Which Android clients support HD audio?

[ecrispy 23]

Obviously the Shield does. I used to have a 2017 Shield but have sold it.

I've read that the latest Fire Cube 3rd gen and Fire Stick 4K Max both support HD audio bitstreaming. Most of the articles mention Plex and it seems everything definitely works in Kodi.I plan to buy the 4k Max.

Can anyone recommend the best setup? Right now I have an older FireStick4K. I tried to test things with Kodi, tried v20 and 21.

Tried EmbyCon and it has plaback errors on every item. Plus the embuary skin from Kodi store didn't install, I tried the skin from Emby beta repo - Esturary Embycon, and it only showed 2 menu items - movies and tv recently added/in progress, nothing like Embuary screenshots, and it fails to play.

Next I tried to install the latest Emby Next gen 10.x, and it failed to install.

I'd appreciate if someone can tell me how to get a setup that looks like native Emby but gives me full playback on the newer Fire Tv devices. Or does the Emby Android/Ftv client natively support HD audio on these 2 devices, which would be great too.

Edited February 21 by ecrispy

[Luke 37066]

Hi, both Emby android apps support hd audio passthrough.

[ecrispy 23]

51 minutes ago, Luke said:

Hi, both Emby android apps support hd audio passthrough.

Hi Luke, I meant specifically on the new Fire Tv 4K max 2nd gen.

From everything I know the Android clients still use ExoPlayer, correct? and that is still limited. Again I may be wrong.

[rbjtech 4265]

Both Android Emby Clients support HD Audio passthrough (they both use Exo).

The Shield 2019 Pro is still the best emby client - especially for high bitrate 4K Remux DV (all profiles) and HD Audio passthrough if that's your specific requirements.

Edited February 21 by rbjtech

[ecrispy 23]

54 minutes ago, rbjtech said:

Both Android Emby Clients support HD Audio passthrough (they both use Exo).

The Shield 2019 Pro is still the best emby client - especially for high bitrate 4K Remux DV (all profiles) and HD Audio passthrough if that's your specific requirements.

not really answering my question at all. I know Emby on Android supports passthru, hence why it works on the Shield.

I asked about a specific device which many report can now do it. These aren't exactly niche devices, surely someone with Emby has one? Not really sure how I can make my question more clear?

[ecrispy 23]

There seems to be some good news here - 

based on this TrueHD atmos and DTS-HD will work as is, DTS-HD MA can be sent as PCM, not sure about DTS:X. I would also like to hear about support in the 2 different Kodi clients as well as ease of use. 

It would be good if this kind of info could be documented in either the wiki or a sticky about format support per device.

and this is my personal opinion but based on fact, the Shield is too overpriced and limited, it lacks so many things - Wifi 6, HLG HDR, HDR10+, AV1, DV profile 7 - all of which seem to be supported on the Fire Cube 3 which is also cheaper, but may be finicky and not as easy, and Nvidia is a more customer friendly company. Point is that people should be given a cheaper option than a $200 device thats essentially unchanged for a decade.

Edited February 21 by ecrispy

[ebr 14913]

3 hours ago, ecrispy said:

It would be good if this kind of info could be documented in either the wiki or a sticky about format support per device.

Hi.  Our apps support what the underlying device and OS do.  For specifics on what each device does, it is up to the device manufacturers to keep up with that.  We cannot attempt to do that ourselves.

One word of warning on the new fire 4K Max stick, there are known issues with certain DolbyVision formats on that device.  There are topics out here (and all over the internet) about that.

[signde 25]

The last time I tried was a couple of weeks ago but Amazon's official specs list the Firestick 4K Max 2023 as being capable of passthrough of TrueHD and DTS-HD as DTS Core. See previous discussion linked below.

TrueHD passthrough works great in Emby for Android/TV. 

For anything with lossless DTS in Emby I get no audio. The dashboard shows direct play but the AVR isn't getting anything.

