Amazon Music HD/UHD Confusion

UHD will only work if started from the Sonos app, but unfortunately I can’t tell you whether the Connect Gen. 2 does actually support UHD. If you only see an HD badge it seems it doesn’t. 

Thanks, Sonos say it does support. I also have Sonos Ones as a stereo pair. The same happens with them. And they definitely support UHD.

Do you have a Gen1/Gen2 sub bonded with the Ones?

If no sub bonded, the Ones should show Ultra HD badge when playing. If you let the track play for a couple of minutes, does the Sonos app then show UHD for the Ones? Don’t group the Ones with the Connect as likely the Connect is restricting the stream to HD.

As already noted, the Sonos controller can sometimes take a minute or so to show HD or UHD. This is while the player is discovering the reliability of the stream, before it can switch to a higher gear.

FWIW casting a UHD track from the Amazon native app to a Sonos player is always in HD (CD quality), whatever the app says and whatever the capabilities of the target player. (The same goes for Airplay from the native app on iDevices.) So basically if you must have UHD you need to start the stream directly from the Sonos controller.

Sonos support said yesterday that the Connect Gen 2 will support UHD. Their own page also confirms:

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3248?language=en_US

I am guessing from the above by ratty that the stream is never designated good enough by the Sonos kit to play UHD. I do not have a sub and I am not grouping the Ones with the Connect.

Noting that if I must have UHD I have to start the stream from the Sonos app, it would be helpful if Sonos fixed the interface to say the track quality somewhere. It’s guesswork currently. It all feels like a WIP with Amazon so maybe I’ll look elsewhere for UHD as free trials are available on the other services.

It’s your choice of course, but personally I’d never let the HD/UHD issue stop me from listening to the tracks I want. It’ll be the same mastering come what may, and 16-bit depth is quite sufficient for final delivery in a domestic listening environment.

Yeah, I fully agree. CD quality is fine. But I pedantically wanted to know what I’m getting and why I can’t confirm I have what they both promise in their marketing? Hopefully someone somewhere in Sonos and/or Amazon will understand how helpful to end users it’d be to be a little bit more slick and transparent in this area. I appreciate your help.

Me neither. There is no way you would be able to tell the two apart in a blind test.  Your dog may be able to, but he’s not telling.

Well, you do know what you’re getting, from Amazon Music in the Sonos controller app. As we know, the current playing track is badged HD/UHD/Atmos. 

I do agree, however, that it might be helpful if the Sonos controller could display the format beforehand, at least in the case of spatially mixed content like Atmos.

As already noted, selecting music solely on the basis of whether it’s UHD vs HD makes no sense.

For ultrasonics, yes. Do dogs also have a superhuman dynamic range?