Low volume produced by Amazon Music App on Amazon Fire TV Stick

[lc6]

So is there a way to boost the signal, that I can do? Who knows If Amazon will fix it, or when ?

The simplest "boost" is to crank up the volume control on the AVR. But that typically also changes loudness compensation, meaning that bass and treble will not be pronounced as much as with the correct level signal from the Amazon Stick / Cube. So the sound may be perceived as "flatter" and less attractive.
On my AVR, when streaming movies from Amazon Prime Video, I typically keep the volume at -34 dB to -28 dB; with the current Amazon Music app, I have to crank it up to, -22 dB to -16 dB to achieve a comparable perceived volume.

Some AVRs, e.g. the Yamaha Aventage series, support configuration of custom amplification/attenuation in the +/-6 dB range per input port. So if you use the Stick / Cube only with the Amazon Music app, then assigning a boost of +6 dB to the Stick's / Cube's HDMI port might help a bit (it seems that the app's signal is down by 12 dB or so). But if you also use any other apps on the Stick / Cube, e.g. Amazon Prime Video or other streaming services, then every time you switch between Amazon Music and those other apps, you would need to reconfigure this custom setting. Which would be painful.

Another way of thinking about the loss of digital resolution due to this bug in Amazon Music app: Suppose you are tuning to a weak AM station, so the audio has a fair amount of noise. If you try to compensate for the low volume by boosting the signal, you will also boost the noise.

 

[acampero]

Does anyone have an update on this "bug" that's present. I currently am using my Cube to stream Amazon music and the volume is still painfully low. I've tried using MusicCast and HEOS as well as my Wiim but I don't care for those interfaces and having to use a tablet to stream my music. The audio being so low has cause me to blow out my ears on one occasion when I switched input on my RX-V6A. Don't want to do that again.

Off to check out TIDAL and see if I get better user experience.

 

[lc6]

Does anyone have an update on this "bug" that's present. I currently am using my Cube to stream Amazon music and the volume is still painfully low. I've tried using MusicCast and HEOS as well as my Wiim but I don't care for those interfaces and having to use a tablet to stream my music. The audio being so low has cause me to blow out my ears on one occasion when I switched input on my RX-V6A. Don't want to do that again.

Off to check out TIDAL and see if I get better user experience.

I do not see any fix for the low volume bug in the latest Amazon Music App v. 3.4.856.0 on the Fire TV Stick 4k Max. The only thing it added was the long-requested streaming of music in Dolby Atmos to non-Amazon devices, i.e. Atmos-capable AVRs. So we have to keep complaining to Amazon and maybe they will eventually fix it.

 

[lc6]

Boosting the signal will boost noise as well. See my previous posts on this thread.

A response in a chat with Amazon support just now:
"I can see there is a known issue with this and our team is working on it and I can only take your feedback on this and share it with them"

I also spoke with a supervisor who promised to call me with an update back in 1-2 days. I referred them to this discussion.

 

[JATC]

It's so frustrating,I loved using the app through my Firestick. I hope they fix it soon.

 

[tnbw810]

I'm having this problem as well. I can turn my JBL bar 1000 up all the way and don't get anywhere near Max volume. Very upsetting! But those clicks from the remote button pushes sure are loud!‍ Does anyone on here have a Amazon service/case number that we could all use to reference to get them to move a little quicker on this?

 

[lc6]

Unfortunately, I did not ask Amazon support for the case number. They said they would get back to me by April 26, but they did not. I will have to call them again and get through at least four people before they connect me to someone technically competent enough to understand what the issue is.

Meanwhile, the largest volume difference between apps I noticed: When streaming "The Guardian" using Amazon Prime Video app, I keep the volume at -36 dB or so on my AVR (that show is an exception; I typically play other ones at -28 to -30 dB). But for a comparable volume when using Amazon Music app in the exact same setup (stereo or Atmos tracks), I have to go to -20 dB or higher. That tells me that the digital full scale is far from being reached on the Music app. Hence the poor quality sound when I crank up the AVR volume to compensate. And, yes, those clicks are like little explosions compared to the average music volume.

 

[FunThings]

I just discovered that songs play at the proper volume when casting from the Android app to the Firestick, but that has its own mess of bugs (trying to play any Atmos track crashes the Firestick app, but maybe you'll have more luck).

 

[Slee_Stack]

I've come across the worst Atmos album yet for volume: Daft Punk 10th Ann RAM...

I have to peg my receiver at MAX (75) and its still can't play at a resptectable (not ear-splitting) level. Its crazy.

Why is this so broken?!?

 

[lc6]

I've come across the worst Atmos album yet for volume: Daft Punk 10th Ann RAM...

I have to peg my receiver at MAX (75) and its still can't play at a resptectable (not ear-splitting) level. Its crazy.

Why is this so broken?!?

There does not seem to be any technical reason for this, as there is plenty of headroom before the digital full scale is reached. On the same Stick/Cube, start the Amazon Prime Video app and note the high level of the undistorted opening sound. Or play the Dolby Atmos test clip (on the Stick, a whitewater kayaking video) embedded in the firmware. Using my AVR's volume setting, I would say those play is at least 16 dB higher than the Amazon Music app on the same device without changes to any settings.

