Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max review: the one to buy

The tech industry has certainly made a lot of noise behind descriptors like “max” over the past few years. So when Amazon announced the Fire TV Stick 4K Max for $ 54.99 last month, I couldn’t help but shy away from the idea of ​​a streaming device taking over that type of branding. What could max mean in this context? It has nothing to do with the physical design; the Fire TV Stick 4K Max is visually indistinguishable from the existing Fire TV Stick 4K. And both products are going tit for tat in their core video and audio streaming functionality, despite the older model often being downsized; At the time of this review, the standard Fire TV Stick 4K is on sale for $ 33.99.

In this case, “max” is actually about the little things. The new stick is 40% more powerful than the standard version, which allows faster launching of applications and significantly smoother navigation without jerks or lags. There’s more RAM inside, so you don’t have to wait for apps to fully reload as often. Amazon upgraded Wi-Fi to Wi-Fi 6 for better wireless streaming performance, assuming you have a router that can take advantage of it. And you also get a new Alexa voice remote in the box with app shortcuts and a handy shortcut for live TV programming.

As I mentioned earlier, the stick itself is indistinguishable from the standard 4K Fire TV Stick. Unfortunately, despite the switch to “max”, Amazon apparently did not see fit to switch to USB-C for plug-in power (required); this device keeps the Micro USB on the side. But getting started is easy: plug the Fire TV Stick 4K Max into a free HDMI port on your TV, find a socket for that USB power adapter, throw the included batteries into the remote, and you’re good to go.

Amazon bundles the latest version of its Alexa voice remote with the new streaming key. Besides the usual play buttons, there are also dedicated TV controls for power and volume. And you’ll also find four branded shortcuts for Prime Video, Netflix, Disney Plus, and Hulu. (These can technically be reprogrammed, but that’s quite a process.) You should always press and hold the Alexa button for voice searches or smart home commands. Speaking of which, a new tip that the Fire TV Stick 4K Max gains over the standard model is the ability to see a live, picture-in-picture view from your home cameras. The Fire TV Cube can do that too, but none of Amazon’s other streaming gadgets.

Another benefit of the new remote is the guide button, which can quickly get you to live TV from supported services that integrate directly with Amazon’s channel guide. These include YouTube TV, Sling TV, Hulu with Live TV, Pluto TV, Tubi, etc. It’s not like the Live TV tab is hard to find on the Fire TV home screen, but I’m always here to save time.

When it comes to their visual capabilities, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max and the Fire TV Stick 4K are basically the same. They both offer Dolby Vision, HDR10 +, HDR10 and HLG. One silent upgrade Amazon has made to the newer hardware is support for AV1 video decoding, which will be good news for YouTube; The AV1 decoding was one of the points of contention in the company’s very public feud with Roku. Amazon’s adoption of the feature should avoid the possibility of a similar litigation.

The sound specifications between Amazon’s two 4K sticks (each supporting Dolby Atmos) are also Assumed be the same, but this is an area where the New Stick is getting ahead because of… Netflix. For some reason, as noted AFTV News, the streaming giant doesn’t support Atmos on the standard Fire TV Stick 4K because it runs an older version of the Fire OS software. Since the new Stick 4K Max ships with the current Fire OS 7, you get the full Atmos experience when watching Netflix. If you have an Atmos soundbar or surround system, that more immersive audio might be enough for you to spend more on the Max.

In keeping with the rest of Amazon’s Fire TV lineup, the Stick 4K Max runs the revised software experience the company rolled out earlier this year with user profiles, a more personalized home screen, and a new “Search” to choose the night’s entertainment. Thanks to its more powerful processor, graphics processor and additional RAM (now 2 GB instead of 1.5 GB), the new stick runs through all corners of the Fire TV operating system. And the apps seemed to load faster than on the standard Stick 4K – and certainly faster than my Chromecast with Google TV.

That said, Amazon remains heavy with banner ads on the home screen and is always a bit too much in your face when promoting its own content. It’s possible to install a different launcher or configure Pi-hole to block some advertising, but it’s a step most consumers will never take. The reality is, it’s just something you have to put up with if you want a high-performance 4K streaming device for under $ 60. If the ads are driving you crazy, the more expensive Apple TV 4K or Nvidia Shield would be smarter choices.

There’s definitely a case to be made that the Fire TV Stick 4K Max should just have replaced the slower Fire TV Stick 4K. Amazon’s lineup is now crowded between the Fire TV Stick Lite, Fire TV Stick, Fire TV Stick 4K, Fire TV Stick 4K Max, and second-gen Fire TV Cube. The Cube stands out well as its own thing, but I can imagine that some people would be very confused when shopping between others. And Amazon cuts these devices down so frequently that you really don’t see a giant price gap between most of them.

So my advice is this: If you want Amazon’s best single 4K streamer, spend a little extra and go for the new Fire TV Stick 4K Max. The speed improvements really make the user experience more satisfying. And even if your home network is not yet working on Wi-Fi 6, you will have some future evidence in this regard. The Fire TV Cube is still more powerful, but if you don’t need hands-free Alexa voice commands, that’s overkill for entertainment.

I’m still not sure if it’s worthy of the Max moniker, but now it’s definitely the Amazon streaming player to buy.

Photograph by Chris Welch / The Verge