Does the new Apple TV 4K support audio passthrough?

That's bad news, if true. After all the negative feedback from ATV 4 users for not having audio pass through, this is why people will continue to go to their smart TV to stream video from providers instead of Apple TV. Wake up Apple... audio is just as important as video, and we have hi quality AV receivers to process audio and don't want to be stuck with your weak decoding that's built into the Apple TV.

That's 2, not 5, I know of 3 but in all cases, they have no more than a handful of movies and that's it, however, you have described it as 'niche', that's very much different from 'Providers do tend to provide Dolby Atmos or'

Hi jvulto. This is a technical support forum for owners of Apple devices. Speculation on the reasons for Apple design and marketing decisions is banned by the forum ToU. And completely pointless besides, since Apple does what it chooses, and never offers reasons.

Hello Winston, thank you for sharing your thoughts. Do you believe there is no reason for Apple to adopt these new innovative audio technologies?

They weren't really my thoughts but rather observations. however...

Which technologies Apple will support are anyone's guess, but Apple tends to adopt technologies which serve in great numbers. Even if Atmos was supported by more providers and on more than a handful of movies, the additional bandwidth required for such formats are likely to mean they are consumed by but a few.

The discussion of compatibility between streaming devices and immersive surround technology extends way beyond smug takedowns of people who cannot meet a complete arbitrary number of how many sites provide DTS-X streams. You made your point that DTS-X is not available through streaming. So what?! Nobody came on here clamoring for DTS-X compatibility. This does not change the fact that Apple TV does not bitstream audio. Since it does not decode Dolby TrueHD or DTSHD-Master Audio, then there is no way to reproduce immersive surround with this device. That means it is useless to those of us who rip our UHD movies, or HD movies encoded with Atmos, and stream them throughout our homes using Plex, Kodi, etc, to be viewed throughout our own private networks. Roku not only has a faster engine, but also bitstreams Atmos through HDMI. Plex on Nvidia Shield is compatible with BOTH Dolby Atmos and DTS-X passthrough. It is true that Apple cares more about Siri and screen saver upgrades than providing audiophile capabilities that match their new videophile offerings. That is their business philosophy, that is their right. In like manner I will exercise my right to ignore their TV, and continue to enjoy a superior movie experience with Roku and Shield. If they upgrade to bit streaming, then I will buy their product. Newsflash: Not everyone is satisfied with laptop or iPhone grade sound quality.

So what?! Nobody came on here clamoring for DTS-X compatibility.

They most certainly did, it's in the first post.

That means it is useless to those of us who rip our UHD movies, or HD movies

I very much doubt that many of us here expect Apple to facilitate your criminality.

There's an Apple TV app called Infuse Pro 5.

I also rip my own blu rays with uncompressed sound. Infuse lets you stream these and DOES pass through DTD, DTS HD-MA, True HD etc.

For this reason, the app is well worth the $15 bucks.

I use Infuse Pro too. However, since ATV does not support pass-through, Dolby Atmos information is stripped before received by the Home Theater amplifier. If you search the Infuse support forum for 'Atmos' you will find some discussions around this topic.

Tell me how this differs from what Apple TV does with HD audio tracks or why Apple TV would pass through this audio and not any others? What is needed is a bitstream (raw audio) pass through option so that we can utilize our expensive AV receivers to decode audio and not be forced to only get audio output decoded by Apple TV so that Siri can talk to us. Frankly, if pass through means no Siri voice for that audio output option, so be it. I don't know of any current audio devices that do not have this option.

Well, if it’s a dealbreaker for you, you could simply elect to not buy one.

Works great for my needs.

Also, my understanding is that additional audio formats such as Atmos will be forthcoming in a firmware update.

No, I don’t want it to be a “deal breaker.” I am a total Apple fan and want Apple to understand that it is standard practice to provide a bitstream audio pass through and they need to figure out how to add this option with a firmware update or be second rate and extreamly disappointing to loyal customers, if they do not. Most serious AV enthusiasts connect Apple TV to there AV receivers for audio decoding and to not provide audio pass through as an option is simply ludicrous.

So let me get this straight. The ATV 4k doesn't bitstream audio. Rather than send unaltered audio to the receiver to then be decoded in it's ram and sent to speakers, it instead decodes the audio in it's own ram, then sends to the receiver as lossless PCM. Pardon my ignorance, but what is the difference? A compressed format like DD(+) needs to be uncompressed some where, by some one. The ATV isn't altering or (re)compressing the audio, it's sending an uncompressed lossless stream via PCM, correct?

I mean it's no different from me sending you a zip file, but when you download it, Safari decides to uncompress the zip for you, rather than you having to click on it to uncompress it yourself. It has to be uncompressed some where along the line, it's just a matter of who does it.

This isn't true of HD formats, I know, but we're not even talking about those at this point as the ATV is focused on streaming rather than local media. It's not a Blu-ray player. It's a device to sell iTunes content. And iTunes content doesn't have HD audio. Even the big push for tv content in ATV is only stereo sound. Perhaps in the future Atmos will start to take off in the streaming world and we'll get Atmos support, but you have to realize what you're buying and what its goal is.

The new Apple 4K also doesn’t support modern surround sound standards like Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. It supports a decent range of surround formats, but not Atmos, and Apple insists on doing the decoding on the Apple TV and sending out either PCM audio or downmixed Dolby Digital 5.1.

Apple TV 4K review: so close, so far - The Verge

Mmmm. I must have missed all these providers that provide streaming video with DTS:X, perhaps they'll appear if I just rely on my smart TV.