Xbox One X no Dolby Atmos using Samsung HW-N950 & Samsung QE65Q9FN 4KTV

Hello Lord C Vandingo!

These types of issues can be frustrating we're here to help. I understand you're having trouble with your Xbox One X playing audio in Dolby Atmos off of your Samsung HW-N950 & Samsung QE65Q9FN 4KTV set up. Take a look at this helpful support article: Windows Sonic and Dolby Atmos headset and speakers options and help on Xbox One. Give the options or steps within a try and let us know with a reply how it goes.

Hello Lord C Vandingo!

These types of issues can be frustrating we're here to help. I understand you're having trouble with your Xbox One X playing audio in Dolby Atmos off of your Samsung HW-N950 & Samsung QE65Q9FN 4KTV set up. Take a look at this helpful support article: Windows Sonic and Dolby Atmos headset and speakers options and help on Xbox One. Give the options or steps within a try and let us know with a reply how it goes.

this link only gives help for headphones use. 

not with the soundbar

anything else you can help with? like maybe the way the xbox process' Atmos?

Hi Lord C Vandingo,

This is actually something that has already been reported and is actively being worked on in the Xbox Insider program. There are some issues with HDMI ARC connections between the Xbox One X and audio receivers or soundbars with relation to the auto detect resolution settings for 4K from what I have seen reported here and surround sound settings are therefore affected. While this is investigated I've seen a troubleshooting step that has helped others before.

First you need to switch in display and sound TV connection from Auto-detect to HDMI. Then you'll have a poor resolution. You'll have to switch to 1080P and then accept all the options available in advanced video options and on the right for games and apps, don't forget to select : Allow 4k. When you'll have done this, you'll need to go into audio output and select under speaker audio HDMI audio and Dolby Atmos for home theatre. Then you'll just need to get back to Display and sound and go back to Display Auto-detect and then go back to 4k UHD resolution.

Give that a try and let us know if it lets you select Dolby Atmos with 4K UHD with your current setup.

Thanks for your reply and appreicate being told its a problem that has been identified and worked on.

Unfortunately the work around wasn’t successful as i was unable to select allow 4k with the error saying the Tv wasn’t allowing it(a top of the range samsung 2018 QLED) 

Also after selecting it back to auto detect and allow 4k the sound options went back to Stereo.

appreciate the help but as you can imagine im very frustrated as i have spent £4000 on equipment recommended by Xbox and listed on the dolby atmos access website.

Hi Lord C Vandingo,

I'm sorry to hear that this did not work for you. Out of curiosity, what is the result if you connect the Xbox to the soundbar and then the soundbar to the TV? Do you get video passthrough or does the soundbar not process the video and you have no signal? Also can you explain what auto game mode is, if that is a TV setting, but I don't recall an Xbox setting on this. Also FreeSync is only currently available on monitors that support dynamic refresh rates so can you expand what you mean when you say you will lose out on auto game mode and FreeSync when you connect directly to the soundbar?

The Xbox is able to recognise the Dolby Atmos capability on the soundbar if connected directly .

However FreeSync (variable refresh rate ) is not selectable on the display and sound settings page of the Xbox X.

Free Sync is available on my Samsung Q9 and is an option in the game mode menu of the TV.

Game mode is a TV mode that allows low latency on Samsung (and other manufacturers) TV's.

My TV allows Auto Low Latency and this doesn't work when plugged directly into the soundbar (Samsung HW-N950) despite Auto Low -Latency being recognised on the Display & Sound settings page on the Xbox X. The TV will not allow this when the Xbox is plugged into the soundbar via HDMI then into the TV by HDMI ARC.

Auto Game mode or Auto Low Latency turns on game mode while playing games but turns game mode off automatically should i use a blu ray disc for example.

So two modes made available to me by Xbox and Samsung currently don't work in tandem in the correct manner.

With something this complex it's a difficult one as tracking down the exact cause of the issue is going to be tough. Hopefully they can get something worked out, but there are 3 different companies involved with various differen bits of hardware, firmware, and software which interact in different ways.

Thanks for your efforts in reporting the issue though