PS5 gaining Dolby Atmos support, benefiting HomePod home theater users
Wesley HilliardHomePod home theater
An upcoming PlayStation 5 update will bring Dolby Atmos support, benefitting users that have HomePods set up as home theater systems via Apple TV 4K and the HDMI ARC port.
Apple's larger HomePod, either generation, can output 5.1 or 7.1 Dolby Atmos audio. This comes in handy when using a HomePod stereo pair as a home theater output connected through Apple TV 4K via an ARC HDMI port.
PlayStation 5 owners with such a setup will soon be able to get even better audio through their system, thanks to an upcoming update. The update, currently in beta, adds support for outputting 3D Audio powered by Tempest 3D AudioTech technology as Dolby Atmos tracks.
That's a fancy way of saying PlayStation 5's proprietary 3D audio, previously reserved for compatible headphones, will now work with Dolby Atmos-compatible systems.
We're not PlayStationInsider, but this does tie back to Apple. Some users, like the author of this piece, use a pair of HomePods as their home theater output — and they happen to be compatible with Dolby Atmos.
Much of what makes Dolby Atmos audio work is the mixing. AppleInsider will have to test this feature with the HomePods to see how well they can reproduce the audio or if they fall flat in this specific use case.
HomePod mini technically supports Dolby Atmos, but not the 5.1 or 7.1 channel audio.
Sony rolled out the beta to testers on July 31 with no notice of when the final release would arrive. The public release tends to occur about a month after beta testing begins.
William Gallagher
Charles Martin
Andrew Orr
Malcolm Owen
Amber Neely
Christine McKee
3 Comments
That's nice.
Dolby Atmos is now the de facto standard for spatial audio.
I hope they add Dolby Vision support too.
I look forward to the full review on this. I really hope it doesn’t suck, because I’ve been looking for an excuse to get a second HomePod. And even though this isn’t Playstationinsider, I welcome any and all articles about ways that my Apple gear can enhance my gaming, and vice versa.
Was also super stoked for this, being the owner of a stereo pair of HomePods. Unfortunately, I’ve spent the better part of about three hours trying to figure out why there’s a few seconds of very noticeable audio lag when I choose Atmos rather than Linear PCM in the PS5’s sound settings, even with Pass Through and eARC turned on in my LG CX OLED tv’s settings menu 🙁 If anyone has any ideas, I am more than willing to listen.