Verdict
The best streaming stick Amazon has produced so far, with a top tier AV specs, excellent streaming and a speedy interface. But the Fire TV Stick 4K Max 2024 is not the best value at its RRP, at least not for UK customers
Pros
- Speedy performance
- Excellent streaming
- Huge app selection
- All HDR formats supported
Cons
- Expensive for a streaming stick
- Fastes performance is with Wi-Fi 6E router
- No High-Res audio support
- Favours Prime content at the expense of others
-
HDRSupports HDR10, HLG, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision -
Fire TV Ambient ExperienceWhen idle, turns the display into a screensaver -
Storage16GB storage is double that of other Fire TV Sticks
Introduction
The streaming TV market is not short of choice, and with the Amazon Fire TV Stick Max 4K 2024 we have another to add to the glut of options.
Arriving less than two years after the original Fire TV 4K Max, its predecessor was the most powerful and fastest model to come out of the Fire TV Stick stable, and as you can probably guess, this new model is even more powerful and faster.
This has its benefits, but at the same time, to get the best from the new 4K Max, you may need to upgrade your home Wi-Fi kit.
Design
- Tweaked appearance
- Sustainable packaging
- HDMI extender included
When it comes to the design, it’s often the section that feels the least pertinent to a streaming stick considering it’ll spend its time in the shadow of your TV. However, Amazon has made changes, small and minor though they are.
The Fire TV Stick 4K Max 2024 gen is no longer a rectangle with straight edges but a rectangle with curved edges. I think that still makes it a rectangle, but if you want to be charitable, perhaps it could be considered a ‘stadium’.
It also feels as if it weighs less even if it’s about the same, while the surface has a slightly smoother finish, and the new model is a fraction shorter. You still get an HDMI extender to extract it from tight places and a USB cable that can be attached to a plug for power, or you can plug it directly into the TV’s USB ports. The former is a surer bet – you can never rely on a TV’s USB port for power.
In terms of sustainability, Amazon says that 99% of the packaging is sourced from wood-fibre based materials from “responsibly managed forests or recycled sources”.
Operating System
- FireOS 8
- Huge amount of apps
- New games section
The Fire TV Stick 4K Max 2024 Gen comes with the standard Alexa remote, though compared to the previous gen, the remote this version is bigger and has more buttons. There’s the iconic Alexa button at the top, followed by a circular d-pad for navigation along with the usual playback and navigation buttons. There’s a dedicated button for flicking through channels, a settings button and a ‘Recents’ button that can flick between the last two apps or channels.
The Disney+ quick access button has been cast out for an apps button. Still, this is the same clicky, responsive control that makes for a snappy experience travelling through the Fire TV interface, especially with the bump in processing speed.
I’ve always liked Amazon’s Fire TV remotes and this is more of the same. It also supports the Alexa Voice Remote Pro, but that’s an optional extra.
The FireOS 8 interface hasn’t changed much from the last Fire TV review I did, the interface remains singular in its focus on all things Amazon. It would be nice if Amazon could tip its hat towards giving other services more prominence.
The iPlayer row is at least towards the top of the screen, but ITVX was 19 rows down and Channel 4 34. All it does is encourage scrolling, which causes more indecision. Even the ‘Continue Watching’ row only keeps track of Prime Video, not other services.
You might argue that films and TV series could be found through the ads (you’d be correct) or by clicking on titles in the genre-focused rows (also right), but the issue is that the Fire TV interface never makes it clear which service it is on until you land on the tile. Irrespective of that, a hefty chunk of the content on the home page directs you to Prime Video or Freevee. Sky’s Entertainment OS, available on Sky Glass and Sky Stream, and the Roku OS are more democratic.
Head to the top of the home screen and you’ll find your profile (Fire TV allows for up to six) a new Games section, search, live TV and ‘My Stuff’ shortcuts. My Stuff is where you find all the films and TV series on Prime Video. The Live tab has a selection of FAST channels that you can watch for free, and it now features live content from the ITV channels.
The group of squares with a “+” is where you’ll find your apps, and Fire TV has plenty of them from video (Netflix, Disney+, Now, Apple TV+) to sports (UFC, NFL, Eurosport) and music (Spotify, BBC Sounds).
There aren’t as many ads as you might think (some would say there should be none), and what apps there are don’t encroach on the user experience. You can’t, however, turn the ads off.
Set-up takes a while with plenty of updates to get through before you get started, which slows things down. Presumably though, if you link the stick to your account during the purchase process, that should speed everything up as soon as the Fire TV Stick 4K Max 2024 is plugged in.
