Xbox One X frustrations.

[cannonballZ]

SvennoJ said:

Soundbars are generally better than TV speakers (depending on the tv and soundbar quality)  but won't give you as much power nor as much depth in the surround as dedicated speakers. They work by reflecting the sound off the walls and ceiling (for atmos effects). Results vary depending on your room. I have high vaulted ceiling, no back and side wall since it's all open so there's not much to reflect the sound from.

I assume soundbars have hdmi 2.1 pass through as they are relatively new. It's basically an amp with build in speaker array. You connect your devices to the soundbar and use that for switching. You'lll still need HMDI ARC or an optical lead from tv to the soundbar for apps running on tv. So getting dolby atmos from Netflix running as a tv app won't be possible, unless your tv specifically supports that with for example hdmi out for audio.

LG was going to support that on their flagship tvs however
https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/6/28/15887986/lg-oled-tv-dolby-atmos-arc-petition

And just in, XBox One X seems to have problems with dolby atmos as well
https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnarcher/2017/11/12/xbox-one-x-is-having-issues-with-lgs-latest-oled-tvs/#c3d9e40371d5

It's the price you pay with cutting edge technology. However if you just want a simple soundbar and don't care about atmos, perfect surround or the biggest booms, a decent soundbar should do just fine. Personally I'll stick to my current 5.1 speaker setup, but I paid over $1000 per speaker, no soundbar is going to match that. Perhaps some day I'll replace my amp with one that supports hdmi 2.1. It still works great though and seems a bit of a waste to replace it just for video pass-through.

I have vaulted ceilings as well but my tv is on a wall. I think anything will be better than the tv speakers at this point. Thanks for the detailed reply btw, I appreciate it!