Same files on the same device, DTS-HD in Plex passes through as DTS Core.  Kodi passes through full lossless. 

Edit: It looks like from the other thread linked the no Audio issue is due to DTS-HD passthrough being enabled. I had not tried disabling that in the Emby app settings.

Edited February 22 by signde

[ecrispy 23]

21 hours ago, signde said:

The last time I tried was a couple of weeks ago but Amazon's official specs list the Firestick 4K Max 2023 as being capable of passthrough of TrueHD and DTS-HD as DTS Core. See previous discussion linked below.

TrueHD passthrough works great in Emby for Android/TV. 

For anything with lossless DTS in Emby I get no audio. The dashboard shows direct play but the AVR isn't getting anything.

Same files on the same device, DTS-HD in Plex passes through as DTS Core.  Kodi passes through full lossless. 

Edit: It looks like from the other thread linked the no Audio issue is due to DTS-HD passthrough being enabled. I had not tried disabling that in the Emby app settings.

there must be some difference in the way Emby and Plex use ExoPlayer if indeed they both do, because Plex can extract DTS core from DTS-HD and Emby doesn't. I'm guessing it may be the version of the api or libs they use in the client?

If I end up getting this, I can test with the passthru enabled and off.

[signde 25]

IMO it shouldn't be necessary to turn off DTS-HD passthrough in the app, the specs say it is supported.

In that other thread it was mentioned that disabling DTS-HD passthrough in the app will output PCM, not DTS Core. With Plex my AVR lights up "DTS Surround", not PCM.

[Luke 37066]

Hi.  Can you try sideloading our standard android app on the same device and see how that compares?

https://emby.media/emby-for-android.html

Thanks.

 

[ecrispy 23]

2 hours ago, Luke said:

Hi.  Can you try sideloading our standard android app on the same device and see how that compares?

https://emby.media/emby-for-android.html

Thanks.

 

I tried that before on your suggestion for another issue I had. The AndroidTv app will refuse to play any video with AC3 bitrate > 640Kbps, which is perfectly suppported on the device, with an error 'bitrate too high' no matter if I have max or auto or a high value in the settings, whereas the Android app works.

Do the 2 of them use different code for playback i.e. other than using Androids ExoPlayer? 

[Luke 37066]

They both use exoplayer, but our standard android app usually has a newer version of it. That's why it's helpful to know how playback compares with it. Thanks.

[signde 25]

16 hours ago, Luke said:

Hi.  Can you try sideloading our standard android app on the same device and see how that compares?

https://emby.media/emby-for-android.html

Thanks.

 

As of two weeks ago I checked this and the standard android app with the AFTV 4K Max 2023 will not pass through any DTS-HD audio either. It behaves exactly the same as the Android TV app - there is no audio.

I could be wrong here but I highly suspect there is something on the development side that needs to be done to allow this device to pass DTS-HD through as DTS Core.

[ecrispy 23]

1 hour ago, signde said:

As of two weeks ago I checked this and the standard android app with the AFTV 4K Max 2023 will not pass through any DTS-HD audio either. It behaves exactly the same as the Android TV app - there is no audio.

I could be wrong here but I highly suspect there is something on the development side that needs to be done to allow this device to pass DTS-HD through as DTS Core.

I concur. Like Luke said, maybe use the newer ExoPlayer, if thats not a limitation due to Google sdk's? I know this is a niche segment so not sure if these are on the roadmap.

