Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple TV 4K - Low Volume after 13.4.6

triangletechie

triangletechie

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Apr 21, 2017
1,016
1,748
NC
I'm not sure if this is the case for anyone else, but I've noticed the volume seems to have been lowered after 13.4.6. I have a Sonos Beam and when I watch using the ATV, I have to now turn the volume up much higher than before. It sounds a little lifeless now.

I also have a 2019 LG TV with ATV app and the volume sounds much better using it. The volume level doesn't have to be cranked up so much and the audio sounds much fuller.
 
I’ve had volume issues for a while but they seemed worse for a while-maybe after I updated. I’m on the 14 beta now and the volume seems at least consistent now.
 
I'm at a loss. For some reason, volume is low using the ATV or Xbox One X. But using the Roku Ultra, LG TV, and my Sony 4K BD player, the sound is loud like it should be. Everything is connected by HDMI through the Sonos Beam.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jairopena
is it all volume low?
just speech?
just the "background noise"?


In the TV settings, sound "HDMI input audio format", check the ports, see if some of the ports don't match the others, and those line up with the ones you're having issues with.

in the aTV, check the following under settings -> video and audio ->
reduce loud sounds -- off
audio mode -- auto
audio format -> change format --- off


There are also the night mode and speech enhancement in the beam, but that shouldn't vary from source to source on the TV.

Have you tried unplugging everything from power for a bit?
have you tired unplugging and re-seating the HDMI cable?
 
triangletechie said:
I'm at a loss. For some reason, volume is low using the ATV or Xbox One X. But using the Roku Ultra, LG TV, and my Sony 4K BD player, the sound is loud like it should be. Everything is connected by HDMI through the Sonos Beam.
Click to expand...
What is your audio setting set to? Dolby Digital 5.1?
 
The ATV just sounds lifeless. There's no oomph like there is using the Roku, UHD player and even my Directv receiver. The surrounds are barely audible. It honestly sounds like crappy tv speakers.

The Beam is connected by optical to my LG TV. I've swapped out HDMI cables on the ATV. The audio setting has been DD 5.1 and stereo and the same tiny sound results on both.
 
I had low volume for iTunes content, but choosing "Stereo" (all my setup has) instead of "Auto" in the Audio Settings fixed it.

For some reason having "Auto" on made content, especially dialogue audio very low.
 
Go to the Settings on Apple TV, then to Video and Audio.

Audio format: By default, Apple TV uses the best audio format available.

You can change the audio format if you’re low volume problems with playback. Select Audio Format, then select Change Format and choose either Dolby Atmos, Dolby Digital 5.1, or Stereo.
 
triangletechie said:
I'm not sure if this is the case for anyone else, but I've noticed the volume seems to have been lowered after 13.4.6. I have a Sonos Beam and when I watch using the ATV, I have to now turn the volume up much higher than before. It sounds a little lifeless now.

I also have a 2019 LG TV with ATV app and the volume sounds much better using it. The volume level doesn't have to be cranked up so much and the audio sounds much fuller.
Click to expand...

Once I saw your post, it dawned on me, this is my issue. I was curious why I needed to adjust the volume up higher on the receiver. I thought it was just me, but it is the AppleTV which is not the same. The volume coming out of it is markedly lower. What used to be set at a volume of "14" is now needing to be set at "22". Granted those are arbitrary volume settings, and not DB settings.

I have noticed the volume difference on Itunes purchases, App Channel content, and self made content. Setting this to "Stereo" is not productive. That is simply locking the audio stream to a single format.

It worked as expected, before I did the last update. Now it doesn't. Which means my Entertainment system is not broken. Only ONE things has changed, the OS on the AppleTV.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: roronl
BellsWhistles said:
Once I saw your post, it dawned on me, this is my issue. I was curious why I needed to adjust the volume up higher on the receiver. I thought it was just me, but it is the AppleTV which is not the same. The volume coming out of it is markedly lower. What used to be set at a volume of "14" is now needing to be set at "22". Granted those are arbitrary volume settings, and not DB settings.

I have noticed the volume difference on Itunes purchases, App Channel content, and self made content. Setting this to "Stereo" is not productive. That is simply locking the audio stream to a single format.

It worked as expected, before I did the last update. Now it doesn't. Which means my Entertainment system is not broken. Only ONE things has changed, the OS on the AppleTV.
Click to expand...
yeah, it definitely wasn't this quiet a few months ago. It's unusable now.
 
Any news on how to resolve this? tvOS 14.0.2 and still the same issue. Restoring did not help either.
 
I have the same issue. The volume is low and flat. No such problem with my Roku. I’m running the latest tvOS version.
 
I see Apple will not address this as only a few notice the difference. As someone said before it is unusable! Before this issue I had my receiver at 15 volume level and now it needs over 28 and I don’t think the level of depth is the same as other devices. I think the only app that works fine is Apple TV+, hope this is not on purpose to make this app sound “better” than the others.
 
