Dolby Atmos: Fire TV Stick/Cube vs Nvidia Shield?

by rep32

I've heard depending on the device the amount of content supported in Dolby Atmos varies. I've got a few questions regarding this:

  1. Can anybody explain the differences if there are any?
  2. Does Atmos work with connected Bluetooth headphones?
  3. Is the Cube just a smoother running Stick with hands-free Alexa and Shield slightly more powerful than the Cube with AI upscaling and focus on game streaming?

Thank you!

getupgetgoing

https://support.google.com/chromecast/thread/75520274

If you'll google nvidia shield + atmos you'll get many similar complaints. It's an unfortunate trait of android tv, instability.

latinriky78

There's Dolby Atmos inside Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby Atmos inside Dolby TrueHD.

The former is available in streaming services and in the majority of devices.

The latter is only available in blu-ray discs and it's considered a premium audio codec, which means it's only available in devices where the OEM paid the licence to support it.

To playback the codec, you need to connect your device directly to an AV receiver or soundbar with support, although there's some TVs with support as well. It's not compatible with Bluetooth as far as I know.

BiggussDikkuss

1)) Android TV devices - DD+/Atmos (ie internet Apps streaming Atmos) can be used on a whole bunch of legit certified Android TV devices..... However for Netflix Atmos specifically you need a Dolby Audio licenced Android TV device, so that excludes the 2015/2017 Shields.

Then we get to the Disney+ App = spotty Atmos support on Android TV devices.

DD+/Atmos support is a LOT better on recent Amazon Fire TV & Apple TV devices.

  1. You are not going to get Atmos over Bluetooth with any Android TV device. Further reading:

https://hometheateracademy.com/does-dolby-atmos-work-with-bluetooth-headphones/

  1. The 2019 Fire TV Cube's - AMLogic S922Z chipset has an onboard Neural co-processor so all hands-free-Alexa is much better and quicker (due onboard Neural Voice processing) vs the Fire TV Sticks that have to use the internet connected servers for Voice processing.

As for Android TV / Fire TV performance comparisons see the following....

Android TV benchmarks compared to every Fire TV — 2020 Chromecast, Shield TV, Tivo Stream 4K, and Mi Box:

https://www.aftvnews.com/android-tv-benchmarks-compared-to-every-fire-tv-2020-chromecast-shield-tv-tivo-stream-4k-and-mii-box/

Games streaming really needs an Ethernet connection for reliability and minimal latency.

Both the Shield and 2019 Cube have that. The 2019 Cube including an Ethernet adapter in the Amazon retail box.

getupgetgoing

Example: Disney+ will have Atmos on the Stick and Cube, not on the Shield.