Xbox Series X - no dedicated digital sound output

Mike Brannigan · Nov 10, 2020

Well I wish I had done more research before my Series X arrived today.

My Xbox One X has an optical digital sound output as I use it as my 4K Ultra HD Blu Ray player (please don't bother telling me to stream stuff I will never own, I like to watch my movies over and over and have nearly a thousand of them on DVD, Blu Ray and
4K).

So I'm now stuck paying out for a dedicated 4K player as my AMP (and no I do not want to have to spend huge sums of cash on a new AV Amp), will not not take audio from the HDMI cable, but then again why would I want to put both sound and vision down one
cable then loop it though an AMP instead of picture direct to TV and sound direct to AMP.

This is a huge set back and I have now read all the interviews etc and frankly they are rubbish citing a few dollars more for a dedicated digital output on a $500 dollar box.

I am hugely disappointed with the Series X for this simple omission.

:)

ROBIN H 25

I'm in a similar situation...

I use astro a50 gen 2 headset for my audio through optical port, without the optical port on the Series X my £299 astro headset is useless, just had order and spend another £299 for the astro a50 gen 4 to work with the Series X,

I would have rather have paid an extra £5-£10 more for the Series X console for it to have an optical port than having to pay out £299 for a new headset

I use a 4K monitor but it has no speakers, so I'm stuck with no audio at all for the Series X until I get my new headset.

The Lion Turtle

The Xbox One doesn't currently output surround sound. However, Microsoft is working on it and will be updating the Xbox One to output in surround sound soon.

support.xbox.com/.../digital-sound-not-working

Kathy A.

Hello!

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community.

We understand that you are trying to find a way for your surround sound system to work like it use to. It sounds like the issue may be related to the changes in audio options on the Xbox Series X.

One thing you can try is to change the audio output format on your Xbox Series X to "DTS Digital Surround" instead of "Dolby Digital" if available. This may help to restore the 5.1 surround sound that you were previously experiencing.

Additionally, you may want to check the settings on your Denon receiver to ensure that it is set up to receive and process the correct audio format. You may need to check the user manual or contact the manufacturer for your receiver to determine the correct settings.

If those steps above are already tried, we would like to ask for these details:

May we know what is the make and model of your TV?
What are the options you have for Bitstream format aside from Dolby Digital?
Have you tried playing a game on this set up: Xbox audio option to "Dolby Digital" and my receiver to "Dolby PLII"? Will the rear speakers not continue to output audio, or it will output audio in selective timeframe.

Last resort for this is to upgrade your receiver however, let us exhaust all options first before upgrading.

Sincerely,

Microsoft Community Moderator

EagleK23

The Nov 27 update seems to have killed digital audio output from my 360.

The boot sound effect when the xbox logo comes up still works in full surround, but all sounds after that no longer work through the fiber optic digital audio output.

Zacabeb

It seems that either the sound bar does not have a Dolby Digital decoder, or that the TV does not pass the Dolby Digital signal through. When the Xbox 360 boots up, it outputs in 2-channel stereo until it starts the dashboard and reads the system settings.

A workaround is to set the audio output settings on the Xbox 360 to "Digital Stereo". This should make the sound work.

What model is the sound bar and which model Xbox 360 do you have (traditional or Xbox 360 S)?

Xbox Series X - no dedicated digital sound output