tvOS 26 - Atmos upgrade broke legacy Dolby Digital Surround Sound

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Level 1

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tvOS 26 - Atmos upgrade broke legacy Dolby Digital Surround Sound

After tvOS 26 upgrade - all native audio moved to Dolby Atmos and broke legacy Dolby Digital stereo head end. Dialogue in Apple TV+ shows and other native Apple media player Atmos audio is gone now. The only way to get it back is to switch the audio to stereo only, which ruins the surround sound experience. The conversion 5.1 in audio settings does not work. Is Apple going to fix this? It's really ruining the audio experience and you can't downgrade to the previous tvOS. Making me want to cancel Apple TV+. Does anyone have a work around that doesn't kill my surround sound? Stereo is a Denon AVR-S570BT.

Posted on Dec 2, 2025 3:46 AM

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Answer 1

Dec 2, 2025 8:23 AM in response to LJIndiana

Multichannel PCM 5.1 (best sound + restored dialog)

Disable Atmos only → keep DD5.1

As a last resort: Stereo only (functional, but kills surround)

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Answer 2

LJIndiana Author

Level 1

21 points

Dec 2, 2025 4:50 PM in response to azaksalmarzur28

That is not how it works since tvOS 26 was installed. Multichannel PCM (Auto mode) & DD5.1 both lose all dialogue and quiet sound overall - the only one that works is Stereo Only which kills the surround as you state. There is no option available to turn off Dolby Atmos on my Apple TV. That is the reason i created this inquiry. My stereo head end is compatible with Dolby Digital and before tvOS 26, DD5.1 worked just fine. Dolby Digital 5.1 compatibility is broken with tvOS26 - when is Apple going to fix this? I should not have buy a new head end unit when Apple has a DD5.1 compatibility mode.

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