Fire TV Stick 4K Max

[garyh 459]

Anyone tried this for streaming?  I've been a bit unimpressed with streaming since I started it, so very late to the game, about 8 months ago, when I got my new Denon X3700H AVR.

 

Everything is through HEOS with the Denon.  I've read a lot of complaints about the interface but that doesn't bother me so much.  It's the quality of the music - even Ultra HD high bit-rate stuff, on both Amazon Prime and TIDAL.  It just doesn't seem to sound as good as it should.  My CDs almost always sound better - better even than the 192kHz/24 bit stuff.  It's not terrible... I was just expecting better.  I have a superfast internet connection, so no problems there.

 

I don't currently have a PC that I can dedicate to the system for streaming so I was thinking about other, not so expensive, options - and wonder if this Fire Stick might work with my Oppo BDP-105 (also new to me).  If it might give me better results streaming Amazon Music and TIDAL.  

 

Anyone using the Fire Stick?

 

Thanks in advance, Gary

[Buck115 208]

I have a Fire TV Stick 4K and a Fire TV Cube 4K. I use both for streaming movies and music from Amazon and YouTube and they work flawlessly for me. I use the Cube with a Denon AVR-X3500H and the Stick with a Marantz SR5012. The Max appears to be a newer version than I have.

Edited March 19, 2022 by Buck115

[garyh 459]

Thanks.  I'm going to try using the Samsung Smart TV app for Amazon Music too - just found out about that.  But I'd like to compare the two.  Using the Fire Stick attached to my Oppo might give me better results.

[Buck115 208]

This is the hookup that I'm currently using with my Denon AVR-X3500H.

 

[garyh 459]

Well, the Amazon Music app through my Samsung Smart TV (HDMI ARC to AVR) is an epic fail.  It plays alright... but at *literally* 10dB lower in volume.  It'd be fine for background music but if I wanted to crank it up... 

I can't imagine I'm doing anything wrong or have some settings incorrect.  It all looks fine.  If I switch from Bitstream to PCM it gets louder but that's not a solution.

Go figure.

I guess I'll go ahead and get the stick.

[oldtexasdog 2,366]

I use the Stick plugged into my Denon AVR just like Buck115 and it sounds very good. If I’m doing critical listening I use my OPPO or my TT on a specific album in my collection either on CD or vinyl.

[garyh 459]

3 hours ago, oldtexasdog said:

I use the Stick plugged into my Denon AVR just like Buck115 and it sounds very good. If I’m doing critical listening I use my OPPO or my TT on a specific album in my collection either on CD or vinyl.

 

Quick question...  have you guys used Denon's HEOS much for streaming and how would you compare the stick to HEOS?  Any differences?  Thanks, Gary

Edited March 20, 2022 by garyh

[Buck115 208]

@garyhI have avoided using HEOS on both the Denon and Marantz. I prefer to use the FireTV or AppleTV to stream directly into the HDMI inputs of the AVRs.

[garyh 459]

Man!  I just found something.  I can't believe it took me so long to dive deeper, but there it was.  

 

I found a (hopefully) helpful setting?  Looking into the HEOS app a bit further, I found this:

From the HEOS "MUSIC" main screen (where you see all the various possible streaming services) I selected the config/ settings wheel at the top left.

From there, "MY DEVICES."  And then my unit - "Denon AVR-X3700H."   In this menu screen we have four or five fields and an interesting config setting called, "Quality" (of all things).  It was set to "Normal" by default.  The options are "Normal" and "High."

So, naturally, I've now set it to "High."  

 

Why this comes set to "Normal" by default is mystifying.  And just what the differences might be, I'll hopefully soon find out.  (I'm guessing one might set it to normal if they had a busy wireless network?  Who knows).  

 

But my wi-fi speed is nuts fast and push to shove, I can pretty easily run an ethernet cable back there, but I shouldn't need to.  I get over 700Mbps back there on the 5GHz band.  

 

I'll keep you posted.  Thanks for the help guys.  

 

EDIT:  Doing some online research, it looks like this might only apply to HEOS groups - between the shared or linked HEOS devices.  Hell, it was worth a shot and I'll leave it set to High.

Edited March 21, 2022 by garyh

[kappclark 36]

17 hours ago, garyh said:

Well, the Amazon Music app through my Samsung Smart TV (HDMI ARC to AVR) is an epic fail.  It plays alright... but at *literally* 10dB lower in volume.  It'd be fine for background music but if I wanted to crank it up... 

I can't imagine I'm doing anything wrong or have some settings incorrect.  It all looks fine.  If I switch from Bitstream to PCM it gets louder but that's not a solution.

Go figure.

I guess I'll go ahead and get the stick.

I have a Samsung smart tv and have been enjoying Tidal music streaming -- signal comes to the AVR via HDMI ... I was pretty surprised at the quality, so wondering if I even need a squeezebox streamer for downstairs ...