Features
- All HDR formats supported
- Fire TV Ambient Experience
- 16GB storage
The latest Fire TV 4K Max is 10% faster than the previous one, and factor in its Wi-Fi 6E support it should be a slick and faster streaming experience. To benefit from the fastest streaming speeds you’ll need a compatible router.
AV support equates to Dolby Vision HDR, HDR10, HLG, and HDR10+ (as well as the AV1 codec) on the picture side, with two-channel audio, 5.1 and Dolby Atmos on the sound side. If you’ve got two Amazon Echo Studio devices and an Amazon subwoofer, you can create an Alexa Home Theatre system to replace a soundbar.
Storage has doubled to 16GB to download apps, and with the Auto Offload feature, the Fire TV stick can “partially” remove apps that haven’t been used for 60 days when storage space is at a premium. Cloud storage is free for any digital content purchased from Amazon.
This streaming stick is also the first to support the Fire TV Ambient Experience that was previously available on the Fire TV Omni QLED. You can have a gallery of pictures showing (even your own pics) and have widgets on the screen that’ll show details of your Ring thermostat, for example, or the last track played on Spotify.
As this is an Amazon-centric product, there’s access to smart home features where you can control cameras, lights etc, and then of course there’s Alexa, who is the best and fastest way to traverse the Fire TV interface as long as you know what you’re looking for.
And even if you don’t, the Fire TV interface is constantly plugging away with suggestions of what to do.
Performance
- Performance mirrors previous stick
- No High-res audio support
- Fast performance
Is the Fire TV Stick 4K Max II a better streamer than the previous model, at least in terms of its performance? When it comes to picture quality there’s virtually no difference. A stream of (sadly cancelled) Amazon series The Peripheral offers high levels of detail on characters’ faces, clothing, and the environment at large. The streams are practically identical.
The same goes for an HD stream of Mr Robot (season 3) on ITVX. I watch an interrogation scene that’s given a few streamers in the past issues in terms of banding (stripey colours) and compression artefacts, and the latest Fire TV Stick Max sails through without issue. Again, the picture performance is virtually identical.
Next up is an iPlayer stream of Cyrano (2021) in SD, and it’s a struggle to see any clear differences. There’s the obvious drop in resolution, clarity, and detail from HD with both streamers – edges are softer but overall the performance is similar if not the same.
It’s the same theme on the audio front. Most of the content I play through a Hisense soundbar system sounds very similar in terms of clarity and tone – the only small note that I pick up when streaming The Matrix Resurrections (Netflix, Dolby Atmos) is that the now discontinued Fire TV Stick sounds a little weightier, sound effects in action scenes have slightly more heft and loudness too.
A play of Raye’s Genesis via Tidal (Dolby Atmos) and nothing appears to have changed in terms of playback – which equates to a fine, competent performance. Annoyingly, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max II is still only capable of playing Amazon Music streams at 16-bit/44.1kHz, which is an own goal considering Amazon Music HD supports tracks up to 24-bit/44.1kHz.
What you will see is an improvement in is the processing – scrolling through titles and the homepage is fluid and faster – as is the speed of Alexa’s responses. Search for something and it’ll pop up quicker on the new Fire TV Max than on the old one. It’s Speedy Gonzales fast to the point where it’s questionable whether it needs to be much faster. Although the Fire TV Stick 4K Max is future-proofed for Wi-Fi 6E routers I wouldn’t rush out to buy one – it’s quick enough on current routers as is.
Latest deals
Should you buy it?
If you’re upgrading from an older model
If you haven’t upgraded for several years then this current iteration of the Fire TV Stick series offers the fastest performance and the best A/V quality currently available
It’s a little expensive
The best streaming stick Amazon makes, but the Fire TV Stick 4K Max 2024 isn’t the best value, at least not for UK customers.
Final Thoughts
For UK users the Fire TV Stick 4K Max 2024 has gone up by an extra £15 (only a $5 increase in the US). The picture and sound performance are pretty much the same, the addition of the Fire TV Experience is nice, but not essential, while the improvements in speed, processing, and storage are handy but not really worth the jump in price. You can get the Fire TV Stick 4K for £59.99.
If coming from an older Fire TV Stick then the Fire TV Stick 4K Max II is a worthy upgrade – it’s the best streaming stick Amazon has produced. If you have a more recent one perhaps hold off unless there’s “too good to be true” discount during one Prime Day or Black Friday.
To see what other Amazon Fire TV products are available, have a look at our best Fire TV list for more options.
How we test
We test every video streamer we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry-standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Tested across several months
Tested with real world use
FAQs
The 2024 streamer is faster, offers more storage, and supports the Fire TV Ambient Experience.
