Apple TV 4K not auto switching for stereo content after playing 5.1 audio

17.2 didn’t fix anything. I think 17.2 is even worse now than it was before.

The issue now is sound is either always multi channel or 5.1 DD regardless of if the source material is stereo. So stereo programming sounds terrible

Glad its working for you, but issue is still there for those of us that use legacy receivers via optical from TV. Unfortunately it seems that Apple has written off these customers and will only support HDMI receivers. Too bad.

Apple TV uses Dolby MAT to pass multichannel PCM audio with Atmos and Surround Sound metadata over HDMI to your surround sound processor. I believe this is a format and approach meant for video game consoles so that you have a more seamless experience with menu sounds and so forth. When you play content on Apple TV your surround sound processor / receiver is not being passed the original audio bitstream to let the surround sound processor decide if its 5.1 or 2.0 to decode and play out to the correct speakers. Instead, the bitstream is being decoded inside Apple TV and incorrectly (in this case) mapped to a 5.1 PCM and that is passed along to your processor along with the Metadata. This is why you have a stereo source showing as 5.1 content on your surround sound processor. Your receiver does not know that the center channels and rear channels have no audio on them and this is why it only plays from your L and R speakers. I wish Apple would pass through content bitstream to let your receiver deal with the content and during menu interactions encode their own AC3 signal for the receiver. So my workaround for this - if you know you are watching a show which is stereo source, you go into your Apple TV audio and video settings, set the Audio Format Change Format to On, and New Format to Stereo. Now your stereo source show will be correctly mapped to a stereo PCM format that your receiver can correctly deal with depending on your speaker configuration. If the Stereo source is surround encoded then your receiver will properly use its Dolby Pro Logic, DTS: Neo 6 or DTS: X processors to emulate discreet surround from a stereo source.

I am having the exact same issue, but only with one app. I use the Channels DVR app to watch network(cable) tv. Ever since TVOS 17 I am getting the same problem with this app only. Netflix, Prime, Hulu etc all work perfectly but Channels gets stuck in 5.1 and nothing will release the Dolby flag except a full force quit of the app.

I experienced to 2ch program being streamed in a 5.1 container with my 4k 2nd gen Apple TV watching ESPN on the Directv Stream app. I changed the Apple TV audio output from auto to stereo and that fixed it but not when I returned to auto. Tried Channels DVR and the ESPN apps and both sent 2ch audio to my receiver. I thought it was a Directv Stream issue but this thread implies an Apple TV or IOS problem. Hope it gets fixed soon.

Apple! Can we please get a fix for this? The newest update still doesn't fix the sound issues. I still cannot use this for Youtube TV b/c of the way you have "sound" set up for this. I have basically been using a firestick for the past couple of months and my $150 Apple TV 4K device is just collecting dust.

Can confirm this issue with my new Bluesound powernode edge on both the HDMI eARC and Optical outs of my Sony Bravia (Android OS). Apple TV 4K Set to Switch audio and Stereo selected. The rest is auto. Restarting the Apple TV sometimes helps but not always. What I've found can get the Apple TV unstuck from 5.1 to stereo is to change to an Airplay Audio out if you have one on your network, then flip back to the receiver or TV speakers. AiryPlay forces stereo. I feel this may have to do with Apple pushing Atmos which I find garbage for music (opinion not fact). But this is a really annoying bug that should be squashed asap.

I'm having this exact issue now as well. Using ATV -> Sony A80J -> Sennheiser Ambeo Plus.

I have to restart the ATV multiple times per day for it to output the correct audio content when it's stuck.

Has anyone managed to fix this yet?

Having the same issue...Noticed it is not fixed in 17.1, given Apple's history of incremental updates, is there any chance this gets fixed in a 17.x release, or are we stuck until tvos 18 next year? Is there any way to bring this up with Apple if you aren't a developer?

I'm having similar issues. When I switch to Apple Music on the Apple TV unit, it will play it in 5.1.

When steaming from my phone, it will play in stereo.

I have the optical out of my TV going into my Sonos beam.

Is there a way to set the output for the Apple Music Ap on the Apple TV?

It's exactly as someone stated previously, the vocals are buried.

When it does play in stereo, it sounds great.

Any advice?

Thanks