Series X Audio issue: Not hearing dialogue in cutscenes (center channel audio).

Hi Drew,

That’s part of the issue besides the audio bug, myself and many others in this thread and other online sources have spoken to tech support. I can’t be the only one who has used the report feature through the Xbox console.

Beyond that, the technical issues were just posted to your comment before me so I’ll leave that as is.

In my case (besides the already above mentioned issues), I immediately lost most of the audio designated to come through the center channel. I’ve made this statement many times and recently in this thread.

I hate repeating myself but as I posted recently, I purchased an Apple TV 4K which solidified the center channel issue with Xbox Series X. In this test case, watching YouTube through XBSX does not use the center channel, what you hear is the reverberated audio coming through the left and right channels. Whereas using a separate device such as my LG C9 TV or Apple TV 4K works fine and as expected.

More to the bigger issue is the games. I said earlier that “most” of the designated audio for the center channel doesn’t come through. As an example, - BF2042 will have some radio chatter come through the center channel but that’s it. No other sound effects. - Halo Infinite, nearly the same issue. Some radio chatter but again no sound effects, gun fire etc. - Gears 5, with the opening level using the waterfall as an audio source, only comes through the other audio channels, not the center channel. Fallout 76, Forza Horizon….

I could go on, but it’s clear that the “spatial audio” or Dolby Atmos, is not working as intended but was working fine before the November update.

My setup if it helps…

Xbox Series X

Denon 8500HA

13.2 channel audio (7.2.6 Dolby Atmos)

LG C9 Oled

All HDMI cables are 2.1 48gbs capable (unless the hdmi from Microsoft for the xbsx isnt 48gbs?)

Apple TV 4K (now used to stream all other sources of entertainment instead of the Xbox series X)

That’s good you got your surround to work. However, part of the main issue is the center channel not working properly. You may hear “some” audio come from the center channel but are you hearing everything you’re supposed to?

For example:

Halo infinite - Center channel isn’t producing any audio when firing a weapon, the audio comes from other speakers. (Specifics are on a previous post of mine)

YouTube - Doesn’t use center channel at all, sound comes from surround speakers in what comes off as an echo. Yet using YouTube via a different source (like AppleTV 4k), all audio plays as expected.

There’s more examples, but I gotta get to work.

Can I ask how you are listening to your audio, Jack? I ask because, depending on the company, the audio is handled in different ways. For example, some companies use the Center Channel on surround sound signals to put out the voices, so if the center channel
has gotten turned down (or if you've chosen the wrong output format in settings) then the game will be trying to play audio on a channel that you don't have hooked up. Say you're listening on a stereo set of headphones, or even just on your TV speakers. If
you set the audio to 5.1 surround, you'll hear SOME audio, because the right and left channels will just be a mix of the different right and left surround channels. But since there is no center channel on a stereo setup, the system will send audio to that
center channel, and your system won't be able to play it. (So, if the audio is directional, any time the voices should be coming from the center speaker, you wouldn't be able to hear them very well.)

You might try setting your audio to Stereo instead of 5.1 or 7.1? It might not be the problem in your case, but it is a possibility worth checking!

OK My bad please remove post. I didn't realize there is no center channel present in the dashboard but once the game loads all 7 channels are receiving audio. I should have tested it with a game first but thought no center channel audio on startup was a
problem with overall audio for all applications.

Hi ScallywaG! This is most likely an issue related to the surround sound setting of your console. For the games you've indicated, I have heard this issue in the past, and it has boiled down to the console trying to output in a format of surround sound which
your headset or surround system does not support.

For example, if you're using a stereo headset, but your console is outputting 5.1 Dolby Digital, you may hear some sound (basically, the side channels mixed together) but the dialogue, which usually comes from the center channel, will be very dim or completely
mute. (You may hear dialogue in some games, and that's because how dialogue is handled is up to the game developer - some may make dialogue come from all channels, others like Ubi or EA tend to limit it to the center channel, I've experienced this in the past.)

Can you verify, what type of headset or sound system are you using? And also, try going to "Settings -> Display & Sound" and see what it says under the "Digital Audio" section. It will depend on if you're using HDMI or Optical as to which item you need to
look at.

Let me know!