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

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.

 

A few observations:

  • 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
  • It can take a minute or more for the faster stream(s) to kick in. In the case of the UHD examples above it went from SD, then to HD, then eventually to UHD. Independent bandwidth measurements confirmed that the stream was indeed starting in SD, and that the badging is correct.
  • I don’t care for this behaviour at all. When you ask Deezer for FLAC that’s what you have from the get-go.
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.
Userlevel 7

Tried removing the sub.  Result was i could not even get HD.  Which doesn't make any sense!

Re added an get the HD symbol.


From my testing, it can take a moment before the applicable audio resolution badge appears after removing the Sub. But if I play a track for 5 seconds or so then rewind to start it again a couple of times, the Ultra HD badge then appears after either no badge showing, or the HD showing initially.

I did note that it takes a short time for the ‘badge’ to sometimes appear on the ‘now playing’ screen. I’m now wondering if the local network conditions ‘perhaps’ might play a role in the audio format delivered to the player by Amazon?

Userlevel 7
Badge +21

Tried removing the sub.  Result was i could not even get HD.  Which doesn't make any sense!

Re added an get the HD symbol.


From my testing, it can take a moment before the applicable audio resolution badge appears after removing the Sub. But if I play a track for 5 seconds or so then rewind to start it again a couple of times, the Ultra HD badge then appears after either no badge showing, or the HD showing initially.

Tried again and waited and played a few tracks.  Then eventually Ultra HD appeared. This is on 2 Play 5 Gen 2s WITHOUT Sub

Adding the Sub back and it is restricted to HD.

In this I have realised just how much better the Sub makes the Play 5s and that without Trueplay this rooms sounds terrible.

Of course I have to prance around the room retuning after each change :(

 

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)

@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
Badge +21

Just tried this.  I had to change the settings in the Amazon Music app to play HD in at least 2 places.

I then stopped the Amazon music stream and re-authorised Amazon Music within the Sonos App.

Now the HD appears when playing.  This is on 2 Gen2 Play 5s and a Gen2 sub.

Userlevel 7

Thanks Ken, yes aware of that setting too which was also turned off in my trial. I may be wrong but I believe the Amazon Music settings are only relevant for the relevant controller (ie. iPhone/iPad etc), rather than having any impact on the stream when playback is initiated from within the Sonos app.

Userlevel 7

Thanks for that link👍. It certainly reads to me like ANY Sub should work with the other devices listed (including the Play:5 (gen2)). It’s worth in your case trying rebooting/unbonding/bonding the players, I think, as my thoughts are that this should be working for UltraHD playback IMHO.


Tried all that before and it didn’t help… Reboots of modem/router and lost count of how many times I’ve unbonded and bonded the Sub and every time with it bonded, only HD. Changing SonosNet channel doesn’t help either. I’ve even tried a hard-wired Sub and turned WiFi on the Sub off and still didn’t get UHD.

Userlevel 7
Badge +21

Tried removing the sub.  Result was i could not even get HD.  Which doesn't make any sense!

Re added an get the HD symbol.

I’ve just gone away to test this and it looks to me like that the One (gen1 and gen2) are both supported for UltraHD

Here is a screenshot from a stereo pair of One (gen2’s) hardware version 1.26 called ‘Utility’ from my setup and they show ‘UltraHD’

If I play the exact same track to a stereo pair of One (gen1’s) hardware version 1.21 called ‘Patio’ from my setup it also shows as ‘UltraHD’

So it’s not that, as it shows all versions of the Sonos One hardware version 1.21 and 1.26 are supported.

Userlevel 7

I did note that it takes a short time for the ‘badge’ to sometimes appear on the ‘now playing’ screen. I’m now wondering if the local network conditions ‘perhaps’ might play a role in the audio format delivered to the player by Amazon?


Agreed, the local network conditions may be a factor, but all my sonos speakers are showing Green on the matrix and one of my Ones is wired.

Ken, are you able to bond a Sub to your Ones to see what badge then appears for you?

I did note that it takes a short time for the ‘badge’ to sometimes appear on the ‘now playing’ screen. I’m now wondering if the local network conditions ‘perhaps’ might play a role in the audio format delivered to the player by Amazon?


Agreed, the local network conditions may be a factor, but all my sonos speakers are showing Green on the matrix and one of my Ones is wired.

Ken, are you able to bond a Sub to your Ones to see what badge then appears for you?

I only have the newer gen3 Sub, but happy to try that - give me a moment to try.

