Question Casting music to Chromecast tv

[Fearny]

When I cast Amazon Music from my phone app to Chromecast TV 4k the quality is SD when playing a UHD track. My phone is a pixel 4a 5g. Is there a way of improving the quality or is it a limitation of my phone or Chromecast itself please. I was able to cast in HD to an older 2nd gen. model

 

[SpookDroid]

It's a limitation of the Amazon Music app for Chromecast if you're truly casting to the TV. If you're just casting audio (i.e. phone audio, not app audio), then that IS limited to standard bitrates (think playing an UHD movie in a 720p TV).

 

[Fearny]

I nearly brought the Amazon firestick. Would that support UHD casting from my phone?

 

[SpookDroid]

Not sure about the native app on the Firestick (don't own one and don't subscribe to Amazon Music,so couldn't test/confirm), but no device will allow you to 'cast' audio from your phone to your TV with higher bitrates. The only way this would be possible is if the streaming is taking place in the device itself and, of course, the music service supports the higher quality audio on said device.

From Amazon's help page:

You can listen to HD and Ultra HD music on Amazon Music on the following devices:

• Echo devices
• Sonos speakers
• Fire TV
• iOS devices running iOS 11 or later
• Android devices running Android Lollipop or later
• Desktop
• PC
• Mac

Now, it doesn't specifically state 'Firestick' devices, but I'd assume they'd count as 'Fire TV' ones (but again, don't own one to confirm).