An Apple TV 4K paired with a receiver should be great, but it isn’t

Receivers are worth the price of admission if you’re looking for the best audio you can get. What makes them worth it is their ability to handle all the incoming audio without relying on a third-party source. This means that if your TV doesn’t support Dolby Atmos, it’s not a big deal because the receiver can do it for you. You can plug in all your devices to the receiver and not have to worry about your audio ever again. At least, that’s the way it should work.

The Apple TV 4K doesn’t work this way. Yes, it’s still my favorite streaming device, but there are some issues that I just don’t understand. The Apple TV 4K doesn’t have audio passthrough, so it has to handle the decoding itself. That’s not an issue if you’re watching something with Dolby Atmos, but it’s a problem for other formats. A receiver is meant to eliminate issues like this, but Apple decided not to play ball.

The Apple TV 4K is very frustrating

A simple fix would do

There’s a reason myself and many others were very excited when it seemed like Apple was finally going to allow audio passthrough. It was going to mean my Apple TV 4K would now always have the best audio to go along with, in my opinion, the best picture quality of all the streaming boxes. To be fair, Atmos is offered by many streamers, so it’s not like I have to look hard to find it. However, there is still a lot of shows and movies that don’t support Atmos, and my receiver says Multi-In, since the Apple TV 4K doesn’t recognize what format it is.

I know I’m complaining, and it’s very much a first-world problem, but it’s still annoying. The audio still sounds good even if I’m not hearing what I’m supposed to hear, but that’s not what I’m mad about. I use a Roku Ultra in my bedroom, and when I tested it out with my receiver, I didn’t have any problems with audio formats. That’s because the Roku Ultra lets me pass the audio right on through to my receiver. This is exactly what the Apple TV 4K should do, and I don’t understand why that’s not the case. I have no idea if a hardware refresh is needed for this or if it’s just a software update that’s needed. I have a first-gen Apple TV 4K, and it’s still getting the tvOS updates, so I hope it’s something Apple decides to do one day and that I get it.

In the meantime, I have to keep dealing with subpar audio unless I swap my streaming box, but I don’t want it to come to that. Not only do I think the Apple TV 4K offers better picture quality, but I’m a way bigger fan of its user interface than I am of Roku’s — although I’m a sucker for Roku City. Other than this small, but glaring, issue, the Apple TV 4k is perfect. When I got my Roku Ultra, I had every intention of it replacing my Apple TV 4K in the living room, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it, even if it does have audio passthrough.

When the time comes for another generation of Apple TV 4Ks, which could happen any time now, I hope Apple fixes this problem. I fear that it’s a problem that not many people care about, so Apple might not see the point in addressing it. I hope that’s not the case because it’d make me very happy, and I’d go out and buy a new Apple TV 4K just for that reason.

Better audio is still better audio

You should still get a receiver

Just because my Apple TV 4K doesn’t play nicely with my receiver doesn’t mean I regret having one. I mean, I still need my receiver to have my Dolby Atmos system. As it stands, I do most of my movie watching via actual 4K Blu-ray discs, so I can still get my desired formats like Dolby Digital or DTS:X that way without having to rely on the Apple TV 4K. I also have a smart TV that I can rent things through, which gives me those audio formats.

You also don’t have to be like me and stick with an Apple TV 4K. There are plenty of Fire TV and Roku devices out there that get the job done. Just because my favorite product is from Apple doesn’t mean the others aren’t worth the price. You can often find them for way cheaper than an Apple TV 4K, so that’s another good reason to go in that direction. If you are looking for the absolute best audio your receiver can offer, then you have to find a different streaming device than the Apple TV 4K, as much as that pains me to admit. I hope Apple changes that in the future, but I won’t get my hopes up since it’s been years of this being the case.