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Apple TV 4K , poor music sound quality when compared to pc


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I have both the apple TV and PC connected to my LG CX Via HDMI and have my Focal Bird 2.1 speakers connected to the TV by Optical 

 

I have noticed that streaming music streaming services when played from the Apple TV have very noticeable lower sound quality , highs are very suppressed and low end exaggerated 

 

Clearly i am not looking for audiophile grade audio but the difference between my Apple TV and PC is too noticeable and making music not enjoyable , an i would rather use my Apple TV for streaming music because of its ease of use but the noticeably  Lower SQ is preventing me from doing so , is there some sort of setting that can resolve this ?

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I'm just guessing, but I'd look at any audio settings on the TV. Is the data passed through digitally, or is it converted with some sort of EQ applied. Perhaps there's a setting to reduce loud sounds on the TV or something similar. I doubt it's the fault of the Apple TV. 

I write about Macs, music, and more at Kirkville.

Author of Take Control of macOS Media Apps

Co-host of The Next Track podcast.

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How does the music from your PC get to the TV? Is it streamed or via a wired connection? 

 

I'd suspect that the TV is doing something to the data that comes in via HDMI before outputting it via Toslink, but that's just a guess. The Apple TV doesn't do much; there is a Sound Check setting, and if that's on, turn it off, but there's nothing else (as far as I recall; not in front of my TV) that affect sound. 

I write about Macs, music, and more at Kirkville.

Author of Take Control of macOS Media Apps

Co-host of The Next Track podcast.

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Try swapping cables, but digital cables either work or they don't. I doubt you'd get a difference in sound quality. But it's easy enough to test. 

 

Again, do you have Sound Check on on the Apple TV? I find that normalization often deteriorates sound quality. 

I write about Macs, music, and more at Kirkville.

Author of Take Control of macOS Media Apps

Co-host of The Next Track podcast.

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Apple TV upsample (or downsample depending what are you sending to it) everything to 48 kHz which is a standard for video sound stuff.

 

It's not a "bitperfect" audio device.

 

Example: a 44.1 kHz audio file sent to Apple TV is upsampled to 48 kHz.

 

If you feed the Apple TV through AirPlay is potentially even worse: everything is flattened to 44.1 kHz first (due to the AirPlay protocol) and then, when reached the Apple TV, upsampled again to 48 kHz.

 

So, say, if you AirPlay a 96 kHz file, you get: 96 kHz -> 44.1 kHz -> 48 kHz.

 

I don't know if other kind of audio equalization is involved in the process.

 

That said, usually Apple TV audio isn't that bad (assuming that you accept the "non audiophile" processing described above).

 

You have mentioned "streaming services". Are you using specific apps on Apple TV to get those streaming services? Maybe they act differently on the Apple TV version if compared to the PC version.

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If your music source is 44.1kHz which would be most of them, Apple TV converts them to 48kHz first before outputting them. I just tested it in Tidal, iTunes, podcast, VLC and they all do this. So you’re not getting bit-perfect playback with Apple TV

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17 minutes ago, Phonautograph said:

All the hdmi ports in the tv have the same bandwidth 

But , Reseating my hdmi cable fixed this for some reason , i don’t understand 

 

thanks for your help 

Huh, I wouldn’t have expected that, but glad you found a simple solution. 

I write about Macs, music, and more at Kirkville.

Author of Take Control of macOS Media Apps

Co-host of The Next Track podcast.

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Well yeah i know that the Apple TV isn’t and audiophile streaming device but what i noticed is a huge difference in SQ , it was like the difference between a HomePod and a dedicated 2.1 studio setup , as the highs were extremely subdued and the lows exaggerated , cant really say what caused it but reseating the hdmi cable did fix it 

 

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