Key takeaways
- Most homes get a more reliable result plugging the console directly into the TV and letting audio return to the soundbar over ARC or eARC, rather than routing the console through the bar itself.
- Only soundbars with a labelled HDMI IN port, not every model has one, can sit inline between a console and the TV for true video passthrough.
- The console's own audio output setting needs to be Bitstream or Auto, not a fixed PCM or uncompressed option, for a soundbar to decode Atmos or DTS:X correctly.
- The TV's digital audio output has to be set correctly as well when the console feeds through the TV, since a wrong setting there undoes a correct one on the console.
- The soundbar's own display during actual gameplay, not a settings menu on the console or TV, is the only reliable way to confirm the connection is working as intended.
The new console is still half out of its box, the soundbar has been sitting under the TV for a year, and there are at least three HDMI ports involved before a single game loads. Get the order wrong and the console still works. It just will not be at the resolution or the sound quality it is actually capable of, and nothing on screen will tell you that.
This is the order I use on every install, in stages rather than individual button presses, with a way to confirm each stage actually worked before moving to the next.
Before plugging anything in
Confirm what you are actually working with. A console capable of 4K at 120Hz, a current generation machine or a recent gaming PC, needs a cable and a path rated for that bandwidth, not just any HDMI lead from a drawer. An Ultra High Speed certified cable, rated to 48 Gbps, is the safe choice regardless of which topology you end up using.
Check whether the soundbar even has an HDMI IN port at all. Some do not. Soundbars built around a single eARC connection to the TV, several Sonos models among them, have no video passthrough input whatsoever, which settles the next decision before you have made it.
Update firmware on the TV and the soundbar before wiring anything new in. An out of date soundbar has caused more of my failed installs than a bad cable ever has, and it is the one step people skip because it feels unrelated to the actual connection.
Have the remote for both the TV and the soundbar within reach as well, not just the console’s own controller. Several of the settings below live in menus that neither the console nor a universal remote can reach on their own.
Deciding whether the console plugs into the TV or the soundbar
There are two valid ways to wire this, and only one of them works for every soundbar. The first: the console plugs directly into a spare HDMI input on the TV, and the TV sends audio back to the soundbar over its ARC or eARC port. This works regardless of whether the bar has a passthrough input, and it is what I recommend by default.
The second: the console plugs into the soundbar’s own HDMI IN port, and the bar’s HDMI OUT, labelled ARC or eARC, connects to the TV. This only works on soundbars built for it, something like a Samsung HW-Q990D or an LG S95TR, and it caps the video signal at whatever that specific model’s chipset supports, not necessarily the console’s full capability.
Routing the console through the soundbar makes sense mainly when a bar with several HDMI inputs is acting as a hub for multiple devices. For a single console and a single TV, plugging directly into the TV is simpler and rarely costs anything in quality.
Whichever path you choose, the ceiling on 4K and 120Hz support is set by the weakest link in that chain, not by the console alone. The specific bandwidth reasons a soundbar sometimes caps a signal the console is otherwise capable of are covered in passing 4K 120Hz through a soundbar.
Matching the console’s own audio output setting
Every current console has its own audio output menu, separate entirely from the TV’s settings, and it needs to agree with everything downstream of it. On an Xbox, this sits under the audio output section of the system settings, with a choice between an uncompressed option and a Bitstream option for Dolby formats.
On a PlayStation console, the equivalent field sits under the audio output settings for the connected HDMI device, offering Bitstream choices for Dolby or DTS alongside a Linear PCM option. In both cases, Bitstream is what lets the soundbar or receiver do its own decoding, the same distinction covered in full in bitstream versus PCM, and which to choose.
Leaving a console on an uncompressed or uncompressed-only PCM setting is not wrong exactly, it will still produce sound, but it hands the soundbar audio that has already been reduced before it ever reaches the bar’s own decoder. For a soundbar with real Atmos or DTS:X capability, that setting quietly wastes what you paid for.
