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Thread: Seriously, seriously impressed with Amazon Fire TV for music...

  1. #1
    Join Date: Oct 2008

    Location: Glasgowshire

    Posts: 9,656
    I'm Gary.

    Default Seriously, seriously impressed with Amazon Fire TV for music...

    Was using my Oppo to stream video from my server to the big TV in the livingroom, but after forgetting to cancel my Amazon Prime suscription (oops...) I wanted a way to watch Amazon video on the big telly in the livingroom.

    Figured hey, I've got it for a year now so might as well get the most out of it.
    A few good TV shows on Amazon, so bought one of their Fire TV boxes to let me watch Amazon content.

    The older version of the box had an optical out, the new one doesn't.
    Not a problem as the audio feed would go via Hdmi into the telly so would be good quality anyway.

    I have an Oppo bluray player which has an Hdmi INPUT, and previously I had fed my Virgin Media Tivo box into it, allowing the Virgin box to take advantage of the Oppo's Darbee picture processing and topnotch digital output to my Dac.
    So plugged the Fire TV box into the Oppo's Hdmi input, sat back and put a film on.


    Sound quality is SERIOUSLY good, a big solid soundstage, crystal clarity and that X-Factor that makes you sit on the edge of your seat listening.
    Quelle surprise!

    Genuinely taken back and egged on by this, I wondered how good streaming Amazon Music (part of the Prime suscription) might be?
    No idea about bitrate, samplerate or whatever but you know what, it sounds that good it really doesn't matter.
    In some ways...and some pretty fundamental ways...it matches and even exceeds what I'm hearing from my Logitech Transporter playing FLACs via Roon fed to the Dac.
    There's a sense of being there, of instruments being "reach out n touch" real that makes you forget the hifi stuff and want to hear music you know again, and new stuff that you don't.

    Amazon music is great for this, it suggests playlists based on your listening history and being Amazon, the catalogue to choose from is vast and wide.
    I have listened to and enjoyed stuff I genuinely would never have thought to look into, just because what I'm hearing sounds so "just right".

    Last night I did a direct comparison with albums I know well streamed from Amazon music and played from Roon with the Transporter...
    Amazon is better.

    Shouldn't be the case...an £80 android box WTF???
    Exactly, it shouldn't be...the Fire TV is NOT a better digital source than my Transporter, so why is it my preferred digital source now?
    SOMETHING is going on here, but what?
    This has made me get the thinking cap back on and get my Engineering Curiosity head back on again.

    Most obvious significant difference is the Network Infrastructure...how the two different ways of feeding the music files to the Dac might be affecting the outcome.
    I'll get to the bottom of it.
    Theres a phenomenon at work here...but what exactly is it?
    Any theories or thoughts peeps?

    First step is Network galvanic isolation.
    With the Amazon box, the music files aren't being sent over 20m of Cat6 network cable as with the Transporter picking up files from my server so first port of call Network Isolation (as detailed by Andrew Everard, a guy who's opinion I trust) HERE:
    https://andreweverard.com/2015/06/08...h-added-fibre/

    Some tinkering and experimentation beckons!

    (Oh, can the "it's only 1s and 0s so it doesn't matter" folks sit this one out please...experience has shown me that like a lot of things in hifi its never as simple as something you have read on the internet )

    Digital audio's got me curious again!
    Last edited by Gazjam; 28-07-2017 at 04:50.
    AC POWER
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  2. #2
    Join Date: Feb 2016

    Location: Melksham, Wiltshire

    Posts: 726
    I'm Peter.

    Default

    I think the same about Tidal.... just bonkers and not too much difference to my Vinyl. close your eyes an listen..... it not always about bit rate numbers ......... plus any track I fancy!!!

    However, many would disagree

    If you enjoy.... just do it.


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

  3. #3
    Audio Al is offline Pishanto Specialist & Super-Daftee
    Join Date: May 2012

    Location: Dagenham Essex

    Posts: 11,215
    I'm Allen.

    Default

    I have just taken out a Prime subscription and was wondering how I get the sound out of my imac into my stereo

    I am numpty
    [

  4. #4
    Join Date: Feb 2016

    Location: Melksham, Wiltshire

    Posts: 726
    I'm Peter.

    Default

    Audio Al

    Why have you done that ? Please explain... do you not like music????


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

  5. #5
    Audio Al is offline Pishanto Specialist & Super-Daftee
    Join Date: May 2012

    Location: Dagenham Essex

    Posts: 11,215
    I'm Allen.

    Default

    Audio Al

    Why have you done that ? Please explain... do you not like music????


