It seems that Amazon is sticking to a new bi-yearly release cadence for its Fire TV dongles, and we're big fans of that decision. The Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max (2023) is easily one of the best streaming devices and manages to offer a smoother experience than its predecessor. It also has more storage and support for Wi-Fi 6E, plus, the Ambient Experience is a delightful addition. Just be prepared to deal with microUSB, the inability to plug in storage devices, and all of Amazon's non-removable ads.

The Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max (2023) is a pleasure to use thanks to its speedy performance and Alexa support (unfortunately, not hands-free). The HDMI extender is useful for difficult setups, and the Ambient experience is a nice addition not seen in cheaper Fire TV sticks. However, the everything-Prime experience can be off-putting, and I wish Amazon used something other than a micro-USB port for power.

An excellent streamer and the best Fire TV Stick yet, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max offers plenty of entertainment options, the super-helpful Alexa and terrific streaming performance. Prime customers are best placed to reap the best performance though, and the interface could be more democratic in the content it serves up.

The big question of the day is “Which 4K Fire TV Stick is right for you?” If it’s between these two Fire TV sticks, I say spend the extra $10 for the Fire TV Stick 4K Max, because it’s a more future-proof model. As the number of wireless devices only increases in our homes, it only makes sense to buy the tech that supports your next router.

We said this in 2021, led off with this again here, and it remains true a couple thousand words and two more years later: The Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max remains the Fire TV stick that should command your money. It has hardware that keeps the cost below the $100 mark, but still gets the job done, and ticks pretty much all the specs boxes you could want. It has software that gets better iteration after iteration. The new Ambient Experience is nice. The upcoming AI features should make the experience that much better.

If you want a brand new Fire TV stick, and you have the choice between the two versions, there's no real reason to seek out the original. The handful of extra features in the 2023 update are worth having for only $5 more.

The Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max is an excellent media streamer that adds Wi-Fi 6 compatibility for just $5 more than the standard model, but you probably won't see a difference outside of very specific use cases.

While there’s plenty to like about the Fire TV Stick 4K Max’s picture, it's just edged out by the competition, and it's further behind when it comes to sound.

The new Fire TV Stick 4K Max is a good streaming stick hampered by the Amazon-centric interface