Best way to play Amazon Music on Mu-So

Streaming Audio
1

Hi,

My first post so please be understanding. I have an Amazon Music Unlimited subscription and enjoy streaming in HD via my various Marantz devices with built in HEOS.

I have very recently bought a Mu-So Gen 1 and absolutely love it. My options for streaming are limited it seems to using AirPlay 2 from my IPad Air or iPhone. (Yes I could switch to Tidal but only recently signed up for a year of Amazon Music which works well with my Marantz and Echo devices). The transfer rate on AirPlay 2 though is, I understand, limited to CD quality.

I have seen suggestions that I can connect via USB cable from my iPad/iPhone using an external DAC. My question, however, is can an improvement in quality be achieved by just connecting a simple USB A or C lead straight to the USB on the side of the Mu-So ?

Thanks in anticipation.

3

(Corrected)
USB in (iPhone connected via lightning to usb A cable) appears to be limited to cd quality.
Hires can be played from an external dac via the 3.5mm line in socket.

4

Interesting. I am not sure, then, what is going on with my iPhone if the USB input does not accept audio. I have WiFi and bluetooth turned off and the usb lead from my phone plugged in to the Mu-So. The Mu-So is playing the songs from my iPhone. If I unplug the USB lead the music stops.

5

Just a further observation. Looking at the Focal and Naim app on my IPad (not my phone on which the music is playing) it shows the source as USB/IPod. I can see the track being played in the Naim app but the artist displayed is out of sync with the song (currently showing Both Sides Now/Emmy Lou Harris whereas the artistis Joni Mitchell. The previous song played was by Emmy Lou Harris but when that was playing it showed the artist as Fleetwood Mac. the Amazon Music display on my iPhone is showing the correct artist.

6

I believe the USB socket for the Muso 1 accepts audio in. This from the manual:

Audio files stored on iOS devices can be played through the Mu-so USB input either under the local control of the iOS device or using the Naim App. In some cases, once playback is underway, the Mu-so touch panel can also be used to select play/pause, next or previous.

7

Sorry about this but I am new to the Naim app. I can now see from the app that the music from the IPod via USB is being shown as 44.1 kHz 1411kb/sec, despite it being a UHD track.

8

Thank you. Do you know what quality the input from the IPhone to the Mu-So is, if, say, I am streaming a 24bit 44kHz song from Amazon Music?

9

Well, there’s a surprise.
Qobuz streaming 44/96

IMG_7992
IMG_7992750Ă—1334 207 KB

But it’s downgraded to cd quality

IMG_7993
IMG_7993750Ă—1334 31.7 KB

1 Like
10

Is that the same quality as using AirPlay 2?

11

Well, the iPod interface was created 20 years ago, when 192kbps AAC was an improvement in sound quality. (Compared to 128kbps mp3.)
Not very surprising, when it’s limited to CD quality. So roughly equivalent to AirPlay.

Though I wonder, how much this is a theoretical question and how much use a Muso can actually make out of Hires streams/files.

12

I know my Audioquest Dragonfly handles 96/24 out of an iPhone port with the appropriate connector. The same goes when I use a digital cable to connect my Focal Bathys to my iPhone.

I also found this.

Play lossless audio in Music on iPhone - Apple Support.

But I couldn’t find the referenced setting. It may only be available if you stream from Apple.

(Isn’t it amazing how many variables must be considered to answer what would seem to be a simple question.)

13

I used to stream hires via jriver/jremote through iPhone to meridian explorer to a muso line in socket. I think it would do 24/192.

14

True, it’s only for the Apple Music service played trough the Apple Music app. And it only refers local playback and playback via separate DACs (or similar).
The article states Apple Bluetooth devices don’t support lossless (I think neither on sender nor receiver side), but it does not mention AirPlay at all.

(And then people state, Apple stuff is easy to use… well, of course it plays out of the box just fine, but the intricacies here are all but transparent.)

15

So what you’re saying means that when I connect my iPhone to my Focal Bathys with a digital cable, the iPhone downgrades my 96/24 source to 44.1/16. Offhand, I don’t now how to test that. Where did your second screenshot come from.

Also, I wonder if the same is true for newer iPhones with USB-C ports. Apple seems more reluctant to restrict the capabilities of those ports.

16

The 2nd one is the naim app.

17

Can you tell me where to find it in the app?

Actually it occurs to me that as I have a MuSo 2, I can’t connect an iPhone that way, so I would not get that image.

Edit - found this in a thread regarding hi res Roon to a Muso:

Ah, yes, thats the culprit. By using the lightning-usb cable you are using the iPhones built in digital audio (or analog output) and its internal DAC is limited to 48Khz. If the Muso has got a USB B input you most likely could connect your phone to that (via the camera conn. kit) and achieve any sample rate you’d like, bitperfect.

Further edit - after having posted the above, I recall that I was unsuccessful connecting my iPhone 12 to mu Bathys headphones using the camera connection kit. I ended up using a cable recommended a USB-3 certified cable, which worked. But I don’t know if my iPhone was outputting at 24/96.