    I did it for the films and free delivery on LP's and shopping , the music is all part of it
    [

  6. #6
    Join Date: Feb 2013

    Location: W Lothian

    Posts: 99,005
    I'm Grant.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Audio Al View Post
    I have just taken out a Prime subscription and was wondering how I get the sound out of my imac into my stereo

    I am numpty
    Buy an echo dot
    Regards,
    Grant .... ؠ ......Don't be such a big girl's blouse

    I've said it before and I'll say it again: democracy simply-doesn't-work
    .... ..... ...... ...... ................... ..... ..... ..... ..... .....
    FIIO K7 BT, M11 PLUS, BTR7, KA5 - OPPO BDP-103D - PANASONIC UB450 - PANASONIC 4K ULTRA HD TV - PIXEL 6 - AVANTREE LR BLUETOOTH - 2* X600 SOUNDCORE - HEADPHONES INCLUDE, FIIO, NURAPHONES', FOCAL, OPPO, BOSE, CAMBRIDGE, BOWER & WILKINS, DEVIALET, MARSHALL, SONY, MITCHELL & JOHNSTON - 2*ZBOOK'S- MERCURY BD ROM, ROON, QOBUZ, TIDAL, PLEX, CYBERLINK, JRIVER - MULTI HDD'S -

    Oh my god! There's nothing wrong with the bidet is there?

    “Nothing discloses real character like the use of power. It is easy for the weak to be gentle. Most people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power. This is the supreme test. It is the glory of Lincoln that, having almost absolute power, he never abused it, except on the side of mercy".

    “You see these dictators on their pedestals, surrounded by the bayonets of their soldiers and the truncheons of their police ... yet in their hearts there is unspoken fear. They are afraid of words and thoughts: words spoken abroad, thoughts stirring at home -- all the more powerful because forbidden -- terrify them. A little mouse of thought appears in the room, and even the mightiest potentates are thrown into panic.”

    "You don't have free will. You have the appearance of free will.”

    “There's a war out there, old friend. A world war. And it's not about who's got the most bullets. It's about who controls the information. What we see and hear, how we work, what we think... it's all about the information!”


    ***SMILE, BE HAPPY***

  7. #7
    Join Date: Sep 2011

    Location: Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland

    Posts: 533
    I'm stuart.

    Default

    I had a read of the article by Andrew Everard. Maybe I've picked it up wrong but is he suggesting if I use fibre (even a small portion) I can get benefits.
    I'm not ripping out walls again so putting in fibre at home is a no-no ........ but ......... if I get 2 of those TPlink MC200CM's connected with a 0.5m fibre and I stick them between the switch at my hifi and my Raspberry pi I **MIGHT** get a benefit from the isolation introduced by the fibre - have I read that correctly?

  8. #8
    Join Date: Feb 2013

    Location: W Lothian

    Posts: 99,005
    I'm Grant.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Gazjam View Post
    Was using my Oppo to stream video from my server to the big TV in the livingroom, but after forgetting to cancel my Amazon Prime suscription (oops...) I wanted a way to watch Amazon video on the big telly in the livingroom.

    Figured hey, I've got it for a year now so might as well get the most out of it.
    A few good TV shows on Amazon, so bought one of their Fire TV boxes to let me watch Amazon content.

    The older version of the box had an optical out, the new one doesn't.
    Not a problem as the audio feed would go via Hdmi into the telly so would be good quality anyway.

    I have an Oppo bluray player which has an Hdmi INPUT, and previously I had fed my Virgin Media Tivo box into it, allowing the Virgin box to take advantage of the Oppo's Darbee picture processing and topnotch digital output to my Dac.
    So plugged the Fire TV box into the Oppo's Hdmi input, sat back and put a film on.


    Sound quality is SERIOUSLY good, a big solid soundstage, crystal clarity and that X-Factor that makes you sit on the edge of your seat listening.
    Quelle surprise!

    Genuinely taken back and egged on by this, I wondered how good streaming Amazon Music (part of the Prime suscription) might be?
    No idea about bitrate, samplerate or whatever but you know what, it sounds that good it really doesn't matter.
    In some ways...and some pretty fundamental ways...it matches and even exceeds what I'm hearing from my Logitech Transporter playing FLACs via Roon fed to the Dac.
    There's a sense of being there, of instruments being "reach out n touch" real that makes you forget the hifi stuff and want to hear music you know again, and new stuff that you don't.

    Amazon music is great for this, it suggests playlists based on your listening history and being Amazon, the catalogue to choose from is vast and wide.
    I have listened to and enjoyed stuff I genuinely would never have thought to look into, just because what I'm hearing sounds so "just right".

    Last night I did a direct comparison with albums I know well streamed from Amazon music and played from Roon with the Transporter...
    Amazon is better.

    Shouldn't be the case...an £80 android box WTF???
    Exactly, it shouldn't be...the Fire TV is NOT a better digital source than my Transporter, so why is it my preferred digital source now?
    SOMETHING is going on here, but what?
    This has made me get the thinking cap back on and get my Engineering Curiosity head back on again.

    Most obvious significant difference is the Network Infrastructure...how the two different ways of feeding the music files to the Dac might be affecting the outcome.
    I'll get to the bottom of it.
    Theres a phenomenon at work here...but what exactly is it?
    Any theories or thoughts peeps?

    First step is Network galvanic isolation.
    With the Amazon box, the music files aren't being sent over 20m of Cat6 network cable as with the Transporter picking up files from my server so first port of call Network Isolation (as detailed by Andrew Everard, a guy who's opinion I trust) HERE:
    https://andreweverard.com/2015/06/08...h-added-fibre/

    Some tinkering and experimentation beckons!

