and switch to the next track with the button on the steering wheel but I can't see the name of the track that's playing. The app is listing Recents, Artists, Albums, etc. but I can't figure out how to get back to the Now Playing screen. I've tried hitting every available button, but no luck. In fact, most of the buttons just put me back on the CarPlay home screen, which doesn't seem like the correct result. I've been on the Now Playing screen before, but can't get back to it now.

kalel2127

That will vary depending on a couple of things, which iOS you are on (12 or 13) and if you have nav or not in your vehicle.

I'm on iOS 13 due to new phone otherwise I don't recommend you update your phone since ios 13 has a lot of bugs. Although, Carplay looks a lot better on iOS 13 and will display album covers even while driving.

I don't have navigation in my vehicle and for me, there is an icon on the top right corner. Within the icon there is an EQ band that is constantly moving.

DavidZ

Thanks. I didn't realize that it's a button. I'll try that next time I'm in my car.

The Now Playing screen somehow appeared, but I don't know why or how. I think it has something to do with turning the car off and then on. But now I have a split screen with half map and half Now Playing. I don't how I got that setup or how to get rid of it.

I'm an Android user, so Apple is a foreign language to me. I bought a refurbished iPhone 6s for $180 that came with iOS 13 just to use CarPlay, high end audio downloads, and the remote app.

nsaldanh

I signed up a day after they launched it. Their HD and Ultra HD albums sound really good. It took me a little while to figure out the app. I also use Amazon Music on a Marantz AV7705 pre-pro that has Heos. It plays all the Ultra HD music without any issues. There are quite a few 24 bit albums. I am at a point where I will probably drop Tidal.

DavidZ

The only reason I can think of to consider Tidal at this point is their playlists. Have you compared the Amazon vs. Tidal playlists? Also, do you prefer one app over the other?

I wonder if Tidal is going to lower their subscription fee to match Amazon. Other than the subscription fee, what factors make you prefer Amazon over Tidal?

CashGap

It's still frustrating. Traded in non-ML is350 and "my music" sounded great.

With ML "upgrade", I can replace all my music from fringe, inconvenient sources, and it will sound great. "My music" that used to sound great, that I play on iPhone/Mac/iPad/Homepod/AppleTV conveniently? Yeah, not so much.

I must not be a "true" audiophile.

LexRuger

It might sound better once the speakers are broken in. Give it a few weeks. Many times when I bought new cars, the low end got better after a few weeks. The vocals start to sound more natural

DavidZ

I'm not sure I follow exactly what you're saying here, but I'll give you my 2 cents based on what I think you're saying.

A high quality sound system will make poor quality source material sound worse. To get the most from you ML system, you need to use high quality source material. The higher quality, the better. You don't need to be "an audiophile" to tell the difference. I've demoed my ML system to a few people and they're all very impressed. None of them are audiophiles.

Also, you need to get your sound settings right. What sound settings are you using? My preferences are:

Treble -1
Mids 0
Bass 0
Fader -1 towards the rear
Surround Off

Try these, but adjust to your own ears. Everyone's hearing is different. As we get older, many people lose their high frequency hearing. These folks need to turn the treble up a bit to suit them.

Note that each input source (AM, FM, SXM, USB stick) has it's own sound settings. If you change one of them, you haven't changed the others.