To get around this, some streaming services will lift near black gamma somewhat.

This is mainly to do with the lack of gamma precision in the low end crushing blacks. Unfortunately, Xbox has always had sub-par video output. Since the PS3, every one of them had pristine video – and audio – output that follows the standards to the letter. Xbox has never quite matched the amazing video output of Sony’s consoles. You don’t know the difference until you hear what the Apple TV 4K sounds even when sending PCM data! Video If you select PCM, the audio doesn’t quite come out pristine. However, if you select DTS or Dolby in the Xbox dashboard – a cycle of decoding and re-compression will happen degrading the audio. However, even though PCM is uncompressed, it is a lot more prone to jitter than the packetised audio formats such as DTS and Dolby – as those are rebuilt at the decoding end using a clock – jitter or no jitter. So every time you switch audio types, you need to go into the settings. What this ends up doing is pushing the dialogue into the left and right speakers. Instead, it embeds two channel audio into the 5.1 or 7.1 container, making it impossible to use Dolby Pro Logic II(x/z) or Dolby Surround to upmix the audio.

What is even more infuriating is that it doesn’t automatically switch between 2.0, 5.1 or 7.1 PCM. Unless you select uncompressed PCM, the Xbox will re-encode audio from streaming services.

So you ask – what is wrong with the Xbox and what does Apple TV give you? Xbox Issues Audio While I was aware of this to a point, it wasn’t until I connected up the Apple TV 4K that it became clear just how much. I love the Xbox – it is a great gaming device – but my opinion is that it butchers both video and audio. For the casual observer – and listener – they may look and sound the same, but in a home theatre environment with a calibrated display and sound system, there is no contest.

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