Xbox One sells really well, there’s no doubt about that. Perhaps not as well as PS4 from Sony, but it is undoubtedly a solid gaming console. And it’s about to get better. Microsoft has confirmed that an update is soon to be released that will bring several new features to Xbox One consoles, and among these is support for bitstream passthrough.
Essentially, Xbox One will be able to decode audio natively once the update is installed. The update supports all formats of audio bitstreaming, including the more recent immersive audio technologies like DTS:X.
To give you a bit of a background, Dolby Atmos debuted in 2012 on Pixar’s Brave, and eventually made its way into AV receivers and Blu-ray players. It is now considered by many to be the new standard for immersive audio.
DTS, on the other hand, was the underdog until DTS:X came to be. In many ways, it still is. However, DTS:X dynamically adapts to the speaker setup. As explained by CNET:
“Rather than requiring cinemas and home users to install a set number of channels, object-based soundtracks are more akin to a globe as opposed to the “five points on a map” of a traditional 5.1 mix. Object-based cinema soundtracks consist of a rendering in 3D space made of “objects”, up to 128 for Atmos and unlimited for DTS:X, which are designed to adapt to whatever speakers are in a cinema in real time.”
So that’s basically what’s coming to Xbox One when the update drops. Microsoft has also confirmed several other features, such as Beam Streaming, a refreshed home section and a more intuitive Guide. More about Beam Streaming here.
Xbox’s Mike Ybarra confirmed that the update is coming “later this week”, and that was on the 29th (yesterday). That means it will drop before the weekend is over.
To be clear, these are all features from the Creators Update for Xbox One gaming consoles. The Windows 10 equivalent is coming on April 11, but the best features for gaming seem to be coming ahead of that.
Great news for Xbox-ers. Stay tuned!
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