Xbox one won't play sound to soundbar

The Xbox One X doesn't have a soundcard, in a way a PC would have a Creative Labs SoundBlaster card for example.

The Xbox One does all sound processing on the main CPU so to speak.

However, the clearer sound when you connect the Xbox to your soundbar directly can have other reasons than the "soundcard".

I assume you had your soundbar, TV and console set up like this:

Xbox One Console-->HDMI Cable-->TV-->Optical Cable-->Soundbar.

While the console transmits multi-channel surround to the TV, the TV might only transmit Stereo to the soundbar.

A lot of TVs only forward Stereo Sound through an optical cable, if the video feed comes from an external source. Only "internal" video streams that come from the TV's own tuner or media being played through the TV's USB Media Player will be transmitted
in multichannel audio to the sound bar.

By connecting the Xbox directly to the soundbar, the soundbar will get the original multi-channel sound from the console, instead of the stereo downmix from the TV.

So I assume your setup now looks like this:

Soundbar<-- Optical Cable<-- Xbox One -->HDMI cable--> TV

Right?

Hi Jake,

It sounds like something with the configuration of the soundbar might be causing some issues with the audio signal. Let me get a better picture of your setup it sounds like you are going with something like this.

Cable Box>Xbox One>TV

Then with an HDMI Out from the TV to the Soundbar or is the Soundbar between the XBox One and the TV?

A couple things you should check:

1) That you have any surround sound settings on your Soundbar set to DTS. There is also a surround sound toggle option in the LiveTV settings.

2) That you have the matching sound setting on your cable box set so that all your devices working with the same type of signal.

The Xbox One works well with a variety of AVR type devices and there is a configuration option for them in the LiveTV settings.

TV:

Vizio P50-C1

Sound:

Vizio SB3851-D0 Smartcast38" Soundbar System (2016) model

Connections used:

Optical from Xbox to Sound Bar + Xbox to TV HDMI

Optical from Tv to Soundbar + Xbox to Tv HDMI

XBOX to Soundbar via HDMI, Soundbar to TV HDMI

XBOX To TV HDMI, TV to Soundbar HDMI (ARC)

I'm unable to send screenshots at this time, but with every combination I received The exact same error depicted by SpoopyJilan. Thank you for doing this, Much appreciated!

Thanks for your reply. I understand the PS4 does not support 4k, but my Fire TV cube does. I plug my Fire TV into the HDMI in on the soundbar, and it plays in 4k and the soundbar recognizes Atmos. My tv is a Sony Bravia about 3 years old, so it does not have HDMI 2.1. I searched my owners manual, the settings on the tv, and the internet and could not find anywhere what version of HDMI my tv supports. I assume it is 2.0.

I am using the HDMI cable that came with the soundbar, no way to tell which version it is.

What I don't understand is why would my Fire TV pass through the soundbar correctly and provide Atmos sound? And also, why did my Series X work for a short time, and now won't? I was able to watch several UHD Blu-ray discs on the series x and was able to get Atmos. Then a few days ago, the XBox will not pass through the soundbar. I had to plug it back into the tv directly where I cannot get Atmos sound.

Another confusing thing is I plugged the soundbar into a different HDMI input on my tv, not the HDMI arc port (I don't have eARC, just ARC) and the XBox was able to pass through the soundbar correctly. However, this messed up my cable box sound since the soundbar was no longer connected via ARC. I used a digital optical cable for the cable box but had sound sync issues. Could it be some conflict with the HDMI arc input on my tv and the XBox? If that was the case, why did it work for a short time?

I have a 41" soundbar with optical and now that they released the March update with Dolby Digital it sounds amazing.

Soundbars are a cheap solution for surround sound audio. My friend has a $600 Bose surround sound system with 2 speakers and a sub and he admittedly said my $140 soundbar and sub sounds just as good or better.