Amazon Ultra HD not showing badge on Play:5 (gen 2)

  • 9 December 2021
  • 65 replies
  • 2973 views

Badge +2

I’m not seeing the “Ultra HD” badge when I stream Amazon HD on my Play:5 (gen 2) pair + Sub. It’s working fine on my Arc + Sub + Surrounds. Any thoughts?


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65 replies

Just following up on my original post.

If I remove the bonded Sub (gen 2), I see the UHD badge with the Play:5s (gen 2). When I add the Sub back, the badge returns to HD.

Sub/gen2 should not be a factor. See here.

Userlevel 7

I’ve sent Sonos a couple of diagnostics.

One playing Ultra HD without Sub (gen2) bonded and another playing only HD with Sub (gen2) bonded.

The relevant team is looking into this issue and I will update once I have an answer.

 

Userlevel 7

Just following up on my original post.

If I remove the bonded Sub (gen 2), I see the UHD badge with the Play:5s (gen 2). When I add the Sub back, the badge returns to HD.

Sub/gen2 should not be a factor. See here.

 

 

@ratty when you say

  • Atmos plays on my Beam/gen2 + Play:1s + Sub/gen2
  • UHD plays on the above, on a One/gen1, and on a One/gen2 pair

For the UHD is this still in a HT setup with the Beam?

I have no issue getting Atmos/UHD on my Sub (gen2)s when in HT setup with Arc, but Sub (gen2) with a stereo pair Ones only HD.

So yes Sub (gen2) is supported for hi res but the issue appears to be when it is used in a stereo pair.

Just following up on my original post.

If I remove the bonded Sub (gen 2), I see the UHD badge with the Play:5s (gen 2). When I add the Sub back, the badge returns to HD.

Sub/gen2 should not be a factor. See here.

 

 

@ratty when you say

  • Atmos plays on my Beam/gen2 + Play:1s + Sub/gen2
  • UHD plays on the above, on a One/gen1, and on a One/gen2 pair

For the UHD is this still in a HT setup with the Beam?

I have no issue getting UHD on my Sub (gen2)s when in HT setup with Arc, but Sub (gen2) with a stereo pair Ones only HD.

 

UHD on an HT setup with the Beam. I’ve not got around to reassigning that Sub to a different room, so you may have a point. 

TBH the fact that HD and UHD can sometimes only kick in after a minute or so is just one of the factors which leaves me a bit wary about the Amazon Music experience. (I’m a longstanding Deezer HiFi user.)

Badge +2

Just following up on my original post.

If I remove the bonded Sub (gen 2), I see the UHD badge with the Play:5s (gen 2). When I add the Sub back, the badge returns to HD.

What version of the Sub are you using - it might help Staff to hone in on the alleged badge issue.. also did you wait a while (more than 2 minutes) and try other UHD tracks to see if it was possible to get a UHD badge at all on the bonded setup?

Gen 2 Sub and I waited a few minutes. I’m seeing the UHD badge instantly on Arc + Sub (also Gen 2).

Userlevel 7
Badge +21

Just following up on my original post.

If I remove the bonded Sub (gen 2), I see the UHD badge with the Play:5s (gen 2). When I add the Sub back, the badge returns to HD.

Same behavior here. Gen2 Sub

Sub: Sub
Serial Number: 5C-AA-FD-83-0C-BA:4
Sonos OS: S2
Version: 13.4.1 (build 66423300)
Hardware Version: 1.8.2.5-2.0
Series ID: A100
 

According to My System Info on my account it is Sub (Gen 2) Sub
 

Userlevel 7

Just off a call with Sonos Support.

Apparently it’s a known DRM issue and the technicians are working on a fix.

He said the Arc/Beam covers DRM so that’s why the Sub/gen2 works under HT conditions, but if bonded with a single unit or a stereo pair (Ones in my case) then Ultra HD not currently possible.

No timescale given but hopefully a software update will be available soon to fix this issue.

 

Just off a call with Sonos Support.

Apparently it’s a known DRM issue and the technicians are working on a fix.

He said the Arc/Beam covers DRM so that’s why the Sub/gen2 works under HT conditions, but if bonded with a single unit or a stereo pair (Ones in my case) then Ultra HD not currently possible.

No timescale given but hopefully a software update will be available soon to fix this issue.

Just to clarify @Mr. T, does that mean that the audio playing on the Ones/Sub, in your case, is HD/UltraHD format and that it’s just ‘a badge-display issue’, is that what’s happening? 

Userlevel 7

Just to clarify @Mr. T, does that mean that the audio playing on the Ones/Sub, in your case, is HD/UltraHD format and that it’s just ‘a badge-display issue’, is that what’s happening? 


There was no talk of a badge display error, which I saw mentioned on another thread here.

He said Ultra HD was not currently possible on my Ones/Sub configuration.

Looking at my router bandwidth, I’m fairly confident the badge is displaying correctly, so the stream is limited to HD on Ones/Sub(gen2)

Userlevel 7

@Ken_Griffiths For instance, with minimal internet usage elsewhere, I get the following:

Ones/Sub(gen2) - HD Badge showing - 15.4MB

Ones (no bonded sub) - Ultra HD showing - 35MB

This using our trusted Ed Sheeran song “The Joker and the Queen”

This ties in with what Amazon claims on their website:

  • HD audio may use up to 5.5 MB of data per minute.
  • Ultra HD audio, at the highest available audio quality (192 kHz sample rate), uses up to 12 MB of data per minute.

@Mr. T,

Thanks for clarifying. I had read the earlier post too about the ‘badge display’ issue, so just wasn’t quite sure whether it was that or the audio format being sent/received. Hope it gets sorted for you soon.

Userlevel 7
Badge +21

Great work Mr T

Userlevel 7

Great work Mr T


Thank you @bockersjv , I’m just glad Support confirmed the issue as lost count the number of times I’ve rebooted speakers and tinkered with router settings trying to get it to work!

Although really just waiting on Spotify’s HiFi implementation as my preferred music service…

Badge

I have the same setup (Play:5 (gen 2) pair + Sub) and issue of no Ultra HD badge from Amazon. I remove sub and I lose HD?? I hope they resolve this issue soon, as people with stereo pairs and sub setups are probably the users that are most likely to want to listen in Ultra HD.

Userlevel 7

I have the same setup (Play:5 (gen 2) pair + Sub) and issue of no Ultra HD badge from Amazon. I remove sub and I lose HD?? I hope they resolve this issue soon, as people with stereo pairs and sub setups are probably the users that are most likely to want to listen in Ultra HD.


The Ultra HD badge should appear if you leave it to play for a couple of minutes after removing the Sub.

Twice I’ve seen these exact timings on my Ones stereo pair after removing Sub; no badge for first 1min 50secs, then HD shows before Ultra HD at 2mins 30secs. Once you eventually have the higher audio format it’s more stable until you then bond the Sub again, then it has to recalibrate what format to play again.