[Theronbo]

I've been using Apple Music app for streaming for a couple years now... since the moved to lossless format.

It's been working very well.

Complication: Apple Spatial format. Implementation is Dolby ATMOS.

I have a home theatre system: 7.2.4 (+ 2 double trouble open baffle subs ... with L+R connected through them & a low band pass filter) The 2 '.2' subs are 12" ported commercial subs.

Have this configured so stereo is just the L+R & open baffle subs.

Been great. My Denon X3700 receiver would auto detect the stream (Stereo vs ATMOS) & act appropriately.

But, in the past few days... the receiver is only detecting PCM or Dolby ATMOS... no longer seeing just native stereo.

Because it sees a multi channel input... it goes ahead & synthesizes 7.2.4 multi channel... not what I want.
Odd thing is I'm seeing many songs withe 5 channel + LFE channel... which is really weird.

Anything 'spatial' gets set to Dolby ATMOS as expected. But anything that used to be stereo I now have to grab the receiver remote & force to stereo.

Side note: music mastered in ATMoS tends to be very good (which is a lot of music released these days) anything 'synthetic' surround sound is BAD! So, I really enjoyed the setup just doing the right thing.

It's possible I changed a setting somewhere on Apple TV (my streaming device) or on the Denon receiver.

Anyone else notice this change in Apple Music lately?

[Theronbo]

Just FYI for anyone else using Apple TV for streaming.

Apple Music servers send stereo… but Apple TV wraps it in a multi channel PCM stream in my case a 7.1 stream…
It does this so it can send interface sounds (clicks & swoop sounds) to the communication with the audio device… my Denon Reciever.

Though only L&R have data… oh, & this is the problem… LFE does too… I don’t want my ported subwoofers on when Stereo Channel music is playing… 

Solutions:

1. Drop Apple TV. Switch to using Airplay 2 from a Mac device to the Receiver.
 Con: loose video image.
 Pro: can have highest quality (highest bit rate) stream 192kz vs 48. I don’t notice the difference…

2. Manually switch receiver to Stereo using the remote…
  Con: pain.

3. Set Apple TV to Stereo only in Audio settings…

  Con: video streaming will be in stereo too, like for movies & I like native mix Dolby ATMOS songs.

I’ve obtained no answer as to what has changed.

My receiver used to seamlessly switch between Stereo & Dolby ATMOS…