Verdict
The best streaming stick Amazon has produced so far, with a top tier AV specs, excellent streaming and a speedy interface. But the Fire TV Stick 4K Max 2024 is not the best value at its RRP, at least not for UK customers
Pros
- Speedy performance
- Excellent streaming
- Huge app selection
- All HDR formats supported
Cons
- Expensive for a streaming stick
- Fastes performance is with Wi-Fi 6E router
- No High-Res audio support
- Favours Prime content at the expense of others
-
HDRSupports HDR10, HLG, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision -
Fire TV Ambient ExperienceWhen idle, turns the display into a screensaver -
Storage16GB storage is double that of other Fire TV Sticks
Introduction
The streaming TV market is not short of choice, and with the Amazon Fire TV Stick Max 4K 2024 we have another to add to the glut of options.
Arriving less than two years after the original Fire TV 4K Max, its predecessor was the most powerful and fastest model to come out of the Fire TV Stick stable, and as you can probably guess, this new model is even more powerful and faster.
This has its benefits, but at the same time, to get the best from the new 4K Max, you may need to upgrade your home Wi-Fi kit.
Design
- Tweaked appearance
- Sustainable packaging
- HDMI extender included
When it comes to the design, it’s often the section that feels the least pertinent to a streaming stick considering it’ll spend its time in the shadow of your TV. However, Amazon has made changes, small and minor though they are.
The Fire TV Stick 4K Max 2024 gen is no longer a rectangle with straight edges but a rectangle with curved edges. I think that still makes it a rectangle, but if you want to be charitable, perhaps it could be considered a ‘stadium’.
It also feels as if it weighs less even if it’s about the same, while the surface has a slightly smoother finish, and the new model is a fraction shorter. You still get an HDMI extender to extract it from tight places and a USB cable that can be attached to a plug for power, or you can plug it directly into the TV’s USB ports. The former is a surer bet – you can never rely on a TV’s USB port for power.
In terms of sustainability, Amazon says that 99% of the packaging is sourced from wood-fibre based materials from “responsibly managed forests or recycled sources”.
Operating System
- FireOS 8
- Huge amount of apps
- New games section
The Fire TV Stick 4K Max 2024 Gen comes with the standard Alexa remote, though compared to the previous gen, the remote this version is bigger and has more buttons. There’s the iconic Alexa button at the top, followed by a circular d-pad for navigation along with the usual playback and navigation buttons. There’s a dedicated button for flicking through channels, a settings button and a ‘Recents’ button that can flick between the last two apps or channels.
The Disney+ quick access button has been cast out for an apps button. Still, this is the same clicky, responsive control that makes for a snappy experience travelling through the Fire TV interface, especially with the bump in processing speed.
I’ve always liked Amazon’s Fire TV remotes and this is more of the same. It also supports the Alexa Voice Remote Pro, but that’s an optional extra.
The FireOS 8 interface hasn’t changed much from the last Fire TV review I did, the interface remains singular in its focus on all things Amazon. It would be nice if Amazon could tip its hat towards giving other services more prominence.
The iPlayer row is at least towards the top of the screen, but ITVX was 19 rows down and Channel 4 34. All it does is encourage scrolling, which causes more indecision. Even the ‘Continue Watching’ row only keeps track of Prime Video, not other services.
You might argue that films and TV series could be found through the ads (you’d be correct) or by clicking on titles in the genre-focused rows (also right), but the issue is that the Fire TV interface never makes it clear which service it is on until you land on the tile. Irrespective of that, a hefty chunk of the content on the home page directs you to Prime Video or Freevee. Sky’s Entertainment OS, available on Sky Glass and Sky Stream, and the Roku OS are more democratic.
Head to the top of the home screen and you’ll find your profile (Fire TV allows for up to six) a new Games section, search, live TV and ‘My Stuff’ shortcuts. My Stuff is where you find all the films and TV series on Prime Video. The Live tab has a selection of FAST channels that you can watch for free, and it now features live content from the ITV channels.
The group of squares with a “+” is where you’ll find your apps, and Fire TV has plenty of them from video (Netflix, Disney+, Now, Apple TV+) to sports (UFC, NFL, Eurosport) and music (Spotify, BBC Sounds).
There aren’t as many ads as you might think (some would say there should be none), and what apps there are don’t encroach on the user experience. You can’t, however, turn the ads off.
Set-up takes a while with plenty of updates to get through before you get started, which slows things down. Presumably though, if you link the stick to your account during the purchase process, that should speed everything up as soon as the Fire TV Stick 4K Max 2024 is plugged in.