Userlevel 7

Tried removing the sub.  Result was i could not even get HD.  Which doesn't make any sense!

Re added an get the HD symbol.


From my testing, it can take a moment before the applicable audio resolution badge appears after removing the Sub. But if I play a track for 5 seconds or so then rewind to start it again a couple of times, the Ultra HD badge then appears after either no badge showing, or the HD showing initially.

Tried again and waited and played a few tracks.  Then eventually Ultra HD appeared. This is on 2 Play 5 Gen 2s WITHOUT Sub

Adding the Sub back and it is restricted to HD.

In this I have realised just how much better the Sub makes the Play 5s and that without Trueplay this rooms sounds terrible.

Of course I have to prance around the room retuning after each change :(

 


Yes exactly, the Sub/Trueplay makes the music sound so much better!

But it proves the Sub is causing the issue here…

@Mr. T 

Added Sub to ‘Utility’ (One gen 2 stereo pair) and still getting ‘UltraHD’ here.

A few observations:

  • 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
  • It can take a minute or more for the faster stream(s) to kick in. In the case of the UHD examples above it went from SD, then to HD, then eventually to UHD. Independent bandwidth measurements confirmed that the stream was indeed starting in SD, and that the badging is correct.
  • I don’t care for this behaviour at all. When you ask Deezer for FLAC that’s what you have from the get-go.


On my Arc, the higher resolution (Dolby Atmos/Ultra HD) is available immediately, that’s not the case with the stereo pair Ones, even although one of them is wired.

 

Indeed. The Atmos badging is immediate. 

It’s the SD → HD → UHD progression which seems to take time to get going on a newly selected album.

FWIW the network connections are all fine. Low interference. Etc. In fact the stream starts in SD on a hard-wired Port, before eventually heaving itself up to HD, and then finally UHD at 2+ mins in.

Badge +20

I have several Sonos One (Gen 1s) and they do not play HD or Ultra HD from Amazon Music.

Without any intervention they are working now, no lag with the HD or Ultra HD icon showing either.

A few observations:

  • 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
  • It can take a minute or more for the faster stream(s) to kick in. In the case of the UHD examples above it went from SD, then to HD, then eventually to UHD. Independent bandwidth measurements confirmed that the stream was indeed starting in SD, and that the badging is correct.
  • I don’t care for this behaviour at all. When you ask Deezer for FLAC that’s what you have from the get-go.

I assume things have to be quite clever and switch between the 16-bit and 24-bit audio formats as a user decides to ‘group’ and ‘ungroup’ their rooms with older players like the Play:1/Play:3’s etc. without interruption to the playing track.

A few observations:

  • 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
  • It can take a minute or more for the faster stream(s) to kick in. In the case of the UHD examples above it went from SD, then to HD, then eventually to UHD. Independent bandwidth measurements confirmed that the stream was indeed starting in SD, and that the badging is correct.
  • I don’t care for this behaviour at all. When you ask Deezer for FLAC that’s what you have from the get-go.

I assume things have to be quite clever and switch between the 16-bit and 24-bit audio formats as a user decides to ‘group’ and ‘ungroup’ their rooms with older players like the Play:1/Play:3’s etc. without interruption to the playing track.

 

I suppose that could be part of it. A Port playing UHD switches to HD, and ostensibly rebuffers, when a Play:1 is added to it. (Dropping the P:1 does not return the Port to UHD until some time into the next track.) I’m not sure why tracks sometimes appear to start in SD though...

I have several Sonos One (Gen 1s) and they do not play HD or Ultra HD from Amazon Music.

Without any intervention they are working now, no lag with the HD or Ultra HD icon showing either.

 

Yes, the transitions can be quick. Quite why it can sometimes take a minute or two to pick up speed is a bit mysterious, unless it’s simply down to internet traffic conditions. 

I assume things have to be quite clever and switch between the 16-bit and 24-bit audio formats as a user decides to ‘group’ and ‘ungroup’ their rooms with older players like the Play:1/Play:3’s etc. without interruption to the playing track.

I suppose that could be part of it. A Port playing UHD switches to HD, and ostensibly rebuffers, when a Play:1 is added to it. (Dropping the P:1 does not return the Port to UHD until some time into the next track.) I’m not sure why tracks sometimes appear to start in SD though...

It’s also still early days with the new AM service on Sonos - I’m assuming, like everything these days, these transition timings between the audio formats may improve with ..er.. time 😀.