Lead Maestro

Dolby Atmos on Apple Music with Apple TV 4K & Sonos Arc

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
June 8, 2021
50 replies
19845 views

Spatial Audio/Dolby Atmos music is now available on Apple Music through the Apple TV 4K. It’s exciting to see more streaming services adopt these higher resolution audio formats.

To play Atmos music through the Arc, be sure to have a TV with HDMI eARC or an HDFury Arcana and tvOS 14.6 installed. On the Apple TV 4K (1st Gen) model, go to Settings > Apps > Music and set Dolby Atmos to Automatic and Audio Quality to Lossless.

Enjoy!

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

Show previous replies

G

GuitarSuperstarAuthor

Lead Maestro

@boxim We are specifically talking about the Apple TV 4K. You cannot get Dolby Atmos audio from any app on the Apple TV 4K without a TV with HDMI eARC or an HDFury Arcana.

And Dolby Atmos music on the Arc through the Apple TV is worth it. There is a pretty significant difference between an Atmos mix and non-Atmos mix with most songs.

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi

Airgetlam

I’m not sure I agree with that. I was under the impression some non-Apple Apps can still use Dolby Digital Plus, it was only the Apple apps themselves that used MAT.

But since I don’t use any of the non-Apple apps, I can’t confirm.

Bruce

G

GuitarSuperstarAuthor

Lead Maestro

I’m not sure I agree with that. I was under the impression some non-Apple Apps can still use Dolby Digital Plus, it was only the Apple apps themselves that used MAT.

But since I don’t use any of the non-Apple apps, I can’t confirm.

I get “Multichannel PCM 5.1” and “Dolby Atmos” from all the major apps on my Apple TV 4K which leads me to believe MAT is used for all the apps. I have never seen “Dolby Digital Plus 5.1” or “Dolby Atmos (DD+)” displayed in the Sonos app when using the Apple TV.

And Apple’s website says this:

”Apple TV 4K uses a high bandwidth form of Dolby Atmos that doesn’t work over ARC connections.”

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi

A

ACone

Lyricist I

Yep, I already tried those settings in the ATV app. Like I mentioned in the first post, I tried both methods to see if I could get it to work and both say it’s playing in stereo PCM. I’m curious if anyone can actually confirm this is working? Does your Sonos app say it’s playing in Atmos? There are people claiming it sounds better which can sometimes be a subjective thing. The ATV app can say the song is lossless and playing in Dolby Atmos but if the Sonos app does not display the Dolby Atmos symbol that means something is causing it to get converted to stereo PCM.

I’m skeptical this is actually working for anyone, but I would love to see some proof that it is. Since Dolby Atmos works fine on all the other apps that support it, my hunch is there is something that still needs to be updated on either Sonos or Apples side?

Yes, when I have Dolby Atmos set to automatic on iPhone and ATV if i airplay to the ATV I get the atmos logo both on the iPhone and in the sonos app.

If I AirPlay to the sonos instead of the ATV I don’t get the atmos logo on the phone or the Sonos app.

If I change the setting on iPhone to always play atmos and I AirPlay to the sonos instead of ATV I will get the atmos logo on the phone but NOT on the sonos app.

In summary you should get the atmos logo in the sonos app if you play directly from an ATV, or if you airplay to an ATV with the atmos setting to automatic or always on.

C

Car2un

Contributor I

Well, I don’t see the Dolby Atmos symbol in the Sonos app no matter where the music comes from. If I play music from the Apple Music app on Apple TV 4K, the Sonos app shows "Dolby Digital 5.1". If I stream via AirPlay to the Arc, it shows only "Airplay".

What model TV do you have? In the Apple TV audio settings, do you have Change Format turned off and Immersive Audio turned on? Are you sure you are testing a Spatial Audio/Dolby Atmos song?

