I've made no secret of the fact that I love the Apple TV 4K.
There are various devices in my system that could take care of my streaming needs, including my TV, Sky Stream Puck, PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X, but the Apple TV 4K is nicer to use than all of them and generally delivers better picture and sound quality, too.
The other advantage of using the Apple TV 4K for streaming is that when the rest of my family goes to bed, I can switch from using my speaker system to using my AirPods Max for sound.
I and several of my colleagues have written many times about how good Apple's Spatial Audio is, particularly through the AirPods Max.
To reiterate, though, it really does get disarmingly close to the cinematic experience you get from listening to a very good Dolby Atmos system out loud – to the extent that I rarely feel aggrieved when I have to make the switch at the behest of my long-suffering wife and son.
In fact, Spatial Audio via the AirPods Max is so good, it puts to shame the Dolby Atmos / 3D Audio headphones processing you get from the Xbox Series X and PS5.
That got me thinking: wouldn't it be great if the next Apple TV 4K had a load of HDMI inputs so that you could connect all of your sources to it and use Apple's Spatial Audio for the whole lot?
I certainly think so.
It wouldn't just benefit games, either, but also the watching of 4K Blu-rays via a dedicated player, plus late-night / early morning F1 races and NFL games.
It might be that Apple could achieve a similar result using the Apple TV 4K's existing eARC support, which already allows sources to be routed through a TV and out to the Apple TV, which then sends the audio to HomePods, but my understanding is that making this work with AirPods is surprisingly tricky.
Besides, having an Apple TV that worked as an HDMI hub would be useful in other ways, too, not least in how much it would reduce cable spaghetti.
One of the things I miss most about my old AV receiver is that it handled all of my HDMI switching, leaving just one cable going up to the TV.
A compact Apple TV device that did that (as well as everything else that the Apple TV 4K already does) would be even better.
In truth, though, I just don't think there's any way that Apple will ever go down this route.
The thing is, cables just aren't sexy.
Maybe one input with passthrough is a possibility, but can you imagine Tim Cook on stage, flashing a load of HDMI sockets? Me either.
But if Apple doesn't do something nerdy like that with the next Apple TV 4K, I don't know what it can do.
Almost three years on from launch, the current, third-generation Apple TV 4K is still the best standalone streamer available, and it's hard to think of ways it could be improved.
More processing power could be added, of course, but do people really use their Apple TVs for power-hungry tasks? I don't know a single person who even plays games on theirs.
Rumours have been around for ages about Apple working on a Dolby Atmos soundbar that has integrated Apple TV streaming smarts, but the chances of that ever seeing the light of day seem to dwindle with each passing year.
So, go on, Apple. Give me the nerdy HDMI inputs I want so I can use Spatial Audio for everything. You might as well.
MORE:
Check out our Apple TV 4K review
This Apple TV 4K Dolby Atmos hack has been a game-changer for my system
I ditched my Apple TV 4K for Sky Stream – here are 3 things I love and 2 things I don't
