We were almost impressed when Sonos added support for Qobuz signaling a shift towards hi-res digital playback on its hardware, and it would appear that Sonos is doubling down with its announcement that it will now support Amazon Music HD and Dolby Atmos.
Amazon Music subscribers can now stream the service’s “Ultra HD” (24-bit) tracks, as well as its increasing number of songs available in immersive Dolby Atmos technology.
Sonos recently announced support for DTS on the Arc and Beam so the addition of Dolby Atmos only adds to their value in the home theater category.
Amazon Music HD has not exactly been working perfectly this week but we suspect once the outages and service issues have been rectified, this new feature will work just fine on the Sonos One SL, Arc and Beam Soundbars.
Amazon’s hi-res digital music streaming catalog offers selections in 24-bit/192kHz audio quality; Sonos’s compatible products have a maximum sample rate limit of 48kHz so will stream up to 24-bit/48kHz. Previously, playback support was limited to 16-bit/44.1kHz.
There are a number of Sonos products that are capable of playing hi-res audio from Amazon including the Roam, Move, One, One SL, Five and Play:5 (Gen 2) wireless speakers.
The IKEA Symfonisk Bookshelf and Lamp speakers are also compatible. Amazon Music’s Dolby Atmos music is limited to the Sonos products that support the technology like the Arc and Beam Generation 2 Soundbars.
Sonos is clearly trying to woo audiophiles over to its hardware by integrating Qobuz and Amazon Music HD into its ecosystem.
Its latest blog post reads: “If you prefer another streaming service that offers hi-res audio not currently available on Sonos, know that we look forward to introducing more high-resolution experiences in the future… your options for listening to hi-res audio will continue to evolve. And so will we.”
Could support for TIDAL, Deezer, and Spotify HiFi be coming in 2022?
Interesting.
For more information: Try Amazon Music Unlimited (3-months free for a limited time).
