Apple Seeds tvOS 14.6 Release Candidate to Developers

Monday May 17, 2021 10:09 am PDT by Juli Clover

Apple today seeded a release candidate version of an upcoming tvOS 14.6 update to developers for testing purposes, with the new beta coming one week after Apple seeded the third beta.

apple tv 4k design clue
Designed for the fourth and fifth-generation Apple TV models, the tvOS 14.5 developer beta can be downloaded onto the ‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌Apple TV‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌ via a profile that's installed using Xcode.

Other than new releases, tvOS updates are often minor in scale, focusing on under-the-hood bug fixes and improvements rather than major outward-facing changes. The tvOS 14.6 update adds support for new Apple Music features, including Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos and Lossless Audio.

Spatial Audio offers an immersive audio experience that makes it sound like music is coming from all around you, while Lossless Audio will provide higher-quality songs that sound exactly like they do when artists record them in the studio.

At launch in June, thousands of tracks will feature Spatial Audio support, and more than 20,000 songs will support Lossless Audio. By the end of the year, 75 million songs will support it.

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Top Rated Comments

Realityck

71 months ago

Thank you. That does help me understand the difference.

Though, isn’t Apple advertising that the Apple TV will play (Dolby atmos) Apple Music w/ Spatial Audio through AirPods? And the same isn’t true of Dolby atmos movies (on Apple TV thru AirPods)… so it still feels like a discrepancy exists. No?

With their press release ('https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/05/apple-music-announces-spatial-audio-and-lossless-audio/') they are not associating it with Apple TV, the only mention is at the bottom of the PR with about Apple Music which is represented on all five of Apple's software platforms.

I made a comment earlier I thought that tvOS could support lossless audio from Apple Music, as it a digital streaming receiver outputting audio over HDMI to a AVR for example. But the comment about comparing Apple’ Spatial Audio to Microsoft Windows/Xbox 3D gaming audio environment Dolby Atmos for Headphones suggests that its possible you might see it more utilized for Apple Arcade rather then Apple Music. Now that Apple has removed the ATV4K control with accelerometer and gyroscope, is there another gaming control in the works for gaming or just use third party controllers?

Apple fans that are hoping that film/TV content that offer Dolby Atmos audio tracks that are outputted as only stereo for headphones, have hope that Apple Spatial Audio could be used with ATV4K, but then that is not related to Apple Music and so far no beta is encompassing that yet. So yes you have a continuing discrepancy. :)

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

EricNau

71 months ago

Weird, right? Boo.

Weird indeed. And terribly confusing.

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

JSL1

71 months ago

Every time I see that new remote... :p
Can't wait 'til Friday!

Just posted News, FAQs, User Guides and Tips & Tricks for the new Siri remote on AVSforum.
Includes video of the new Siri remote.
https://www.avsforum.com/threads/new-apple-siri-remote-2021-owner’s-thread-faq-posts-1-6.3196795/#post-60722298 ('https://www.avsforum.com/threads/new-apple-siri-remote-2021-owner%E2%80%99s-thread-faq-posts-1-6.3196795/#post-60722298')

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

srbNYC

71 months ago

The tvOS 14.6 update adds support for new Apple Music features ('https://www.macrumors.com/2021/05/17/apple-music-spatial-audio-announced/'), including Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos and Lossless Audio.

...but not for any TV offerings?

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

EricNau

71 months ago

Apple’ Spatial Audio is the company’s answer to Dolby Atmos for Headphones, designed for the AirPods Pro true wireless earbuds and AirPods Max over-ear headphones. This version of spatial audio is really dynamic EQ which is tied by the movement of your head, making it sound like 2 channel audio is coming from all over your room position. :)

Thank you. That does help me understand the difference.

Though, isn’t Apple advertising that the Apple TV will play (Dolby atmos) Apple Music w/ Spatial Audio through AirPods? And the same isn’t true of Dolby atmos movies (on Apple TV thru AirPods)… so it still feels like a discrepancy exists. No?

Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)