Amazon Music deploys a lossless streaming level that Spotify and Apple can not match

Amazon today launches a new level of its music service, dubbed Amazon Music HD. It offers lossless versions of audio files for streaming or downloading at a price lower than that of Tidal, the main competitor of this type of audio. Amazon will charge $ 14.99 per month for the HD level, or $ 12.99 if you are an Amazon Prime customer. The Tidal Hi-Fi package costs $ 19.99 per month. The new plan was announced a few months ago.

Amazon says it has a catalog of more than 50 million songs that it calls "High Definition", a term that applies to songs with 16-bit resolution and 44.1kHz resolution in CD quality. It also contains "millions" (less than 10 million, more than a million) of songs that it calls "Ultra HD", which translates into 24 bits with sample rates ranging from 44.1 kHz to 192 kHz. Amazon Music HD will deliver them all in the lossless FLAC file format, instead of the MQA format used by Tidal.

Amazon's Vice President of Music, Steve Boom, tells me that Amazon chose HD and UltraHD terminology because she thought it was more understandable to a mass audience than the current terminology of quality audio. And "mass audience" is exactly what Amazon is looking for. Amazon Music HD does not want to be a niche player like Tidal and other lossless music platforms like HDtracks or Qobuz.

Boom says, "It's a big problem that one of the big three global streaming services is doing it. We are the first. "Amazon Music does not often participate in the debate about music streaming competition, which usually ends up following Spotify vs. Apple Music Narrative. But Amazon sees itself as a business and, with the new HD offering, seeks to differentiate itself and perhaps to make itself known.

Boom refused to give new subscriber numbers, but Amazon's music service would have more than 32 million subscribers in April. Spotify reached 100 million paid subscribers the same month. But remember that millions of people have access to a sample of Amazon's catalog via Prime Music, which is included for free with a premium subscription. It's a powerful tool to get them to switch to an Amazon Music Unlimited or Amazon Music HD plan.

Giving users a specific reason to upgrade to Amazon Music, in addition to working a little better with Echo speakers, could give Amazon a boost. At present, Spotify is sort of the global default solution and Apple has been striving to enter into contracts with operators in the United States to increase its numbers. But even if Amazon can not remove subscribers from these services, it seems likely that some users – perhaps a lot – will leave Tidal, even if it's not really a big pool.

Spotify has sometimes tested lossless audio, but has not yet formally launched a plan for all customers. Meanwhile, Apple is doing everything in its power to extract as much quality as possible from the AAC format it uses, but has always refrained from passing without loss. If successful, Amazon's latest initiative could give both companies a new impetus to offer something similar. Lossless, however, requires much more bandwidth, and some listeners may find it hard to tell the difference between this technology and the "high" quality settings offered by the currently proposed streaming applications.

Yesterday I had a brief demonstration of the service and, of course, it sounded incredible – everything that would be in Amazon's Hi-Fi configuration in his San Francisco office. Audiophiles with similar configurations will be able to take advantage of Amazon's service with the appropriate DAC attached to their phone. And if you have one of LG's smart phones with an integrated DAC, this is another case where this hardware will be profitable.

Amazon claims that its HD service will be compatible with "Denon and Marantz products with HEOS Built-in, Polk Audio, Definitive Technology, Sonos, McIntosh, Sennheiser and many others." Of course, you will probably not listen to a big different on most Echo speakers – especially the previous models and Echo Dots. Boom says the latest models have an online release, though.

When you play an HD or UltraHD song, you can tap the HD logo to display a screen that provides more details about the actual quality of that stream or file. Amazon will reduce quality dynamically if you use a low-bandwidth connection. You'll definitely hear the difference on iPhones and Android phones, but as they achieve 24-bit / 44.1kHz quality on their built-in DACs, you will not get the best quality without an external DAC. Plus, if you use Bluetooth, it's unlikely you'll hear the difference, says Boom.

The service is launched today and Amazon offers a free 90-day trial. It will be available in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Japan.