tvOS 27: Apple Music Gains Hi-Res Lossless Audio on Apple TV 4K

Just release a new Apple TV already you cowards.

What I want is full audio passthrough to take benefit of my high-end audio setup for cinema content. It’s the only reason I am still running my 2019 Nvidia Shield Pro. i tried Apple TV 3rd gen it’s definitely snappier and cleaner interface than my shield but oh boy the audio is worse especially on the rear speakers and audio dedicated for heights channels.

Don’t get me wrong Apple TV is the best device for most users but if you are an audio/cinema enthusiast with audio loseless content AppleTV is just not intended for that use. They want you to pay monthly svod firms and not owning any content

This isn’t the same as bitstream support. Add DTS-X and I’ll buy 3 new AppleTV’s (wherever that comes out). It’s laughable that the Shield Pro has offered it for a decade and Apple hasn’t.

DTS-X is dead as a format.

* LG stopped DTS support on it’s TVs in 2025.
* Not a single BluRay released since December 2024 has DTS-X.

I don’t see why Apple would put in that effort for an audio format most consumers don’t care enough about.

Wow, this discussion has legs. I understand what lotones and whitby are saying, and I do not discount their experiences. I agree that hi res music or SACD (DSD) music can sound better, and for these reasons:

. More effort may be made by the engineers to get it right, since consumers are going to be expecting brilliance. (When comparing, ensure it is the same mastering of the music you are comparing.)
. If you've shelled out $$$ for new equipment you have invested in believing it is better--sound is received in the ears, but it is perceived in the mind.

And hi res on competent equipment can also sound correct, especially considering some modern headphones and amps can reproduce sound well in excess of hearing range. But be careful not to equate 'different' or 'more complex' with better. Jazz from 1959 can sound brilliant from a good vinyl pressing, from properly mastered CD data, or at higher resolutions. We are at the mercy of the mastering of the different versions, which makes more difference to the sound than whether it is played back at 48k or 192k or DSD, with balanced or unbalanced cables, or with valves or fully solid state. Even if we disagree on the audio science, we can agree that Kind of Blue rules.

This is extremely welcome news. Until now, Apple has not given us a solution to listen to lossless music through home audio systems. Streaming boxes made for this purpose (BluSound, etc.) do not have a dedicated Apple Music app, which means Apple Music quality is less than what its competitors deliver. Now, it sounds like we can use Apple TVs as the source for lossless, high-def input, and therefore can enjoy Apple Music in its full glory on our home audio systems.

(I realize that some people worked around the prior limitation by connecting a Mac/iPad via a cable to a DAC, but this should eliminate the need to do it that way.)

Just add industry standard FLAC, stop trying to force us to convert to Apples needlessly different version