Features
- All HDR formats supported
- Fire TV Ambient Experience
- 16GB storage
The latest Fire TV 4K Max is 10% faster than the previous one, and factor in its Wi-Fi 6E support it should be a slick and faster streaming experience. To benefit from the fastest streaming speeds you’ll need a compatible router.
AV support equates to Dolby Vision HDR, HDR10, HLG, and HDR10+ (as well as the AV1 codec) on the picture side, with two-channel audio, 5.1 and Dolby Atmos on the sound side. If you’ve got two Amazon Echo Studio devices and an Amazon subwoofer, you can create an Alexa Home Theatre system to replace a soundbar.
Storage has doubled to 16GB to download apps, and with the Auto Offload feature, the Fire TV stick can “partially” remove apps that haven’t been used for 60 days when storage space is at a premium. Cloud storage is free for any digital content purchased from Amazon.
This streaming stick is also the first to support the Fire TV Ambient Experience that was previously available on the Fire TV Omni QLED. You can have a gallery of pictures showing (even your own pics) and have widgets on the screen that’ll show details of your Ring thermostat, for example, or the last track played on Spotify.
As this is an Amazon-centric product, there’s access to smart home features where you can control cameras, lights etc, and then of course there’s Alexa, who is the best and fastest way to traverse the Fire TV interface as long as you know what you’re looking for.
And even if you don’t, the Fire TV interface is constantly plugging away with suggestions of what to do.
Performance
- Performance mirrors previous stick
- No High-res audio support
- Fast performance
Is the Fire TV Stick 4K Max II a better streamer than the previous model, at least in terms of its performance? When it comes to picture quality there’s virtually no difference. A stream of (sadly cancelled) Amazon series The Peripheral offers high levels of detail on characters’ faces, clothing, and the environment at large. The streams are practically identical.
The same goes for an HD stream of Mr Robot (season 3) on ITVX. I watch an interrogation scene that’s given a few streamers in the past issues in terms of banding (stripey colours) and compression artefacts, and the latest Fire TV Stick Max sails through without issue. Again, the picture performance is virtually identical.
Next up is an iPlayer stream of Cyrano (2021) in SD, and it’s a struggle to see any clear differences. There’s the obvious drop in resolution, clarity, and detail from HD with both streamers – edges are softer but overall the performance is similar if not the same.
It’s the same theme on the audio front. Most of the content I play through a Hisense soundbar system sounds very similar in terms of clarity and tone – the only small note that I pick up when streaming The Matrix Resurrections (Netflix, Dolby Atmos) is that the now discontinued Fire TV Stick sounds a little weightier, sound effects in action scenes have slightly more heft and loudness too.
A play of Raye’s Genesis via Tidal (Dolby Atmos) and nothing appears to have changed in terms of playback – which equates to a fine, competent performance. Annoyingly, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max II is still only capable of playing Amazon Music streams at 16-bit/44.1kHz, which is an own goal considering Amazon Music HD supports tracks up to 24-bit/44.1kHz.
What you will see is an improvement in is the processing – scrolling through titles and the homepage is fluid and faster – as is the speed of Alexa’s responses. Search for something and it’ll pop up quicker on the new Fire TV Max than on the old one. It’s Speedy Gonzales fast to the point where it’s questionable whether it needs to be much faster. Although the Fire TV Stick 4K Max is future-proofed for Wi-Fi 6E routers I wouldn’t rush out to buy one – it’s quick enough on current routers as is.
Latest deals
Should you buy it?
If you’re upgrading from an older model
If you haven’t upgraded for several years then this current iteration of the Fire TV Stick series offers the fastest performance and the best A/V quality currently available
It’s a little expensive
The best streaming stick Amazon makes, but the Fire TV Stick 4K Max 2024 isn’t the best value, at least not for UK customers.
Final Thoughts
For UK users the Fire TV Stick 4K Max 2024 has gone up by an extra £15 (only a $5 increase in the US). The picture and sound performance are pretty much the same, the addition of the Fire TV Experience is nice, but not essential, while the improvements in speed, processing, and storage are handy but not really worth the jump in price. You can get the Fire TV Stick 4K for £59.99.
If coming from an older Fire TV Stick then the Fire TV Stick 4K Max II is a worthy upgrade – it’s the best streaming stick Amazon has produced. If you have a more recent one perhaps hold off unless there’s “too good to be true” discount during one Prime Day or Black Friday.
To see what other Amazon Fire TV products are available, have a look at our best Fire TV list for more options.
How we test
We test every video streamer we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry-standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Tested across several months
Tested with real world use
FAQs
The 2024 streamer is faster, offers more storage, and supports the Fire TV Ambient Experience.