[croaton 7]

Don't buy Amazon Shit, all Amazon Devices will loose to Shield & Xiaomi Mi-Tv 4k Stick, especially the Xiaomi Device is Capable to Play all what you give to eat including av1, and the most benefit is in my Eyes Android 11 and you can all customize so it fits your needs, complete debloating, complete own bootloader, disable all background Apps permantly and no data collector like amazon, i have all amazons trashed and customized the Xiaomi Sticks for Our Needs, and what can i say they runs fast as hell.

cheers

[signde 25]

4 hours ago, croaton said:

Don't buy Amazon Shit, all Amazon Devices will loose to Shield & Xiaomi Mi-Tv 4k Stick, especially the Xiaomi Device is Capable to Play all what you give to eat including av1, and the most benefit is in my Eyes Android 11 and you can all customize so it fits your needs, complete debloating, complete own bootloader, disable all background Apps permantly and no data collector like amazon, i have all amazons trashed and customized the Xiaomi Sticks for Our Needs, and what can i say they runs fast as hell.

cheers

compared to the shield, the AFTV can do AV1, VP09.2, and HDR10+, all of which the shield cannot do.

compared to the mi tv 4k stick, the AFTV can do TrueHD and DTS-HD passthrough, both of which i have read the mi tv stick cannot do.

yes the ads are terrible and amazon is fighting tooth and nail at debloat attempts but i'm aware of no other device on the market today that can handle as many audio and video formats as the latest generation AFTV devices.

android 12 on the SEI devices will probably change that, but it's in very, very early closed alpha / semi open beta right now and it's taking forever.

[ecrispy 23]

The real pity is that Google/Amazon and other US companies refuse to certify Chinese devices - which are FAR superior. They come with nice remotes, great specs and lots of customization. The only limitation is that most of them do not have WideVine DRM certification so they will not be able to use any streaming services with HD etc.

There are some boxes that do get certified like the Homatics/Dune and these are excellent alternatives.

Google Chromecast/FireTv/Roku are fine at the $20-50 price point, they are basically locked down streamers. It doesn't make sense to pay more.

Shield is a special case - it was intended as a gaming device which also happens to stream - because streaming is basically free. No one games on it. Nvidia has a deal with Google which allows them to bypass Android limitations and thus bitstream HD audio, which a TON of other devices can do (basically anything Kodi supports) but are crippled by Android.

FireTv is a dead brand, Amazon plans to kill it and not use Android anymore, they will use in house Linux OS called Vega, even more locked down. But for most consumers, its still a right price point and feature set.

[croaton 7]

On 2/24/2024 at 11:58 PM, signde said:

compared to the shield, the AFTV can do AV1, VP09.2, and HDR10+, all of which the shield cannot do.

compared to the mi tv 4k stick, the AFTV can do TrueHD and DTS-HD passthrough, both of which i have read the mi tv stick cannot do.

yes the ads are terrible and amazon is fighting tooth and nail at debloat attempts but i'm aware of no other device on the market today that can handle as many audio and video formats as the latest generation AFTV devices.

android 12 on the SEI devices will probably change that, but it's in very, very early closed alpha / semi open beta right now and it's taking forever.

Sorry, but i must correct you, The Mi 4k Stick can Handle all of it, AV1, HDR10+ DolbyVision and include TrueHD and DTS-HD passthrough

and the Big Benefit is the own Launcher, no more Tons off Ad's

[signde 25]

9 hours ago, croaton said:

Sorry, but i must correct you, The Mi 4k Stick can Handle all of it, AV1, HDR10+ DolbyVision and include TrueHD and DTS-HD passthrough

and the Big Benefit is the own Launcher, no more Tons off Ad's

My internet searches lead me to believe it does not.
 

The AndroidTV subreddit moderator was the first to comment.

The official spec sheet only lists Dolby Atmos, which comes in two flavors, both Dolby Digital+ and TrueHD.  The comments there are that it only supports the former.

They are also comments that DTS-HD is passed through as DTS Core.

I can't find a single credible result showing that it will passthrough both of those formats.

[croaton 7]

On 2/29/2024 at 8:04 PM, signde said:

My internet searches lead me to believe it does not.
 

The AndroidTV subreddit moderator was the first to comment.

The official spec sheet only lists Dolby Atmos, which comes in two flavors, both Dolby Digital+ and TrueHD.  The comments there are that it only supports the former.