Setting the TV’s audio output to match
If the console plugs into the TV rather than the soundbar directly, the TV’s own digital audio output setting still has to be correct, and a wrong setting here undoes a perfectly correct one on the console. This is the same field, usually labelled Digital Output Audio Format or similar, covered at length in TV audio output settings that break your sound.
It needs to be set to Bitstream or Passthrough, not PCM, for the console’s own correctly configured Atmos or DTS:X output to survive the trip through the TV and back out to the soundbar. Skipping this step is the single most common reason a correctly configured console still ends up sounding flat through the bar.
Confirming the connection actually worked
Check video first. Most consoles have a display settings screen that reports the resolution, refresh rate, and HDR status actually being sent, separate from what the TV or soundbar claims to support. Run that test screen and confirm it matches what the hardware is supposed to deliver before trusting it during actual gameplay.
Check audio second, using the soundbar’s own display or companion app rather than any menu on the console or TV. Load a game or a scene known to carry Atmos, and confirm the bar itself reports Dolby Atmos or Dolby Digital Plus rather than plain stereo or a generic PCM label.
I set up a living room system last spring, console into the TV, soundbar on eARC, every setting seemingly correct, and the bar still showed plain stereo during gameplay. The console’s own audio field had reverted to an uncompressed default during a system update days earlier, invisible until I actually checked the bar’s display mid-game rather than trusting the settings menu alone.
That single check, watching the bar’s own display during a few minutes of real content rather than reading a settings screen, catches more silent failures than every other step in this list combined.
If the picture or sound is still wrong afterward
Resolution stuck below what the console should deliver usually means a cable or port limitation, not a setting. Confirm the cable is genuinely Ultra High Speed rated, and confirm the port itself supports the full bandwidth needed, a mismatch covered in whether you need a special cable for eARC.
Missing or reduced audio despite correct settings on both the console and the TV usually comes down to the port the soundbar is actually connected to. A cable plugged into an ordinary HDMI input rather than the one marked ARC or eARC will never carry a return audio signal, regardless of how every other setting is configured, and that specific mistake is covered in HDMI eARC explained from the connection up.
- Confirmed the soundbar has an HDMI IN port before routing the console through it
- Console audio output set to Bitstream, not an uncompressed or fixed PCM option
- TV digital audio output set to Bitstream or Passthrough if the console feeds through the TV
- Resolution and refresh rate confirmed on the console’s own display test screen
- Atmos or Dolby Digital Plus confirmed on the soundbar’s own display during real gameplay
Questions readers ask about this
Plugging into the TV and letting audio return over ARC or eARC works with every soundbar and is the simpler, more reliable choice for a single console. Routing through the soundbar's own HDMI input only makes sense if the bar is acting as a hub for several devices at once, and only if it has that port at all.
This usually means either the cable is not rated for HDMI 2.1's full 48 Gbps, or the soundbar's own passthrough port caps out below 120Hz even though the console itself can produce it. Connecting the console directly to the TV instead removes the soundbar from the video path entirely and often solves it.
Both usually need attention. The console has its own audio output field, separate from the TV, and it needs to be set to Bitstream rather than an uncompressed or fixed PCM option for a soundbar to decode Atmos or DTS:X properly, regardless of what the TV is doing.
Only if the soundbar has more than one HDMI IN port, which is common on higher end models like a Samsung HW-Q990D but not on simpler bars with a single eARC connection. Otherwise, connect each console directly to a separate HDMI input on the TV instead.
Check first whether the soundbar is connected to the TV's port labelled ARC or eARC rather than an ordinary HDMI input, since only that port carries a return audio signal. If the port is correct, check that neither the console's nor the TV's digital audio output has been left on an incompatible fixed format.
About the author
Rahul Gupta
Rahul Gupta has spent nearly a decade quietly wiring living rooms, testing soundbars in every awkward apartment layout imaginable, and untangling the kind of HDMI handshake problems that make people give up on Atmos altogether. He writes here about what actually works when you get the boxes home—not what the spec sheet promises. If a piece of gear on this site earns a recommendation, it earned it in a real room with real furniture, not a lab.
