[archy121]

I have been so happy with FS2 that I'm set to buy FTV3 on Black Friday.
I can watch all of UK catchup channels, Neflix HD, IPTV apk's etc & use Kodi - just Brill!
Although I'm currently limited to 1080p by the fantastic Pioneer Kuro plasma, I have been very happy with the video output quality. Not really tested the audio side as I have downsized from the 5.1 Denon AV setup to a 2Ch stereo audiophile setup.

The FS2 just needs a little more boost in kodi to make it perfect which I hope FTV3 will deliver with extra memory and cpu power. The FTV3 can do 10/12BIT RGB colour space which will be a nice welcome as till now amazon hardware has been limited to 8Bit. Also the FireOS6 has CinemaMode (24Hz) embedded in its code. We just might see this implemented in the future like the new Apple TV mode.

WRXTASY is right in that for now only a two box solution can deliver it all for some.
FTV3 for DRM 4K HDR streaming combined with a cheap Chinese android box to run Kodi 4K.

[fritsch]

so I guess the AFTV3 is going back then, and I'll pick up another NVidia Shield box when I can.  It's a shame because the FireTV interface and Netflix/Amazon have no problems with 4k content, it's only Kodi that's an issue for me.

I have been so happy with FS2 that I'm set to buy FTV3 on Black Friday.
I can watch all of UK catchup channels, Neflix HD, IPTV apk's etc & use Kodi - just Brill!
Although I'm currently limited to 1080p by the fantastic Pioneer Kuro plasma, I have been very happy with the video output quality. Not really tested the audio side as I have downsized from the 5.1 Denon AV setup to a 2Ch stereo audiophile setup.

The FS2 just needs a little more boost in kodi to make it perfect which I hope FTV3 will deliver with extra memory and cpu power. The FTV3 can do 10/12BIT RGB colour space which will be a nice welcome as till now amazon hardware has been limited to 8Bit. Also the FireOS6 has CinemaMode (24Hz) embedded in its code. We just might see this implemented in the future like the new Apple TV mode.

WRXTASY is right in that for now only a two box solution can deliver it all for some.
FTV3 for DRM 4K HDR streaming combined with a cheap Chinese android box to run Kodi 4K.

Can you emphasize on the "audiophile 2Ch setup"? You power that with Android, do you?

[archy121]

Can you emphasize on the "audiophile 2Ch setup"? You power that with Android, do you?

Not all android at the moment but possibly later on when I buy additional cheap Linux/android box with a Optical/USB port for audio connection to the DAC. 

I will than stream HQ music from a drive connected to a router to the media device which will output to the amp via the DAC. Neutron Player is a great audiophile app for this job.  
 
I have ordered a usb OTG hub cable for the firestick to see if I can get USB audio output to the DAC.
If this works it will be one less reason to get an android box.

In case you are curious - I have a Musical Fidelity dual Mono integrated amp, Arcam iRDAC, Kef RDM Monitor speakers and a REL sub. 

For viewing video media from firestick I take the optical feed from the TV. I find this good enough now a days and best of all it's kid and wife friendly ; ). 

I do causual music listening using the Spotify app on the firestick or I AirPlay it from the iPad to a airplay reciever connected to the DAC.

[fritsch]

Can you emphasize on the "audiophile 2Ch setup"? You power that with Android, do you?

Not all android at the moment but possibly later on when I buy additional cheap Linux/android box with a Optical/USB port for audio connection to the DAC. 

I will than stream HQ music from a drive connected to a router to the media device which will output to the amp via the DAC. Neutron Player is a great audiophile app for this job.  
 
I have ordered a usb OTG hub cable for the firestick to see if I can get USB audio output to the DAC.
If this works it will be one less reason to get an android box.

In case you are curious - I have a Musical Fidelity dual Mono integrated amp, Arcam iRDAC, Kef RDM Monitor speakers and a REL sub. 

For viewing video media from firestick I take the optical feed from the TV. I find this good enough now a days and best of all it's kid and wife friendly ; ). 

I do causual music listening using the Spotify app on the firestick or I AirPlay it from the iPad to a airplay reciever connected to the DAC.

Not really curious. But Audiotrack as is on Android is not meant to be audiophile at all. It's a sound server. It does not support e.g. 24 bit INT directly. The only thing it currently can do is Float32bit on 2 channels, which - again - has to be converted back by the DAC / driver.

I was just curious if you had a better way to drive it. Btw. I implemented 352 khz support lately, so that those  HQ USB DACs can work directly with ALSA. For Android we are limited to 192 khz.

[wesk05]

Not really curious. But Audiotrack as is on Android is not meant to be audiophile at all. It's a sound server. It does not support e.g. 24 bit INT directly. The only thing it currently can do is Float32bit on 2 channels, which - again - has to be converted back by the DAC / driver.

I know it is the same case in Windows. Is it different in Linux, is it 24-bit from source to output?

[fritsch]

Not really curious. But Audiotrack as is on Android is not meant to be audiophile at all. It's a sound server. It does not support e.g. 24 bit INT directly. The only thing it currently can do is Float32bit on 2 channels, which - again - has to be converted back by the DAC / driver.

I know it is the same case in Windows. Is it different in Linux, is it 24-bit from source to output?

Windows has WASAPI mode where you can open the device exclusively in 24 bit mode. Linux has 32 bit INT support. Kodi does decode to planar float internally (32 bit precission) for all codecs no matter which platorm. From here we match the output device. This is in most cases lossless, as we directly write onto the output sink. Depending on the device there is also direct 24 bit output.

[wesk05]

Kodi does decode to planar float internally (32 bit precission) for all codecs no matter which platorm.

This is what I was actually referring to in the previous question. Wasn't sure whether it was different in Linux. Ignoring the fact that Android AudioTrack on the Shield only supports Hi-Res stereo, do you think that AudioTrack has less precision when converting from float to integer?

[fritsch]

Kodi does decode to planar float internally (32 bit precission) for all codecs no matter which platorm.

This is what I was actually referring to in the previous question. Wasn't sure whether it was different in Linux. Ignoring the fact that Android AudioTrack on the Shield only supports Hi-Res stereo, do you think that AudioTrack has less precision when converting from float to integer?

I don't think so. I just hope that they use the correct device capabilities, e.g. the driver works correctly and announces its capabilities properly.