How is Apple TV sound quality?

[kavika411]

This may seem like a silly inquiry, but I'm very interested in learning from "regular people" about the sound quality of songs played through Apple TV, preferably people who have ripped at lossless and have hooked up Apple TV to their stereo. Does it sound like you are playing a CD? Is there much intereference? Can you tell that it's a wireless signal?

Thank you for your thoughts.

 

[michaelsaxon]

I'm no audiophile, but I think it sounds excellent on my home theater system. I'm streaming off of my Mac Pro on a G network and it is hooked to a Panasonic 5.1 system with an optical audio cable.

I noticed today that the sound was particularly rich with great depth.

 

[Maxwell Smart]

I think mine sounds great, I've hooked it up via optical and standard and both seem to be of very high quality with rich sound.

 

[localoid]

I'm no audiophile, but I think it sounds excellent on my home theater system. I'm streaming off of my Mac Pro on a G network and it is hooked to a Panasonic 5.1 system with an optical audio cable.

I noticed today that the sound was particularly rich with great depth.

Have you been able to get true 5.1 sound via toslink? I ask because tv's 5.1 capability (or not) has been kicked around in various threads but I have yet to see anyone say they're actually done a real-world test, e.g., playing an iTunes movie (known to have AAC surround sound) to see (errr.. hear) if it will actually play back in discrete 5.1 surround via tv's digital outs....

 

[kavika411]

Thank you for your responses to my post. I too am very interested to learn, as was brought up above, whether anyone has successfully moved 5.1 content into iTunes, through Apple TV and through his/her stereo. I want to say that a poster named Chicagdan was successful in moving 5.1 into iTunes and described it in a thread. Let's see whether the next step is possible.

 

[mduser63]

Mine's got an audio quality problem, but other than that, the sound quality is fine.

 

[localoid]

Mine's got an audio quality problem, but other than that, the sound quality is fine.

I just read that thread... and thinking back to what's been mentioned about the lack of a volume control on the remote bring me to ask the question -- is there any kind of volume control (software, etc.) via the atv (or software interface to it, etc.) that the user has any sort of control over volume? Just curious... about how that aspect is handled on this little device.

 

[mduser63]

I just read that thread... and thinking back to what's been mentioned about the lack of a volume control on the remote bring me to ask the question -- is there any kind of volume control (software, etc.) via the atv (or software interface to it, etc.) that the user has any sort of control over volume? Just curious... about how that aspect is handled on this little device.

No, there doesn't seem to be any audio control at all other than turning sound check (same as on iTunes and iPod) on or off. No volume control whatsoever.

 

[PhatMerg]

Horrible sound quality on home audio

I would love to get the Apple TV but I can not get decent sound quality on my home stereo when playing my iPod through it or when streaming my iTunes library to it. The sound is muffled, dull and doesn't compare to a CD. Has anyone else ever had this problem?

 

[localoid]

I would love to get the Apple TV but I can not get decent sound quality on my home stereo when playing my iPod through it or when streaming my iTunes library to it. The sound is muffled, dull and doesn't compare to a CD. Has anyone else ever had this problem?

Audio compression has been called the Diabolus in Musica by listeners with discerning ears...

But I find even what iTunes is selling to be "decent"... something like a little better than FM Radio "decent"...

 

[n-abounds]

I would love to get the Apple TV but I can not get decent sound quality on my home stereo when playing my iPod through it or when streaming my iTunes library to it. The sound is muffled, dull and doesn't compare to a CD. Has anyone else ever had this problem?

Yea, what compression are you using there?

 

[Cult Follower]

the sound quality is very important so keep the feedback coming.

 

[PhatMerg]

Yea, what compression are you using there?

Not sure what compression I'm using, how do I find out?

 

[omnirune]

Have you been able to get true 5.1 sound via toslink? I ask because tv's 5.1 capability (or not) has been kicked around in various threads but I have yet to see anyone say they're actually done a real-world test, e.g., playing an iTunes movie (known to have AAC surround sound) to see (errr.. hear) if it will actually play back in discrete 5.1 surround via tv's digital outs....

Please review my posts:

Tested this last night with analog cable and optical cable (And added the 720P trailer through itunes). The receiver picks up the sound as PCM. As previously confirmed, the Apple TV does NOT output surround through either audio connection. Unfortunately.

I personally have been using Nero recode, preserving the 5.1 surround by using AAC 5.1, and encoding using h.264 @ 1800 bit rate. The resulting file is approximately 2.7 GB for a 2 1/2 hour movie, which includes the 5.1 AAC, h.264 video, and subtitle track (track 3). The image quality is absolutely damn near DVD quality.

I am using a PC for the program, a 1.6 Core 2 Duo w/1 GB of ram. With 2 pass encoding, it takes about 3 hours a movie. I let this run over night, as I can queue files.

Some important notes. Firstly, the Apple TV CANNOT output 5.1 surround. My receiver picks it up as stereo from both analog out and optical out. I can force Dolby Prologic, but this isn't true 5.1 surround. I have left the 5.1 soundtrack in hopes of a future patch that will pass this information through. Secondly, the subtitle track is not usable from itunes or AppleTV, but again I hope for a future patch.

Lastly, iTunes 7.1 CANNOT add tags or album art to MP4 files with 5.1 AAC. Hopefully this will be patched in a future release.

I have used the above settings in hope of future proofing my encodes. I hope this helps you.

I hope that helps you.