Well two actually. I have some downloaded mp3 files in my Amazon library, both locally and in the Amazon cloud. These are the ones ‘free’ when buying a cd. I have recently changed my music prime account to music HD.
The first is that if I play and ultra hd track via the Amazon app on the pc it plays perfectly at hires out to the dac and on to the pre amp.
If I try and play the same track on the 2i app there is stop start effect, presumably a buffering problem. There is nothing in the 2i’s settings to increase buffer size so I will drop a line to both Amazon and Bluenode. Anyone else experiencing this?
Second anomaly is that the tracks I have purchased recently and downloaded and stored locally in cd quality will automatically play in best qual available via Amazon. So if I select a track that I know to be stord in cd qual and Amazon have it in their ultra hd, it will play in ultra hd. Howevr the ‘old’ tracks that I have in the lobrary in mp3 qual don’t do the same, They still play at mp3, whereas If I play manually from the Amazon cloud they play at highest quality available again.
Anyone know why? My best guess is that I may have to remove my library mp3 files and replace them with a hires version.
What I don’t understand is why newly bought files automatically upgrade on playback, while the older ones downloaded before hd subscription, don’t.
That sounds similar to a problem I had recently with the Sonos speaker in my home office. Using the Sonos app on my phone I couldn’t stream anything to it from Qobuz without the streams cracking up and the app saying the network speed was insufficient to support playback. That was clearly nonsense as I could stream hi-res Qobuz on my desktop computer and phone (both connected via wifi) in the same room right next to the Sonos. What I did was use BubbleUPnP server installed on my NAS to configure the Sonos speaker as an OpenHome renderer and I use the BubbleUPnP controller app on my phone to send Qobuz streams to the Sonos. It works perfectly, proper gapless and absolutely no buffering. Why that solution works while the Sonos app doesn’t, no idea!
Update on Amazon hires music and the above problem. It only seems to occur on certain streams. Just about every Joni Mitchell HR stream and once on a Rolling Stones track. Not at all on various other HR (24/192) streams. Strange. I am waiting for Amzon and Bluenode to get back to me on a service ticket.
Otherwise I have to say that the quality and the availability of HR on Amazon knocks Qobuz into a cocked hat. I will probably cancel the Qobuz service and just buy hires downloads from them as and when I want them. I’m still wondering about the wisdom of relying on music from a streaming service but what’s the worst that can happen? They delete the stream and I have to buy the download or CD. I think I will take the chance for the relatively small monthly cost. The 2i/Qutest really is a cracking source for streaming.
Ok then almost certainly that is an end to end network latency issue… you might be on the edge now, and the network transport buffers in your devices aren’t large enough for the latency.
Different media tracks may well be streamed from different CDN servers in the cloud… this is normally how CDNs work… and you might find the Latency path for one of the CDN servers for a track causes drop outs.
How do you fix if the case? Well one thing is to reduce latency… try Ethernet connection from the devices to your router…
Check your general latency on your broadband… has it gone up recently… perhaps there is increased error correction due to noise on your broadband link.
Ultimately if no good, your options replace your streaming devices, and or potentially your ISP.
Many thanks Simon. That all makes sense. My connection is a bit of wet string quality at max 5, yes 5 mbps. (Edit 4.2 this am) It copes well with streaming Qobuz hires, but not every Amazon track as indicated. It also copes with streaming netflix and amazon prime video feeds at 1080p.
The test 2i is cat 5 direct into the router. The latency of different server feeds may be the problem until I have a better connection. Orange were due to have hi speed connections installed by the end of last year (in fact throughout France), but Covid has delayed this. It is mooted to be by the end of June now, so hopefully not too far away.