John
Lossless streaming? For Roon users, it’s a two-horse race: Tidal and Qobuz. But for hardware manufacturers developing their own streaming platform, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect and Apple AirPlay (for Apple Music) can sit alongside Roon Readiness for broader streaming service coverage. Furthermore, support for Tidal and Qobuz can reside in the manufacturer’s own app. With no ‘Qobuz Connect’ existing or foreseen, in-app support remains essential for those who don’t do Roon.
This is effectively the story of AURALiC’s Lightning DS streaming platform that today adds another string to its streaming bow with in-app support for Amazon Music Unlimited (US$9.99/month).
Quoth the press release: “Owners of AURALiC products may now control and play Amazon Music from within Lightning DS. With Amazon Music Unlimited, subscribers can stream more than 75 million lossless, High-Definition (HD) songs, with a bit-depth of 16 bits and a sample rate of at least 44.1 kHz (CD quality). Customers can also stream more than 7 million songs in Ultra HD (better than CD quality), with a bit-depth of 24 bits and a sample rate up to 192 kHz, which reveals even more nuances that were once lost in files compressed for digital streaming.”
One interesting takeaway here is that Amazon’s hi-res audio supply is knocking on 10% of its total library (of otherwise CD-quality streams).
Lightning DS is iOS/iPadOS-only and is available from the App Store here.
Further information: AURALiC | Amazon Music Unlimited