They are also comments that DTS-HD is passed through as DTS Core.

I can't find a single credible result showing that it will passthrough both of those formats.

Trust me i can make a screenshot from the bootloader, it's stated in the booting screen and runs fine, can do also screenshot of playing with statistics for nerds, and believe i know what i'm talking about and it runs very fine

[signde 25]

1 hour ago, croaton said:

Trust me i can make a screenshot from the bootloader, it's stated in the booting screen and runs fine, can do also screenshot of playing with statistics for nerds, and believe i know what i'm talking about and it runs very fine

Yes I'd like to see that.

Don't care what the bootloader says. And not stats for nerds, that will tell you DTS-MA is being direct played AKA the server is not transcoding. We need to see that the AVR is showing it is receiving full DTS-MA, not just DTS Core.

Same for TrueHD. Again Emby can tell you direct play but the device can be decoding the lossless audio into PCM. We need to see the AVR saying it is receiving the full lossless TrueHD track as input. 

The moderators on the AndroidTV subreddit are pretty adamant the Mi devices do not support full passthrough of those two formats.

[croaton 7]

It goes

11 minutes ago, signde said:

Yes I'd like to see that.

Don't care what the bootloader says. And not stats for nerds, that will tell you DTS-MA is being direct played AKA the server is not transcoding. We need to see that the AVR is showing it is receiving full DTS-MA, not just DTS Core.

Same for TrueHD. Again Emby can tell you direct play but the device can be decoding the lossless audio into PCM. We need to see the AVR saying it is receiving the full lossless TrueHD track as input. 

The moderators on the AndroidTV subreddit are pretty adamant the Mi devices do not support full passthrough of those two formats.

It goes directly into a Harman Kardon 7.2 AVR and i don't care what some sorry for my Words Idiots talks on Reddit, most Users are stupid Idiots with Zero Knowledge, for DTS-HD MA and TrueHD you need eARC and not only ARC, and thats one of the Problems there, Zero Knowledge, I've seen so many Post's about Linux Networking that for me as an IT Engineer are absolutly crazy & insane, and if you say something they come with Urban Myth's arround the Corner. Go get the Stick and try it yourself, 60 Bucks is not much for this nice Piece of Hardware.

Edited March 3 by croaton

[signde 25]

39 minutes ago, croaton said:

It goes

It goes directly into a Harman Kardon 7.2 AVR and i don't care what some sorry for my Words Idiots talks on Reddit, most Users are stupid Idiots with Zero Knowledge, for DTS-HD MA and TrueHD you need eARC and not only ARC, and thats one of the Problems there, Zero Knowledge, I've seen so many Post's about Linux Networking that for me as an IT Engineer are absolutly crazy & insane, and if you say something they come with Urban Myth's arround the Corner. Go get the Stick and try it yourself, 60 Bucks is not much for this nice Piece of Hardware.

these are not some random clueless redditors, these are comments from the moderators who are mods because they have above average expertise on the subreddit they mod. 

i asked for proof your AVR / soundbar is getting full lossless audio and am still waiting for it. and again direct play in emby or plex is not evidence of that but i have a sneaking suspicion you thought it was.

i am skeptical here because the capabilities we are discussing would be the holy grail of devices in the android tv world that is widely discussed to not yet exist. if it did everyone would be talking about it, especially in a $60 stick. 

[croaton 7]

44 minutes ago, signde said:

these are not some random clueless redditors, these are comments from the moderators who are mods because they have above average expertise on the subreddit they mod. 

i asked for proof your AVR / soundbar is getting full lossless audio and am still waiting for it. and again direct play in emby or plex is not evidence of that but i have a sneaking suspicion you thought it was.

i am skeptical here because the capabilities we are discussing would be the holy grail of devices in the android tv world that is widely discussed to not yet exist. if it did everyone would be talking about it, especially in a $60 stick. 

First off all Proof is a Harsh Word, but if have Time Tomorrow, will check it out