AXIANT 3 Posted February 9 Share Posted February 9 (edited) Hi, does anyone have one of the new Fire Stick 4K Max devices that was released this past September and know whether or not it still transcodes 7.1 TrueHD audio or not? I am currently using the first generation of the 4K Max released in 2021 and it does not handle TrueHD at all. Freezes constantly but plays fine when I change it to 5.1 sound. I don't want to buy one unless i know for sure. Thank you Edited February 9 by AXIANT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
signde 25 Posted February 9 Share Posted February 9 I have a the second generation 4K Max (2023) and it will bitstream 7.1 TrueHD Atmos to my AVR. The Fire OS audio setting of "Best Available" doesn't seem to work, you need to set it to "Dolby Digital" and then it will do passthrough. It plays fine in Plex, Emby, and Kodi. DTS:X has issues in Plex and Emby but Kodi v20 or better has it working. I'd also recommend quality USB 2.0 ethernet adapter. The fire sticks seem to struggle with even modest bitrate 4K video + high definition audio over a local network on WiFi. SMB read speed performance is particularly bad. I got a Cable Matters OTG adapter on Amazon for like $18. It has made for a very solid playback device after that. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AXIANT 3 Posted February 9 Author Share Posted February 9 (edited) Thanks for the reply. I do have the ethernet adapter for my Fire Stick and I have verified it's working so that we can be sure it's not a bandwidth issue. Does your sound bar or receiver actually say it's playing Atmos with the new Fire Stick 4K Max (2023)? I ask because for mine (2021), if I set my Fire Stick to Dolby Digital, it will play the TrueHD movies fine with the TrueHD sound selected. However, my sound bar reports that it's Dolby Digital sound and not Atmos. If I switch the Fire Stick to Dolby Digital Plus, it will freeze playing TrueHD sound, as well as when it's set to Best Available (which is the only option that says it supports Atmos). EDIT: I'll also add that I don't have any issues playing DTS:X 7.1 content. Edited February 9 by AXIANT 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
signde 25 Posted February 9 Share Posted February 9 Yes, the AVR is receiving full uncompressed lossless TrueHD Dolby Atmos. That's what passthrough means. Here are the results from others if you want to see for yourself. One of the comments is from a fire stick user. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AXIANT 3 Posted February 9 Author Share Posted February 9 thank you again! I'll look into this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke 37091 Posted February 9 Share Posted February 9 Let us know what you find. Thanks. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AXIANT 3 Posted February 17 Author Share Posted February 17 I picked up a new Firestick 4K Max. A few things. TrueHD audio does not get passed through on the "Dolby Digital". The Firestick must be set to "Best Available." TrueHD sound does work now with no picture freezing. So, that's a plus. DTS audio stopped working. Picture does not freeze as it did with TrueHD, but have to switch to some other audio in Emby for any sound to be heard. Disappointing that it doesn't all "just work" unless I'm missing something now for DTS. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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