So I bought a 4K TV because I decided to take full advantage of my Xbox One X. While I was satisfied with 1080p I wanted to experience what all my Xbox One X has to offer. Now I am more confused than ever over audio outputs, and I need some veteran advice.
Here is the TV I got.
Here is the home theater system I have.
What I want is to experience the high quality sound I was getting when I had the HDMI cable plugged into the receiver. I was using Uncompressed 5.1 audio. However the receiver is only capable of 1080p so the Xbox One X would not display it in 4K when routing it through the receiver. I now have an optical TOSLINK cable as my output but it does not sound the same as uncompressed audio, the cable is plugged into the Xbox One X and into the receiver. I only have the option for bitstream out, whatever that is… It just sounds muddy and does not sound as crisp.
So am I doing something wrong or do I need to run the optical cable into the TV then into the receiver? Will that give me the option to get uncompressed audio back?
Not 100% on that, but your TV should have one HDMI Port with ARC (Audio Return Channel).
It depends on the TV if it will also passthrough Audio from other HDMI Ports. If you hook up your Reciever to the HDMI Port with ARC, it should be able to get the Audio from the TV.
I’ve personally not gotten this to work, as my surround reciever is Pre-Middleages. From what i’ve seen at a friends house though, this should work.
I’m not sure why Toslink and HDMI would produce different Sound though. Both are digital Audio Signals. So, if your HT processes them the same, they should sound identical.
The optical connection will only do stereo PCM or dolby digital, so not 7.1 LPCM or other lossless formats that HDMI will do. As far as I know HDMI ARC has the same limitations, although I don’t know why.
There may be a way to split the audio and video on HDMI but I doubt it, especially if you want HDCP to work. Might be time for a new receiver.
The correct answer here is what @domsch1988 said. One of your HDMI ports will be your audio return channel. Then you can run your 4k signal directly to the TV.
assuming your receiver supports ARC it can be your output, if not it will have to be an input. The xbox can go to any HDMI port that isnt labeled ARC, the receiver must go on the port labeled ARC.
I’m just glad the enthusiast home audio market is catering to both types of users.
I will one day make the plunge into the home audio enthusiast market. I really want to feel the bass and not just hear low rumbling from a puny 6 inch sub.
Yup, looked at the manual the HT system supports ARC the best would be to go HDMI from the Xbox to the TV. Go TV ARC to Reciever and turn on ARC on both the TV and HT system. Will probably need to set default Audio out on the TV. Turning on CEC on both devices will cause the HT system to turn on when the TV and Xbox turns on.
That being said for further upgrade options is to get a dedicated receiver so upgrades would be cheaper and easier. Home theatere in a box generally have proprietary speaker cables so if you have buy an entire system rather than just a receiver.