Amazon Just Dropped a Fire TV Soundbar and Two New Fire TV Sticks — Here's Everything You Need to Know
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Yes, Amazon held its annual devices event, and, as expected, the online giant unveiled a barrage of new gadgets. Three of the most exciting though live under the Fire TV umbrella: the Fire TV Soundbar, Fire TV Stick 4K, and Fire TV Stick 4K Max.
While the last two are pretty much iterative improvements that focus on speeding things up, the Fire TV Soundbar is an entirely new product and an Amazon first. Alongside the hardware, Amazon previewed improved search and a new row that will roll out to existing Fire TV devices in the coming months.
In typical Amazon fashion, all of these are up for order now, and ahead, I’m sharing my early impressions on this trio of new Fire TV tech.
Fire TV Soundbar: What You Need to Know
Unlike other soundbars, the Fire TV Soundbar isn’t trying to do everything. It’s super compact at just 24 inches in length and only comes in an unassuming shade of black with four buttons and three ports on the rear. It’s also designed to level up the audio experience on a Fire TV television or any television with a Fire TV Stick or Fire TV Cube connected.
Amazon is also promising a seamless, headache-free setup when using it with another Fire TV device. The soundbar should be smart enough to do most of the heavy lifting and be a simple integration. You can even use the Fire TV remote to control the whole experience. I didn’t get to test that today, but I heard it blast in a crowded demo room.
A pair of speakers will fire out the front to power the audio setup internally internally. It packed some oomph and sounded good, but it remains to be seen just how high-quality the sound is. Amazon notes that it should improve voice clarity and establish a wider soundstage. The Fire TV Soundbar even supports DTS:X and Dolby Audio standards; you can also connect it to Bluetooth for playback from another device.
I’m eager to put all of this to the test, and I won’t have to wait long as it is shipping today. Amazon’s Fire TV Soundbar is priced incredibly competitively at just $120, and Prime members score free shipping. So, if you currently use a Fire TV streaming stick or cube with a TV or have a Fire TV television and want better sound, the Fire TV Soundbar is poised to be the easiest to use and significantly undercuts the competition.
Fire TV Stick 4K: What You Need to Know
While the Fire TV Soundbar is an entirely new product for Amazon, the Fire TV Stick 4K’s upgrades are all about making a great streaming stick even better. It’s sticking with a form factor that will plug directly into your TV's HDMI port, albeit with a bit more rounded corners.
Under the hood, it features a new processor that should speed up navigating the Fire TV interface and enable you to open your desired streaming service to watch content sooner. While the previous generation did stream content at up to 4K, the new Fire TV Stick 4K supports Dolby Vision and HDR10+.
It still comes in the box with an Alexa Voice Remote that can also control your TV, and it’s priced at just $50. You can preorder the new Fire TV Stick 4K now, and it will begin shipping on September 27.
Fire TV Stick 4K Max: What You Need to Know
Like the Fire TV Stick 4K, the new Fire TV Stick 4K Max takes a working formula and speeds things up. It gets a faster processor and supports HDR10+ and Dolby Vision visual standards. Another key change, though, is support for Wi-Fi 6E, and Amazon says this is the first streaming stick to support the network standard.
Considering that the previous Fire TV Stick 4K Max was pretty lightning fast, I expect applications to open nearly instantly and for navigating the Fire TV interface to be pretty fluid. If you use this for gaming via Amazon Luna, it should also be up to the task. It still features 16GB of storage, so you'll have plenty of room for storing apps and double that of a regular Fire TV Stick.
The improved search functionality, in which you can ask Alexa in a conversational way for movie recommendations or content that features the person who played something on another TV show, will be front and center on the Fire TV Stick 4K Max. That will also arrive on the Fire TV Stick 4K and countless other Fire TV devices.
Amazon’s taking orders for the Fire TV Stick 4K Max, which is still $60, and it begins shipping on September 27.
Prices are accurate and items in stock at time of publishing.