AppleTV high noise floor / better alternative?

Hi all, I hear substantial speaker hiss from AppleTV when playing at higher volume levels.  It doesn't happen with any of my other sources, it happens with 3 different AppleTVs, and interestingly it pauses for a moment when I change audio modes within the AppleTV settings.  This leads me to believe that AppleTV has a flaw in its audio circuitry, like it may be converting internally to analog and then resampling back to digital on low quality circuitry.  I'm sure there are forum members who know and understand the details better than I do.

Anyway, specifically for streaming music, what would be a better option?  I'm happy with my other gear so if the device could just get the digital audio stream into my A/V preprocessor without messing with it, I would be happy.

FYI, my main source is Amazon's new HD music service.  Also disappointing: there's an AppleTV app, but it doesn't handle HD music.  You need to stream from a recent phone or tablet to get HD.