Xbox Series X headphones playing surround instead of stereo on some apps.

Hi nrgzone,

Welcome to Xbox Community Forum. Thank you for sharing your concern with us today and we hope that all is well.

We understand that you are having audio concerns with Xbox Series X headphones while using it on Hulu and Amazon. Let us check on this together and sort this out in timely manner.

Since you have mentioned that you have no issues in Xbox One, there could be possibility the an update is needed to be installed or the apps need to release an update to have better audio set-up.

Please contact the support of the specific apps for more assistance - Hulu Support and Amazon Support.



We look forward to your response. Kindly let us know, if there is any misunderstanding or clarifications of our description by sending us a reply.



Sincerely,



Xbox Forum Moderator

Microsoft Community

Thanks, now I check, but I would like information, with the audio settings of the headphones on XBOX One, any non-surround headphones, even stereo become virtual surround ??
Or do I need a certain type of headphones to have surround sound?

So....

Since nobody has given an answer yet (the link for xbox troubleshooting doesnt even mention in-game settings), let me try to explain whats happening. Windows Sonic as well as Dolby Atmos for Headphones downmix a surround signal to stereo in a way that makes
it seem as if you're listening to surround sound. If you set your Game audio to Headphones the Game will not output 7.1 Surround sound but either pure Stereo or already have done the work that sonic is supposed to do. So, if your game has built in surround
sound (or binaural sound) for headphones turn off sonic and use that or use the speaker settings and turn on sonic. Dont turn on both or sonic will try to make a surround sound out of a binaural stereo signal. Trust me, that's not a good listening experience.

Had the same problem playing a DVD through the Blu-ray Player app. I got it to work by changing the audio to stereo instead of 5.1 Surround. Hopefully a short term solution.

Edited after the reply email would have been sent

It's the new series x wireless one. Microsoft wireless headset

I can't find any info on what audio device you pick when presented with options for surround, headphones, stereo etc.

It's not about testing the sound it's about making sure you pick the correct in game device for audio. Testing in the Dolby app doesn't give you a choice of audio device, it just works. At a system level the Xbox & PC will automatically have Atmos for Headphones selected in the system audio settings but once in game it's unclear which audio option to choose for the kind of output device you have from the games settings.

A good example of a new game with those choices is Battlefield 2042 on Xbox series consoles and almost every game on PC.

Do you select surround which is Atmos, headphones which fake Atmos, or stereo because the system is supposed to be processing audio into 3d audio?

It's very unclear.