ASCII.jp Why doesn't "Amazon Music HD" play high resolution on Android?

Android and music output restrictions

As previously reported, Sony's Walkman "NW-ZX500" series and "NW-A100" series have supported high-resolution playback of "Amazon Music HD" by updating the firmware.

NW-ZX500

In the past, when playing using "W. Music", it was possible to play up to 384kHz / 32bit with PCM, but in the case of other companies' streaming playback applications such as "Amazon Music", it is tentatively Amazon Music. Even if I had a contract with HD, it was played back with a maximum quality of 48kHz / 16bit.

Actually, the situation is the same for Android-equipped digital audio players (DAP) that can play high-resolution audio. The reason for this is related to how Android music plays.

Walkman who once abandoned Android and returned to Android

Before that, let's briefly follow the transition of "What kind of OS has the Walkman compatible with high resolution installed?" The "NW-ZX1" (2014), which can be said to be the pioneer of Sony's high-resolution DAP equipped with the S-Master HX, was equipped with Android, but this is the original OS from the model around the "NW-WM1" (2016). Changed to. That was last year's "NW-ZX500" and "NW-A100", and it's back to Android.

NW-ZX1

NW-WM1A

What does this mean? This is because Android is more suitable for the streaming era because it allows you to install various apps such as "Spotify".

However, since Android is heavy, it is disadvantageous in terms of sound quality. In the "NW-WM1", which was aimed at high sound quality, Android was once abandoned due to performance competition with other companies' digital audio players (DAP), but recent sound sources have become mainly streaming, so after all Probably returned to Android.

However, as long as you use Android, you will be limited by the Android OS. That is the maximum output limit of 48kHz / 16bit. This is similar to what I wrote earlier in the Windows "WASAPI exclusive mode" description.

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