Part of the alchemy I use.. This is exactly the same in the ATVX.
AppleTV X - I am playing with something new
- Thread starter Xymox
- Start date
Hi Chris:
You are among the very few who are properly focused on the hugely complex and highly bursty nature of digital current draw.
I know we have both been really busy of late, but let's catch up on the phone again soon.
--Alex C.
We both got busy and distracted by work stuff... We should catch up again..
I am smack dab in the middle of new product launch. First shipments happened today. I dont even have the manual or web site up yet. I am super slammed, I am sure you know the drill. So later next week is better. I am currently perplexed by roon RAAT VS roon USB.. Roon USB, ummm,,, well, kinda sucks VS Daphile USB which is just stunning. RAAT sounds pretty great, just just roon USB which is sucky. BUT. I am a noob at this, so, maybe you can offer some wizdom when we talk.
Seems fine. The GUI looks pretty. Its a bit buggy with the ATV app sometimes getting stuck. The ATV app tho is cool as it has a lot of new features I use. Like it shows you what you have watched on most apps all in one place. This is super useful to resume watching something or watching a new EP.
Pic and sound seem the same. I have not noticed any issues.
As far as I can tell no improvements in pic/sound or pic/sound features. So I am not sure there is any reason to upgrade in that dept. It does have a nice GUI.
New review and awards.
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I am eager to experience the audio passthrough as well, but it may take a while. Per a quick online search,
"Yes, tvOS 26 includes support for audio passthrough, allowing the Apple TV to send raw audio bitstreams directly to a sound system like an AV receiver or soundard, rather than decoding and processing it itself. This enables your home theater equipment to decode various audio formats, potentially leading to higher audio quality. However, the feature requires developers to enable support within their specific apps, and system-level settings to activate it will likely be implemented in a future tvOS 26 update."
Hmmm...
"Yes, tvOS 26 includes support for audio passthrough, allowing the Apple TV to send raw audio bitstreams directly to a sound system like an AV receiver or soundard, rather than decoding and processing it itself. This enables your home theater equipment to decode various audio formats, potentially leading to higher audio quality. However, the feature requires developers to enable support within their specific apps, and system-level settings to activate it will likely be implemented in a future tvOS 26 update."
Hmmm...
As far as I can tell there is no such thing as pass thru in any current application support in 26. There are not software hooks or changes in the GUI for this.
This has been a rumor going back to the first ATV. Each time a new update was announced this was going to be implimented. As far as i know, Apple has never said they were going to do this ? AT least not in any official channel.
Doing so would defeat several key features in the ATV like dialog isolation which they spent a lot of time creating.
The entire sound framework in a ATV centers on Dolby MAT. Having a bypass option would be quite the technical challenge in software and no doubt produce a lot of support calls. Apple tends to pick one method and like it or not, that is the one method.
The market for a stand alone media player for the main stream consumer has radically shrunk because TVs come with apps and less and less people everyday watch a TV, they use phones and tablets. The market has shrunk down to us crazy audiophiles who are after perfection and hate compromize. For Apple we might as well not exist. I just don't see the reason Apple would drop money into such a large rewrite and bypass key new features for a very small market share.
WHile I get the limitations of what Apple is doing on the ATV, Dolby MAT delivers ATMOS uncompressed while allowing Apple to add features like dialog isolation. The sound quality delievered with a ATVX can be stunning. SURE it is not the best for 2ch music rendering, but, it was made to do movie/tv streaming and for that, I don't see why I need more then Dolby MAT can deliver ?
For *myself* I am happy with Dolby MAT delievered uncompressed ATMOS. Doing 2ch PCM is also quite stunning. So for *myself* I just dont have any pressing need for a "bitstream" for movie/TV streaming.
Having bitstream would be a cool option I suppose as long as doing this did not mess up the currect Dolby MAT delievery system. But I am not in a need for this.