    (Oh, can the "it's only 1s and 0s so it doesn't matter" folks sit this one out please...experience has shown me that like a lot of things in hifi its never as simple as something you have read on the internet )

    Digital audio's got me curious again!
    ive got the first gen fire box. I have in past taken optical out and it was quite decent tbh. as I said i also now have an echo and a echo dot, the latter connected to my stereo and can play spotify and amazon music through it by the line out. sound from that is equally impressive for a small outlay.. you can also get amazon unlimited music for the dot for 3.99
    Regards,
    Grant .... ؠ ......Don't be such a big girl's blouse

    I've said it before and I'll say it again: democracy simply-doesn't-work
    .... ..... ...... ...... ................... ..... ..... ..... ..... .....
    FIIO K7 BT, M11 PLUS, BTR7, KA5 - OPPO BDP-103D - PANASONIC UB450 - PANASONIC 4K ULTRA HD TV - PIXEL 6 - AVANTREE LR BLUETOOTH - 2* X600 SOUNDCORE - HEADPHONES INCLUDE, FIIO, NURAPHONES', FOCAL, OPPO, BOSE, CAMBRIDGE, BOWER & WILKINS, DEVIALET, MARSHALL, SONY, MITCHELL & JOHNSTON - 2*ZBOOK'S- MERCURY BD ROM, ROON, QOBUZ, TIDAL, PLEX, CYBERLINK, JRIVER - MULTI HDD'S -

    Oh my god! There's nothing wrong with the bidet is there?

    “Nothing discloses real character like the use of power. It is easy for the weak to be gentle. Most people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power. This is the supreme test. It is the glory of Lincoln that, having almost absolute power, he never abused it, except on the side of mercy".

    “You see these dictators on their pedestals, surrounded by the bayonets of their soldiers and the truncheons of their police ... yet in their hearts there is unspoken fear. They are afraid of words and thoughts: words spoken abroad, thoughts stirring at home -- all the more powerful because forbidden -- terrify them. A little mouse of thought appears in the room, and even the mightiest potentates are thrown into panic.”

    "You don't have free will. You have the appearance of free will.”

    “There's a war out there, old friend. A world war. And it's not about who's got the most bullets. It's about who controls the information. What we see and hear, how we work, what we think... it's all about the information!”


    ***SMILE, BE HAPPY***

  9. #9
    Audio Al is offline Pishanto Specialist & Super-Daftee
    Join Date: May 2012

    Location: Dagenham Essex

    Posts: 11,215
    I'm Allen.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by struth View Post
    Buy an echo dot
    Grant , is that the option a tiny round puck must sound pucking awful
    [

  10. #10
    Join Date: Feb 2013

    Location: W Lothian

    Posts: 99,005
    I'm Grant.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Audio Al View Post
    Grant , is that the option a tiny round puck must sound pucking awful
    its nothing to write home about on its own as speaker isnt big but it has a line out that the bigger one doesnt. you can thus play anything like spotify amazon music, internet radio etc on the main stereo and it sounds pretty good. I aint getting rid of mine anyway so puck it

    Might add it does bluetooth out as well. Not sure what version tho... couldnt find a spec.
    Last edited by struth; 28-07-2017 at 17:28.
    Regards,
    Grant .... ؠ ......Don't be such a big girl's blouse

    I've said it before and I'll say it again: democracy simply-doesn't-work
    .... ..... ...... ...... ................... ..... ..... ..... ..... .....
    FIIO K7 BT, M11 PLUS, BTR7, KA5 - OPPO BDP-103D - PANASONIC UB450 - PANASONIC 4K ULTRA HD TV - PIXEL 6 - AVANTREE LR BLUETOOTH - 2* X600 SOUNDCORE - HEADPHONES INCLUDE, FIIO, NURAPHONES', FOCAL, OPPO, BOSE, CAMBRIDGE, BOWER & WILKINS, DEVIALET, MARSHALL, SONY, MITCHELL & JOHNSTON - 2*ZBOOK'S- MERCURY BD ROM, ROON, QOBUZ, TIDAL, PLEX, CYBERLINK, JRIVER - MULTI HDD'S -

    Oh my god! There's nothing wrong with the bidet is there?

    “Nothing discloses real character like the use of power. It is easy for the weak to be gentle. Most people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power. This is the supreme test. It is the glory of Lincoln that, having almost absolute power, he never abused it, except on the side of mercy".

    “You see these dictators on their pedestals, surrounded by the bayonets of their soldiers and the truncheons of their police ... yet in their hearts there is unspoken fear. They are afraid of words and thoughts: words spoken abroad, thoughts stirring at home -- all the more powerful because forbidden -- terrify them. A little mouse of thought appears in the room, and even the mightiest potentates are thrown into panic.”

    "You don't have free will. You have the appearance of free will.”

    “There's a war out there, old friend. A world war. And it's not about who's got the most bullets. It's about who controls the information. What we see and hear, how we work, what we think... it's all about the information!”


    ***SMILE, BE HAPPY***

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