After confirming it earlier this year, Microsoft today officially announced that bitstream audio pass-through, including Dolby Atmos, will be available on Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs next year.
Dolby Atmos is an audio feature that claims to offer more precise sound. "You can hear where your allies and enemies are in three-dimensional space, Dolby gaming director Spencer Hooks said in a post on the Xbox Wire. "Snipers on the roof? You’ll hear them over your left shoulder and know where to aim to take them out. The same goes for an attacker with a jet pack hovering behind you."
The Xbox One is the first gaming console to support Dolby Atmos. Hooks said developers are "excited about using the new capabilities to make their games richer and more engaging." You will need a Dolby Atmos-supported speaker system or soundbar to hear the benefits. Alternatively, it will work with "virtually any pair of headphones," Hooks said.
Xbox Insiders can try out Atmos support via the Blu-ray player right now. It will become available for everyone across Xbox One and PC sometime in 2017, possibly as part of the Creators Update.
"At team Xbox, we are all gamers first, and bringing Dolby Atmos support to Xbox One and Windows 10 gaming next year will bring you even further inside the action and sound of your favorite titles," Xbox platform engineering boss Mike Ybarra said. "A big thank you to the team at Dolby for their partnership; we’re excited to share more with the Xbox community next year."
Microsoft also confirmed today that the bespoke bitstream pass-through feature is out now on Xbox One for Insiders. "This feature enables all Xbox consoles to pass Blu-ray audio data untouched to a user’s audio equipment, allowing your audio receiver or other audio device to produce a high quality, immersive sound experience," Microsoft said, adding that this was a top-requested feature.
Detailed instructions for how to enable bitstream pass-through on Xbox One are available here.
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