 

[tw 2022]

afaik this problem still exists... amazon is really dropping the ball on this one...

 

[lc6]

afaik this problem still exists... amazon is really dropping the ball on this one...

Yes. I am on the lookout for an update of the Amazon Music app on the Fire TV Stick from the current version 3.4.947.0 in (most likely vain) hope the issue has finally been fixed.

 

[tw 2022]

Yes. I am on the lookout for an update of the Amazon Music app on the Fire TV Stick from the current version 3.4.947.0 in (most likely vain) hope the issue has finally been fixed.

It's long overdue... I recently started using a very old firestick to try to fix the issue, it did until it updated the next day...

 

[Dwballer11]

Hi all,
Been trying to sort this issue with amazon for a few days now and still no luck. I momentarily had success tonight when the system somehow set itself to PCM sound output despite "best available" being selected and playing an atmos track.
I went back to the settings, selected pcm then selected best available again. Went back to play the same track and the volume was basically half but was showing atmos as the codec on my receiver.
100% an issue with the amazon software and its still very frustrating!
Has anyone else had any luck?
FYI I'm running firestick 4k via my Samsung TV to yamaha rxa2a receiver.
Playing amazon music app on tv or on receiver has perfect sound (just not full HD)
David

 

[lc6]

Last night, I updated the Amazon Music App on my Fire TV Stick 4K Max to firmware v3.4.1021.0. On the main menu of the app, a new Loudness Normalization setting appeared. It was set to ON by default. When I set it to OFF, the volume of my reference tracks increased by about 16 dB and they sound much better.
So it appears that back in December Amazon quietly built this loudness normalization into the app and hardcoded it to ON by default, causing the users to complain on this thread and others. But it took Amazon over 9 months to fix the issue by exposing the setting, so that users can bypass the loudness normalizer.
Please try this new setting and report here if you consider the problem fixed.
BTW, this latest version of the Amazon Music app seems to disable the Ultra HD playback quality by default. So check that setting on the main menu and set it to ON if your playback device is UHD capable and you want the higher resolution.

 

[acampero]

Last night, I updated the Amazon Music App on my Fire TV Stick 4K Max to firmware v3.4.1021.0. On the main menu of the app, a new Loudness Normalization setting appeared. It was set to ON by default. When I set it to OFF, the volume of my reference tracks increased by about 16 dB and they sound much better.
So it appears that back in December Amazon quietly built this loudness normalization into the app and hardcoded it to ON by default, causing the users to complain on this thread and others. But it took Amazon over 9 months to fix the issue by exposing the setting, so that users can bypass the loudness normalizer.
Please try this new setting and report here if you consider the problem fixed.
BTW, this latest version of the Amazon Music app seems to disable the Ultra HD playback quality by default. So check that setting on the main menu and set it to ON if your playback device is UHD capable and you want the higher resolution.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! That seems to have worked wonders and makes the application usable again for me. They could still use some UI enhancements and reworking but it is finally usable again. I listen to a lot of music using the application on my TV for ease of use and display of bitrate and sample rates so this makes me rethink my Apple Music sub as I can get high res music now easily accessible.
Thank you again for sharing this important information to all of us.

 

[dasdoing]

I had a problem with my FireSitck lite volume over Bluetooth. at the end I had to "hack" the software via adb. this explains it a little https://gist.github.com/tniessen/ea3d68e7d572ed7c607b81d715798800

but this little app could do it easily (didn't conect for me tough) https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jarpidev.firevolumecontrol

 

[dasdoing]

I probably used this, as this is in my bookmarks https://stackoverflow.com/questions...t-default-bluetooth-volume-for-android-device

EDIT: I don't think it was that, as I did it once and never had to do it again.
google: "service call audio firestick", or similar and try to find a big topic as it out there somewhere

 

[dasdoing]

btw: let's found the firestick haters club? these things are anoying as hell. they don't even have a led to show they booted (sometimes I have booting problems, too)

 

[Dwballer11]

Last night, I updated the Amazon Music App on my Fire TV Stick 4K Max to firmware v3.4.1021.0. On the main menu of the app, a new Loudness Normalization setting appeared. It was set to ON by default. When I set it to OFF, the volume of my reference tracks increased by about 16 dB and they sound much better.
So it appears that back in December Amazon quietly built this loudness normalization into the app and hardcoded it to ON by default, causing the users to complain on this thread and others. But it took Amazon over 9 months to fix the issue by exposing the setting, so that users can bypass the loudness normalizer.
Please try this new setting and report here if you consider the problem fixed.
BTW, this latest version of the Amazon Music app seems to disable the Ultra HD playback quality by default. So check that setting on the main menu and set it to ON if your playback device is UHD capable and you want the higher resolution.

Well blow me down!
Finally have amazon actually fixed it....so far it seems that way! Now to wait for an empty house to properly crank it up