Here is a screenshot of the Sonos app when playing “Don’t Know Why” by Norah Jones in Dolby Atmos:

Thank you! I just realized that I only have an HDMI ARC port and not an eARC on my TV (and that you need an eARC for Atmos). So I haven’t experienced Atmos at all. I guess I have to buy a new TV now.

My tv is a fairly new philipps tb model 2019, dont have earc but been playing dolby atmos through arc on both firetv stick and netflix android app. The bought atv4k cuz of wider library of atmos music vs tidal. Getting atmos too —- shows on my sonos app. I used tv settings > bypass. I think in some other tbs its called passthrough. Then apple tv settings, atmos on automatic. Hope this helps!

G

GuitarSuperstarAuthor

Lead Maestro

@Car2un I have never seen anyone get Dolby Atmos audio from an Apple TV 4K with only HDMI ARC. Do you have the latest generation Apple TV 4K? Do you also get Atmos audio from Netflix on the Apple TV?

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi

C

Car2un

Contributor I

@Car2un I have never seen anyone get Dolby Atmos audio from an Apple TV 4K with only HDMI ARC. Do you have the latest generation Apple TV 4K? Do you also get Atmos audio from Netflix on the Apple TV?

I dont think my tv has eArc but yes, i bought the new ATV4k the other day. I havent tried netflix on my atv since i use my built in android tv os for it. It produces atmos. However, if theough fire tv stick, its just 5.1. So havent tried. Firesick plays atmos though on disney+.

D

Dr.J

Lyricist I

Pretty certain my Arc, 2x One SLs and Sub gen 3 are working with Dolby Atmos playing via “airplay” (correct me if I’m wrong, but I think when playing via airplay to Sonos on wifi, the music isn’t being sent from the iOS device to the Sonos, but the Sonos is actually downloading the music itself from the apple servers).

When switching the Atmos setting off in iOS settings>music it sounds completely different to when it is set to always on. I have to say some songs sound incredible on my surround with Atmos on. Even my partner agrees it sounds completely different in a blind test and can tell when it’s on or off.

I’m not sure about lossless though! Anyone have any idea if the Arc system can play lossless?

C

codephilip

Lyricist III

@codephilip Or you could get the HDFury Arcana that allows the Apple TV to bypass your TV’s limitations and send audio directly to the Arc. That’s what I am using with my 2013 Panasonic plasma with only HDMI ARC.

https://www.hdfury.com/product/4k-arcana-18gbps/

Thank you so much! I bought the 4K Arcana now. Didn’t know that something like that exists :)

FYI… The Arcana only has one HDMI input for a single device. If you want to connect more than one device, you need an HDMI switch. I am using a 3-port ROOFULL HDMI switch. It is no longer available, but here’s a 5-port model:

https://www.amazon.com/ROOFULL-Premium-Switch-Support-Auto-Switch/dp/B083NWKPXW

Your current HDMI cables may work fine, but HDFury recommends using Cable Matters, KabelDirekt or Zeskit HDMI cables with the Arcana. I am using these KabelDirekt cables:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CMF1VJZ/

Hey! Thanks again! I now have the Arcana and it’s way better. I also see the Dolby Atmos symbol in the Sonos app. Everything else was just subjective and sounded just different but wasn’t real Atmos.

I have one question: When I play a song, I see the Dolby Atmos logo. All fine. But when I play a movie, the Sonos app shows Multichannel PCM 7.1. Is that an equivalent to Dolby Atmos?

Edit: It now also shows the Dolby Atmos logo during movies.

G

gunks

Lyricist II

@boxim We are specifically talking about the Apple TV 4K. You cannot get Dolby Atmos audio from any app on the Apple TV 4K without a TV with HDMI eARC or an HDFury Arcana.

And Dolby Atmos music on the Arc through the Apple TV is worth it. There is a pretty significant difference between an Atmos mix and non-Atmos mix with most songs.

I get the dolby Atmos logo showing with an just an arc connection in Netflix and in apple music with Apple tv

Show more replies

Sign up

Login to the community