KEF's LS50 Wireless II system now supports hi-res streams on Amazon Music

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The What Hi-Fi? Award winner gets more streaming skills

KEF LS50 Wireless II now support hi-res files on Amazon Music
(Image credit: KEF)

KEF's Award-winning LS50 Wireless II has just got better. The all-in-one speaker system now supports hi-res audio on Amazon Music, so subscribers to the music streaming service can now enjoy any tracks labelled as 'HD' or 'Ultra HD' in the catalogue in all their high bit-rate glory.

The LS50 Wireless II is one of the best systems around, having just picked up a What Hi-Fi? Award for the second year running. They bring performance on leaps and bounds from their also successful predecessors, delivering a clean, punchy sound that's difficult to fault at this level. They also pack plenty of connectivity options, including an HDMI eARC socket to make them TV-friendly, plus coaxial (24-bit/192kHz), optical (24-bit/96kHz) and 3.5mm aux inputs.

Amazon Music offers over 70 million tracks in lossless 'HD' (16-bit/44.1kHz) and hi-res 'Ultra HD' (24-bit/192kHz) quality. This premium quality offering initially launched as Amazon Music HD at a higher subscription price to Amazon Music Unlimited, but earlier this year Amazon homogenised the services as a response to Apple Music offering hi-res audio for free. The service now costs £7.99 ($7.99) per month for Prime members and £9.99 ($9.99) per month for everyone else.

The higher the bitrate, the more information the audio file contains, and the more detail you'll hear from the original recording, so this audio upgrade will be very welcome indeed for Amazon Music subscribers.

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Joe Svetlik
Joe Svetlik

Joe has been writing about tech for 17 years, first on staff at T3 magazine, then in a freelance capacity for Stuff, The Sunday Times Travel Magazine, Men's Health, GQ, The Mirror, Trusted Reviews, TechRadar and many more (including What Hi-Fi?). His specialities include all things mobile, headphones and speakers that he can't justifying spending money on.

5 Comments Comment from the forums
  • manicm
    More proof KEF are serious about their streaming platform, but sadly leaving the mk1 behind - which is still great as an active speaker.
    Reply
  • Hifiman
    Is Amazon Music HD starting to take over? There just seem to be more and more announcements like this. I would not be surprised. £7.99 must be pulling users from Tidal and Qobuz (but maybe not Apple) while the Spotify HiFi announcement earlier this year is now beginning to look as if it was a baseless move designed simply to try and persuade their users not to immediately migrate elsewhere.
    Reply
  • mizzor
    I have never met someone able to make the difference with high res in blind testing
    Reply
  • manicm
    Hifiman said:
    Is Amazon Music HD starting to take over? There just seem to be more and more announcements like this. I would not be surprised. £7.99 must be pulling users from Tidal and Qobuz (but maybe not Apple) while the Spotify HiFi announcement earlier this year is now beginning to look as if it was a baseless move designed simply to try and persuade their users not to immediately migrate elsewhere.

    I would actually stay with Spotify if they offer CD resolution music, just for the sheer convenience. I’m not interested in streaming hires, apart from MQA.
    Reply
  • mizzor
    are you sure you can make the difference?
    Reply