Airplay is another example of how Apple just does what they want and can randomly do compression. Or not. And you have no control.
Despite what many may think, I am not a Apple fan. I have a Sonim ( android ) phone. I use PCs ( which I build for myself ). I am a PC overclocker. Apple to me does a lot of things I am not a fan of. That said. The ATV is the best streaming box. I own iPads and those are great. The Apple GUI for phones and ipads is truly amazing. BUT. The Apple one size fits all, we are gonna limit your control, its our way or nothing,,, is very offputting and limiting.
So I really get that having a bitstream option would be cool, and they could own the audiophile world if Apple Music did it correctly,, BUT they have made a choice to not care. I have come to grips with this over decades and I use Apple products that are the best in class for thier intended use and regretfully accept I wont get everything I could want from Apple. For devices like a PC where Apple is not best in class, I dont use Apple. My phone needs to be rugged, loud, bright and highly good at a connection, Sonim is the best at this, Apple is not.. So far the ATV is the best at AV media streaming, so this is my platform. I think as a stand alone AV media streamer Apple will continue to be the best simply because of the overall experence of tvOS. As no one else but Apple can deliever this, I think the ATV is going to be a high end sought after device for as long as Apple supports them.
I now have the NUC-X. This can run Android/Windows/Linux/roon/Daphile/....... So I can run any media devlievery platform known. But nothing is a good or as easy and friendly as tvOS on the ATVX.
Yes I do. Apple Music and all streaming services to date do NOT send lossless Atmos, but lossy Dolby Digital Plus Atmos And yes, you can clearly hear the improvement that that TrueHD Atmos provides. I have performed several direct comparisons and a True HD file is better sounding, every time.
You could grab the file maybe ? And put it on a NAS and play it via VLC or infuse app or something ? Or maybe your already doing that as you seem quite experienced with this.
I have a lot of clients using the ATVX for multichannel music. I myself think that the Alan Parson's quad version of Dark Side of The Moon is my fav all time bit of music. The 2ch version is nothing VS the Quad. Of course I am hardcore and can only do this properly with 4 exact same channels of speaker / amp / wire with the speakers arranged in a Quad layout. When done this way, with high end gear, its a 3D image that you are in the center of. I have only been able to do this a few times because of all the requirements, but, still the coolest immersive music experience I have ever had. DSoTM in Quad is amazing.
The clients doing multichannel music as the main use of the ATVX does warm my heart, I admit. While I love that clients are using my product to further the experience of the story telling artform of movies and TV,, my passion is music so I love hearing that clients are using the ATVX for multichannel music.
If I could somehow get Apple to do a pure stream, I would, but NO ONE seems able to get Apple to do ANYthing.
I also have lip sync issues after the iOS 26 update with Netflix when screening Dark Winds.
I have no such problem when I run videos on YouTube.
I guess we need to wait for Netflix to adjust/fix their app.
I experience repeated, intermittent audio dropouts for just a few seconds only when watching Apple TV, which is incredibly annoying. This is not an issue on other streaming services (Netflix, Prime, Max, etc.). Interestingly, Apple is one of the few services that consistently offers Dolby Atmos. My AVR does a good job with either Atmos or Dolby Surround, but I prefer Atmos if it's available. On the ATVX, the Audio is set as follows: Change Format OFF, and I just changed the setting for Immersive Audio, Dolby Atmos to OFF, to see if it makes a difference.
My ATVX alerted me to an upgrade available (auto upgrades set to OFF), which I have yet to implement. I currently run 26.0, and the upgrade is to 26.0.1. This upgrade has the new Liquid Glass look, and also purportedly, fixes the Netflix lip synch issue.
My ATVX alerted me to an upgrade available (auto upgrades set to OFF), which I have yet to implement. I currently run 26.0, and the upgrade is to 26.0.1. This upgrade has the new Liquid Glass look, and also purportedly, fixes the Netflix lip synch issue.
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