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This post is a bit dismissive of Windows, so let's expound a bit. For the Windows desktop app (and really all of your Windows audio if you're using Windows' internal audio manager), your audio is sampled to the bit rate and sampling rate of the DAC device as set in Device Manager. If your DAC, external or built into your motherboard, is set to 16bit/44.1kHz then all audio is resampled to that. AM quality tops out at 24bit/192kHz using the FLAC codec. FLAC is a lossless codec which means all the music AM delivers to your computer is bit perfect to the original track. No quality loss. So, if your DAC supports it, set it to at least 24bit/192kHz. AM will deliver your music at the track's sample rate up to what Windows tells the app your DAC can handle. This doesn't mean every track is delivered at 24bit/192kHz because not every track is sampled at 24bit/192kHz, many are 16bit/44.1kHz or 16bit/48kHz. Your DAC will upsample a lower sampling rate track by filling in zeros for the missing bits and sampling the same capture (that 1 of 44100 times per second) multiple times as it reconstructs an analog signal which it sends to your amplifier that drives your speakers. If your DAC isn't set to some multiple of the track's sampling rate, it will introduce some aliasing which might be noticeable as a raised noise floor (though this is extremely unlikely). If your DAC supports an ASIO driver, it is able to change its bit depth and sampling rate to match the incoming track, but Amazon Music doesn't support this feature. OP is correct about Window's Exclusive Mode... all it does it prevent any other sounds from being mixed in with the data stream being sent to your DAC. Tidal's "Exclusive Mode" is not the same as Window's which is where this confusion comes from. In practice, this really doesn't matter to your ears. Why? Because the mastering of a track has a far greater impact on how the track sounds (followed by your speakers). You're unlikely to notice the difference between a 16bit/44.1kHz track and the same one mastered to 24bit/192kHz. And most people won't notice the difference between a 16bit/44.1kHz FLAC track and one that's compressed (i.e. lossy) unless they're listening critically. So, yeah... check your DAC in your Windows Device Manager and set it to 24bit/192khz (or at least 16bit/44.1kHz) and enjoy. More on reddit.com

I have both, and I use Amazon Music much more often. Spotify Connect used to be the big draw for me, but over the last six months, the updates have made it more annoying than useful. Spotify daily mixes are, and have been for years, absolutely useless to me. The same songs, over and over again, just rearranged. If I ask Spotify to just "play music" for me in the hopes of discovery, it just picks a playlist or a radio with either currently charting music or, if it's classic rock, the same hit songs, no deep cuts. I get zero music discovery from Spotify. Amazon Music sound quality is outstanding, the algorithm is consistently playing new music for me, car mode is excellent, Alexa does her thing well, and I'm paying $149/year for an annual family plan on the Unlimited HD tier. Individual annual plans are dirt cheap, and even the monthly plan is a value. The app takes a little adjustment, but once I started digging into it, I really liked it. Streaming through my Echo devices has been excellent, and the features have drastically improved over the last year. Drop your Spotify to the free tier, you won't lose any playlists or anything, and give Amazon Music a try for a few months. I think they still have free trials going, so worst case, you don't spend any money on music streaming for a while. My annual Spotify premium plan is still valid, but I'm not going to renew it. More on reddit.com

As someone who is in the ecosystem (Amazon devices) I still pick Tidal over Amazon. I prefer audio quality and a larger library (based on my experience and taste). I use an audio DAC for Tidal to listen to the best.

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