Typically, new features are welcome in any software update. Even if you don’t care much about them, they may at least be benign or beneficial to someone else. I’ve heard some people complaining about Liquid Glass in iOS 26, for example, but it’s relatively simple to tone down if you don’t like the aesthetic. Likewise, I don’t quite get the fury some people direct towards Copilot in Windows 11, since my own workflow makes the tech very easy to ignore if I don’t need it.
The Continuous Audio Connection feature in tvOS 26.4 is largely similar, but under some circumstances, it may actually make your audio worse. In this piece I’ll explain what it does, and why it might backfire, noting of course that it does exist for a reason. Apple’s not in the game of intentionally sabotaging your home theater system.
What does Continuous Audio Connection do, and what’s wrong with it?
Solving a very specific problem
You can enable Continuous Audio Connection by going to Settings -> Video and Audio -> Audio Format, and toggling it under HDMI Output options. Superfcially, Apple’s description of the feature makes it sound like a must-have, even dull, noting that it “uses a Dolby MAT connection for glitch-free playback across formats.” The company’s only caution is that while some older receivers may flag all audio as Atmos, the original audio mix is unmodified.
The tech seems…