Audio/eARC issues and dolby atmos

After a lot of test, to solve it i plug xbox on my lg cx with option sync AV arc bypass and activate earc with my denon 1600h.

If earc is off there is a big audio delay but my denon receive an atmos emulated (pcm) for all game, If earc on no delay atmos OK on halo, forza etc... But no atmos on ubisoft game same as farcry 6.

Ubisoft game not really atmos but a dolby 7.1 sound ?

My conclusion If xbox use dolby atmos emulation or no earc there is a delay, if earc activate no delay but only atmos with game compatible

Thanks for the response. That’s along the lines of what I was thinking (the xbox not needing to support eARC). This would mean the current issue I am experiencing is caused by my TV not properly passing through the audio of the Xbox.

From what I’ve seen, the higher bandwidth of eARC is required to pass through full, uncompressed Dolby Atmos with no A/V sync issues. I am currently having an issue where the audio from the Xbox is lagging behind the video whenever I play a game with Dolby
Atmos enabled. Ex: I fire a shot in Call of Duty and the sound has a delay. Just wondering if its my TV having a software issue or if its the Xbox.

My current console setup is:

Xbox plugged directly into my TV (2019 LG C9 OLED, which supports eARC and Dolby Atmos). All of the ports on the TV support HDMI 2.1 features (eARC, ALLM, VRR/FreeSync, etc...)

I have my sound bar (Sony Z9F, which also supports eARC and Dolby Atmos) plugged directly into the TV.

The Xbox and sound bar are both connected to the TV via Ultra High Speed HDMI cables that support eARC.

The optical port won't allow him to get Dolby Atmos sound though, so that might be an issue for the OP. ARC (not eARC) doesn't support Dolby Atmos, so maybe that's the problem here?

Issue has been reported multiple times by many people as indicated in this and few other threads (reddit, xbox forums, etc). I myself have opened several tickets (currently have one ongoing now) on the issue and yet it still hasn't been resolved. I have also created help tickets with Dolby Access Support, and their responses continue to be that it is a Microsoft issue in how it is outputting Dolby Atmos. Summary of my issues is below:

- Bitstream audio out no longer an option in the HDMI output settings. In the November 2021 update on the Xbox Series X, the audio settings page was changed and unfortunately the option to output bitstream audio was removed. Despite the many issues this has caused, Microsoft still has not fixed the issue. Please bring back the bitstream/lossless output formats instead of forcing PCM only.

- Despite Dolby Atmos being selected as shown in the picture, the Xbox is outputting PCM 'multichannel audio' instead of Atmos (receiver display shown in lower portion of picture). This appears to be causing delays/hiccups in the HDMI handshake process as whatever PCM signal is being sent is not fully correct and the receiver bounces between seeing multichannel audio and dolby atmos until finally settling on multichannel audio. To my earlier comment, being able to pass true bitstream dolby atmos audio to the receiver should eliminate this issue.

- I have the Xbox Series X running to the AVR and then to the TV in order to have access to all the audio formats. When I tried to run the Xbox directly to the TV and then audio over eArc to the receiver, the Xbox will only output PCM Stereo, Dolby Digital or Dolby Atmos. I have tested the TV/receiver and they are able to pass other formats (such as DTS:X) over eArc so it is an Xbox issue of not allowing all the formats to be output (possibly related to bistream vs PCM also?).

Thanks for your reply, but that has obviously not resolved the issue.

I've done a few tests regarding the apps.

When the CX has eARC on and Digital Sound out set to passthrough and Allow Passthrough setting is ticked on the XSX, the sound bar is not recognised as an atmos capable device, but Netflix, Disney+, blu-ray player and the Dolby Access app all send atmos signal to the soundbar with no noticeable delay. No atmos sound in the XSX menu or in games is able to be played only the other sound format (not DTS-X though).

When the CX has eARC turned off and digital sound out set to passthrough the XSX recognises the soundbar as a Dolby Atmos capable device. The soundbar then receives atmos audio, however delays are now introduced in everthing mentioned above apart from the Dolby Atmos app. The sound delay in this situation, seems not as bad as when the the CX has digital sound out set to auto.

When the CX has eARC turned on and digital sound out set to auto the XSX recognises the soundbar as a Dolby Atmos capable device, however everything has a delay introduced. Strangely Netflix and the bluray app seemed the least affected, but the Dolby Access app and Disney+ it was quite noticeable and in games it was worst.