This is a fast review of the Amazon Fire TV 4K Max streaming stick.
This is my 3rd Fire TV stick I’ve owned, the last one being a Fire TV stick 4K, the model just under this new “Max” version. While the “Max” is not a huge upgrade over my 2 year old “4K” stick, it does actually feel “snappier”, more responsive and a bit faster generally everywhere. So it feels like an improvement and my impression is it was worth the price I got it for on sale ($35 during one of Amazon’s periodic sales, around Black Friday and other times). The regular price is $55 so just wait if you can for getting this sale, which Amazon generally has a few times a year.
This “Max” stick is certainly a bit snappier for one thing, and simply clicking through the Home screen or Apps feels a bit faster; and even this slight speed up is a noticeable improvement in responsiveness, as this “4K Max” stick has a better processor. It also seems brighter if I just compare my older stick on say the Home screen doing an A/B comparison. So I have a feeling it is brighter displaying content. Not too mention it has WIFI6, even though my router does not now, I’m sure my next router will. It seems to have better wifi signal even with my current router compared to my older “4K stick”
Another benefit is I found is this new stick actually has a SETTING that my older stick doesnt have, and which for me at least is a major benefit. My TV is a Sony which is a few years old. Its picture is super for 4K content, however not with HDR. My Sony does not handle all HDR consistently well, which is annoying.
Then I discovered an HDR setting that this 4K Max stick has which my older 4K stick did not. This one has “Disable HDR” as an option.
Now with HDR disabled, for me this setting is actually better and might be for you depending how new your TV is and how well your TV handles HDR content. I turned on “Disable HDR” instead of using “Adaptive”. I have found with “HDR disabled” everything looks equally great using SD/4K/HD/Ultra HD. Why? Different streaming services use different “flavors” of HDR (regular HDR, HDR+, Dolby Vision, etc) So for me personally with my current set, disabling HDR is just easier to make everything look fine in 4K without HDR. You will find this setting in DISPLAY AND SOUND under DYNAMIC RANGE SETTING.
