A child listening to music on headphones. KidStock | Blend Images | Getty Images

Amazon on Tuesday introduced CD-quality 24-bit "Ultra HD" music to Amazon Music. It's $12.99 a month if you pay for Amazon Prime, or $14.99 a month if you don't. In theory, it should sound better than competitors such as Spotify, which don't stream at such a high bit-rate. I decided to give it a try. I downloaded the Amazon Music app, found some songs that were labeled as "Ultra HD" and with 24-bit encoding and compared them with the same song on Spotify. I'm not an audiophile listening with expensive gear. I'm just a regular guy who wants to see if I can notice whether or not the music actually sounds better. Turns out I can't.

I started with "Blue in Green" by Miles Davis, which Amazon Music said was playing back in Ultra HD. Then I played the same song from the same album on Spotify. Listening through a set of wired headphones plugged into my laptop, I couldn't hear a difference. I tried listening closer, moving to separate parts of the songs and playing tiny clips on both services. Still, nothing.