Xbox is testing audio passthrough and new Quick Resume features in the Xbox Insider program
The Xbox Insider program offers a look into the future of Xbox software.
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What you need to know
The Xbox Insider Program is a way for Microsoft to collect feedback on upcoming features and updates for Xbox consoles like theXbox Series XandXbox Series Swith interested and committed Xbox gamers. Thelatest update for the Xbox Insider Alpha Skip-Ahead branch, a handful of new features have just entered early testing that may be pretty exciting for some Xbox players. Audio passthrough is coming to Xbox, and the innovative Quick Resume feature is getting some tremendous quality-of-life improvements.
Calling audio aficionados. Rolling out to Preview this week: Try Passthrough for higher fidelity audio with your favorite media appspic.twitter.com/4fx58AM4s9Calling audio aficionados. Rolling out to Preview this week: Try Passthrough for higher fidelity audio with your favorite media appspic.twitter.com/4fx58AM4s9— Larry Hryb 🇺🇦 (@majornelson)April 19, 2021April 19, 2021
Firstly, Xbox is adding the ability to allow audio passthrough for players who can take advantage. If you weren’t aware, audio passthrough allows any audio from media apps like Netflix to bypass your Xbox and instead head straight to your audio setup. This can translate to a nice boost in audio quality for people with advanced or high-end audio setups in their homes.
Next, the innovativeXbox Quick Resumefeature is getting some much-needed improvements to make it an even better experience. Quick Resume allows the next-gen Xbox Series X|S to hold multiple open games on its SSD and switch between them on the fly, bypassing the time spent loading into a game. While the feature is impressive when it works, it has some pitfalls that make it less than perfect. Microsoft is testing a couple of features that should drastically improve Quick Resume.
Quick Resume will get a new Group on Xbox Series X|S that lists all of the games currently stored in Quick Resume, which should help a lot with the consistency of Quick Resume (and will maybe lead to the ability to kick games out of Quick Resume manually). Additionally, the Xbox Guide will add a new tag that indicates if your active game supports the Quick Resume feature, alleviating the stress of leaving the game running in the background.
These features are in early testing through the Xbox Insider Program, so most players may not see them for a while. In case you missed it, however, theXbox April Updatebegan to roll out today with some new features and improvements of its own! Of course, you can also pass the time waiting for these features to hit your Xbox by visiting some of thebest games on Xbox.
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Zachary Boddy (They / Them) is a Staff Writer for Windows Central, primarily focused on covering the latest news in tech and gaming, the best Xbox and PC games, and the most interesting Windows and Xbox hardware. They have been gaming and writing for most of their life starting with the original Xbox, and started out as a freelancer for Windows Central and its sister sites in 2019. Now a full-fledged Staff Writer, Zachary has expanded from only writing about all things Minecraft to covering practically everything on which Windows Central is an expert, especially when it comes to Microsoft. You can find Zachary on Twitter@BoddyZachary.
