The Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K and the 3rd-gen Fire TV Stick now support streaming music through Amazon Music HD at up to a 24 bit depth and a 192 kHz sample rate. Previously, the only Fire TV model that was capable of streaming the higher quality music was the 2nd-gen Fire TV Cube.
To stream at the improved quality, you need to have the latest version of the Amazon Music app installed, which is v3.3.581, and you need to manually enable HD audio within the app’s settings menu which can be accessed through the user icon in the upper right corner. Of course, you also need to have an Amazon Music HD subscription.
For the Fire TV Stick 4k, the device needs to be running Fire OS version 6.2.7.7 or greater and for the Fire TV Stick 3, the device needs to be running Fire OS version 7.2.2.3 or greater. Check for updates to both the OS and the Amazon Music app under Settings > My Fire TV > About. It’s unknown if other Fire TV models, such as the Fire TV Stick Lite, are also gaining support for the enhanced audio quality.
@AFTVnews
Thanks for picking up on this. Do you know if usb audio can be enabled on the Cube?
I have the stick 4k latest version and plays 192khz but only at 16 bits, no 24 bits
Edit, after activating ultra hd audio in the app it plays at 24 bits perfectly
Yeah, the body of the text should say to enable UHD, you need to toggle the switch in settings. It’s the OS and app updates that enable support of the higher sample rates and introduce the switch.
And for clarification, the Fire TV devices will support up to the resolution of the device they’re plugged into – if it doesn’t support up to 24/192, the tracks won’t play back at that resolution
Janvier, what are you plugging the firestick into?
I have an Onkyo TX-RZ720 connected to stick 4k and a Onkyo TX-L20D connected to a 3rd generation Fire stick. Both play ultra HD up to 24-192k. I also have an older basic fire stick but only plays 16b-48k.
I’m having the same issue as Javier. I updated OS and app, toggled to Ultra HD but it plays 16bit up to 192, not 24bit, despite being connected to a device with 24 bit capability. I tried restarting Fire TV 4k. No change.
Any suggestions?
Are you on FireOS 6.2.7.7 on the 4K stick, as well as 3.3.581 of the Amazon music app? Both are needed to get 24/192.
David, it doesn’t work 24 bit by default. You need to enable ultra HD audio in the Amazon Music app setting. If you have the latest version of the app v3.3.581 the ultra hd option will show next to app version in the settings. Hope that helps!
I’m running v3.3.581 and don’t see an “ultra HD option” shown next to the app version in the settings. I have the same problem as David. It’d sure be nice to know where the bottleneck is since it doesn’t seem to be on Amazon’s side of things.
I took some pictures of the 4k stick
https://i.postimg.cc/DZxhT9f7/IMG-20201230-095202.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/3N6Hy2D6/IMG-20201230-100147.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/cC6S4F6w/IMG-20201230-100227.jpg
As far as I know this works with the Fire stick 4K and fire stick 3rd generation with the latest versions of both Fire OS and Amazon Music app. I also have the stick basic edition and I can confirm that it is not capable of playing ultra HD audio.
I’m having the same problem with a Denon 4500 which can handle 192/24 inputs. I’ve checked and have the correct versions and have enabled HD music in the Music HD settings, however I can only get 192/16 playback.
I tried restarting the Firestick with no effect.
I’ve taken the same steps as you with my Denon 3500 with the same results.
Help! Both Firestick 4K and app have appropriate updates listed above running HDMI ARC to Klipsch Fives which are 24bit/192 capable. Insignia TV- tried both “pass through” and stereo PCM setting and still get “device capability “listed as 16/44 when playing HD and Ultra HDtracks— app setting is set to “Ultra”
Is the TV the bottleneck “device”?? Thanks !
Same for me – my cube goes straight into my amp and shows 24/192, while my 4K fire stick plugged into my year old Samsung Tv shows 16/48.
I’m curious how one “carries” 24-94;or 24-192 to your DAC from a firestick? Toslink can’t carry that stream. Directly into a reciever with hdmi input? Your receiver is doing the conversion?
Thanks for your insight.
Well, given the fire stick only has an hdmi connection, yes it’s directly into my receiver with hdmi input. Also, coax and optical can now carry 24/192
I have a Denon AVR-S750H and am not getting 24/192 from Fire Stick Gen 3.
I submitted a help ticket to Denon North America. After a couple of weeks of back and forth, this is their response. The ticket says “completed” now so I am unsure if it is in Amazon’s or Denon’s court to finally resolve:
“Good news. My Engineering team confirmed the issue with their 4K Firestick and an LG panel. They also tested with a Sony KJ-55A9F and got the same result. They confirmed that the TV’s EDID is causing the Firestick to not detect and output the proper bit rate info when going through the AVR. As I mentioned previously, this has to do with the EDID negotiation between the display, AVR and Firestick.
At this point, they’re going to investigate further to see what can be done. My guess is, if we can address it in the AVR with firmware a fix would be released during the next firmware cycle in a few months…
… EDID (Extended Display Identification Data) is info that the TV spits out every 3 seconds to the other devices. It typically includes model info, resolution info, which audio codecs it can handle, etc. The Firestick (and other sources) need to negotiate (authenticate) this data from the TV every 3 seconds. The data can be altered or lost when going through an *HDMI repeating device like an AVR, so the Firestick then can’t authenticate all the data properly. *HDMI repeating device is any device that accepts HDMI audio and video. It then strips the audio for processing and repeats the video out to the display. Usually the source or TV manufacturer has to address this with firmware, but my Engineering team is looking into what can be done from our standpoint.
Thanks,
Denon NA
I had a similar problem with my new Firestick. However once I started using Denon’s HEOS app to play/open Amazon HD tracks (instead of playing tracks using only the on-screen Firestick app), that it immediately began playing tracks at the highest resolutions. At 24 bit etc.
Yeah, but that has an abysmal interface and you can’t access your library nor personal playlists. The search doesn’t even find everything that you can clearly see on the Amazon music app.
That’s very interesting. It clearly says that the Firestick is the problem, not the Denon and not Amazon Music HD.
Unfortunately, as Brantome points out, the HEOS interface is pathetic.