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Amazon Music Unlimited Port HD/Ultra HD probelms

  • 21 December 2023
  • 11 replies
  • 136 views

Sonos System: Port output to Rotel A14 Mk 2 internal DAC/to a pair of Monitor Audio 20se speakers (living room), and a seperate pair of Monitor Audio 2se speakers (kitchen).

I’ve also a pair of Sonos Play 3s in the kitchen, and a single Play 3 in a bedroom.

The Sonos Play 3s succesfully play HD tagged music from Amazon (even though they’re the furthest away from the router).

The Port (even though it’s far closer to the router) will play HD (and even occassionally Ultra HD) for a few minutes at the most before the badge disappears. However, if I link the pair of Play 3s in the kitchen,or the single Play 3 in the bedroom,with the Port, the HD badge stays. 

I suppose I could link a Play 3 (with the volume to zero) if I’m listening via the Port, but that wouldn’t work with any Ultra HD tracks.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

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11 replies

J

Hi.  I am not convinced that the badge dropping means you are no longer getting HD / Ultra HD.  AMU sreams in a minimum of HD.  A very small proportion is available in Ultra HD.

If a track is available in Ultra HD, and all the Sonos devices through which it is playing support UHD, then you should get UHD.  The Port supports UHD, the Play:3 does not, so grouping with the Play:3s guarantees you won’t get UHD.

I suspect that grouping with a Play:3 may be making the badge more stable on the Port, but is not improving the audio.  In fact, on UHD tracks it will be worsening it.  I am not totally confident about this answer, and so will be interested in hearing what others think.

If you can actually hear any difference in practice, you are probably imagining it.

Ken_Griffiths

From my notes I have here…

These things do, of course, depend on whether the audio source is 16-bit (HD) or 24-bit (UltraHD), but when playing Amazon Music Ultimate audio via the Sonos App, the music is streamed direct to the chosen speaker(s)/room(s) from the Amazon servers…the Sonos devices that support 24-bit audio are:

Adding older players to a group, such as (Playbase, Playbar, Play:1, Play:3, Play:5(Gen1), ZP80, ZP90(Connect), ZP100, ZP120 (Connect:Amp) will likely cause Amazon Music station to change format to HD, or Standard audio (no badge).

If end-to-end network conditions are poor, that can also cause the audio to switch to HD (16-bit audio) or Standard audio on the above listed players.

ratty

Amazon uses adaptive bitrate streaming on Sonos. (See https://tech-blog.sonos.com/posts/happy-music-streaming-with-mpeg-dash/). If the wireless connection to the Port is iffy the stream is likely to fall back to SD.

Sometimes a device can get ‘stuck’ in SD despite the connection being okay. Rebooting it usually fixes this.

A
Userlevel 1
Badge +4

Thanks for your replies. 

I realise my elderly (in Sonos terms...my record deck is 35 years old and still in top shape!) Play 3s don’t support UHD and adding them to a group with the Port then restricts the whole group to HD.

It has happened that the Port has switched to the UHD badge for a while, then to HD,then no badge which seems odd.

I’ll keepp trying and see if anything changes. 

Ken_Griffiths

Thanks for your replies. 

I realise my elderly (in Sonos terms...my record deck is 35 years old and still in top shape!) Play 3s don’t support UHD and adding them to a group with the Port then restricts the whole group to HD.

It has happened that the Port has switched to the UHD badge for a while, then to HD,then no badge which seems odd.

I’ll keepp trying and see if anything changes. 

If running the Port on your WiFi signal, rather than SonosNet, then you can perhaps check it’s SNR level - see this support link:

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/understanding-the-network-details-section-in-the-sonos-app

It’s ideal if you can get a SNR dB level of 45 or higher.

If you’re using SonosNet then perhaps simply check your Sonos Matrix via a web browser at:

http://IP address of any Sonos player:1400/support/review

 

J

Maybe you need to investigate whether there is local interference around the Port that is making it vulnerable to reverting to HD or lower.  Other things that may help are reserving IP addresses in your router, and rebooting router and system.

If you don’t have a wired Sonos device at the moment, you may wish to try doing so as an experiment, so as to use SonosNet.

A
Userlevel 1
Badge +4

I rebooted my Port (could they make the 8 digit number you have to enter any smaller?) and my Roam SL (which I forgot to mention!) The Port’s SNR went up to around 50..and after 10 minutes or so all seems to be as it should have been.. The HD/Ultra HD badges are showing when they should, when using the Port and/or Roam.

Many thanks to everyone who’s replied and helped.

Now to see if my ears can tell  any difference!

 

Stanley_4
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

For reboots I’m happy just pulling the power for 30 seconds.

ratty

I rebooted my Port (could they make the 8 digit number you have to enter any smaller?)

If the controller was asking for the PIN it sounds like you reset/re-added it instead of simply power-cycling it. 

A
Userlevel 1
Badge +4

I took it from the Sonos help (pressing the infinity button whilst repowering etc).  They did suggest it was unlikely to solve any problems and could itself cause problems!

If things go awry again,I’ll try just repowering.  

Stanley_4
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

Yep, that is a Factory Reset that wipes all data off the reset unit.

When it really hurts is when you Factory Reset your only Sonos or all of them at once and have to do all your configuration, favorites and playlists over from scratch.

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