For me the issue is just with the ATV Netflix app. The volume levels all seem closely matched between the various catch-up apps (eg BBC iPlayer), Apple TV+ and Prime but Netflix needs a generous dose of additional volume. The same increase is needed when using a stereo-only soundbar on one of my ATV4Ks or in the various multichannel audio offerings on my main 7.2 system's ATV4K.

It would be great if Apple offered the ability to tweak the output volume offsets of installed apps and the main volume itself.
 
RobbieTT said:
For me the issue is just with the ATV Netflix app. The volume levels all seem closely matched between the various catch-up apps (eg BBC iPlayer), Apple TV+ and Prime but Netflix needs a generous dose of additional volume. The same increase is needed when using a stereo-only soundbar on one of my ATV4Ks or in the various multichannel audio offerings on my main 7.2 system's ATV4K.

It would be great if Apple offered the ability to tweak the output volume offsets of installed apps and the main volume itself.
Click to expand...
I also am noticing it mostly on Netflix. When I use my Built in Android TV Netflix my volume is at a 15 and my Apple TV is at a 30. So there’s definitely something up with the volume level. I hope it gets fixed.
 
Confuzzeled23 said:
I also am noticing it mostly on Netflix. When I use my Built in Android TV Netflix my volume is at a 15 and my Apple TV is at a 30. So there’s definitely something up with the volume level. I hope it gets fixed.
Click to expand...
They won’t unless a million people reports it. I believe they aren’t even aware of this. If something as obvious as supporting true 24p for real streaming and they haven’t fix it I don’t think this will. To me, for everything in Atmos I see no change. The app that has significant loss is Prime Video.
 
Last edited:
  • Sad
Reactions: Confuzzeled23
My 10 cents. I've purchased a Skullcandy Crusher Wireless headset for the sole purpose of listening to movies streamed with Apple TV HD. OK sound is fantastic and to my liking but I have to crank up the volume with the remote to Max (even hear the faint bleep warning loud volume could be harming) but if I don't do so, the movie or music is inaudible. Though even at Max there is no distortion at all. Becomes audible at 3/4 at least on the vertical slider. Does the same on iPhone, iMac, iPad whatever the model I own. Plus the ATV remote takes control of the volume of the headset so its up and down volume controls are kind of disabled. Googled during one day and one night to find out if the headset has a volume limitation or the limitation is coming from Apple. Found only complaints but no solutions. One thing though: I connected an old wired headset to iMac and I could control the volume up to harming my hearing and, surprise, using wires to connect the Skullcandy Crusher to iMac, the volume went up but would distort a bit more than the older headset. Does that mean the Skullcandy can have its volume pumped up and ATV doesn't do it? Could it be an Airplay or Bluetooth thing. BTW, movies casted from iMac to TV via ATV, image and sound are plain horrible. Again: crank up the volume to max on the iMac and the ATV. At least, PQ from the ATV from apps like Prime Video or ATV+ is stellar. That on an old 2015 LG HD 1080 TV with no degradation (yet) in the image.
 
Just found this thread after suddenly having this happen this morning. It appears that somewhere between Apple, Samsung, and Sonos there was a software update that changed the behavior. I put the Samsung into HDMI-eARC mode auto, audio format pass-through mode, Atmos compatibility mode on, and the Apple TV Audio Format to Auto, Atmos Available and the volume went back to normal. Not sure whether that’s the general fix but seems to work for now.
 
I've tried every setting and the Apple TV, while sounding a little better, just doesn't match the audio output of the Xbox One Series X using the same audio settings. The X1 audio using the ATV app sounds so much more full with better rear channel audio. I decided that when I use the Apple TV to just pair it with 2 Homepods. The output with those is good enough for streaming. Maybe the next Apple TV won't have this problem.
 
I believe the issue is with the decoding inside the ATV. While LPCM is supposedly better considering is uncompressed, all streaming services output in DD+ so it has to decode it and the change it to PCM to deliver the sound. Maybe something’s wrong in this step but I hope the next one allows passthrough as streaming directly from the internal tv apps as well as the nvidia shield gives better full dynamic range in audio.
 
Any hopes with 14.5 beta? The difference with bitstream is huge where LPCM 5.1 has no punch, like it’s muffled.
 
I’m having this issue as well, which I thought I was crazy. What I’ve been doing is restarting the Apple TV and then the audio is full and louder. I have to do this here and there as when I start the Apple TV back up sometimes I notice is quiet again. I’m amazed not more people have noticed this as I have multiple Apple TV’s and all same issue.
 
I came here because of the same issue. I turned up the volume on the remote of the bluetooth device, and in turn, it increase the tv volume. Thank you, everyone, for your suggestions!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back