The MADNESS of DOLBY ATMOS for music fans

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0:00 Intro
0:27 Part 1
5:35 Part 2
10:04 Part 3
14:38 Part 4

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[prebdor]

Dolby Atmos will never replace stereo music, but it doesn’t need to. I enjoy it as a bonus for the music available, and which I like, on my 7.2.4 system. I also equally enjoy stereo, vinyl, speakers, headphones, SACD and DVDA. It can all exist together, just enjoy your preferred format. Personally I’m excited about the prospect of more music in Atmos.

[johnpajestka]

Just purchased Dark Side of the Moon atmos Blu-ray and listened to it my theater room. 7.2.4 system. Amazing.

[Audiodreamer-]

I absolutely looove atmos music on my multichannel set up.
Puts you in the middle of the music
Sip some whiskey and play some good hi-res with atmos is sublime.🍻

[ronnyskaar]

I love my stereo. Music like it is performed in front of me. That's all!

[GoldenSound]

Atmos is something which is incredibly cool and when done properly, so hard to argue against the benefits. But agh, the inconvenience vs the amount of content available is such a tough sell

[chrishamilton]

I have a 7.3.4 home theatre setup separate from my two channel office system with an Apple TV and Sony UHD blu-ray player. I have thousands of Atmos tracks from Apple Music and it’s just amazing!

[ronvitale]

Many of us love films and music. I already have a 5.1 surround system, so, if I feel like it, I can play the Spatial Audio songs. I also own the Peter Gabriel I/O Dolby Atmos and it sounds great. For me, I didn’t need to buy any extra gear. I already had it for my movie watching.

[ElLocoBedoya]

"we are talking about Atmos for music"... Pitchforks up!!!!

[BobbyDigital]

I use Dolby Atmos for headphones and I never have it turned off. For gaming, music, and movies, I absolutely love it.

[PaulHaussler-bsqi]

I read the title and had to watch immediately. I heartily agree! I'm a stereo 2.1 channel kind of guy. For us, music is more important than movies or video. Honestly, I lusted for Dolby 5.1, 6.1, then 7.1 surround sound years ago. Then I experience friends' surround sound systems. DSP is impressive technology. Even I get that. However the surround sound formats sound echo-ey to me (as in too much reverberation). For action movies such as Top Gun Maverick they are great. For the music I like such as Nightnoise, Vince Guaraldi, and jazz, no... A friend's higher end Yamaha receiver configured for 6.1 surround sound had all sorts of bells and whistles. He touted, "This is the concert hall in Vienna, " then, "This is The Roxy." I did not realize there is a "The Concert Hall in Vienna." Well, there is not. It's Yamaha's impression of a small concert hall. The Roxy, well I've been there. It's a fun place, but the sound system is not really impressive, at least in my opinion. At home we listen to a pair of JBL C38 cabinets loaded with D131 woofers and 075 bullet tweeters. They were my Dad's and were purchased in 1955, possibly earlier. A Velodyne ULD-12 sub handles the low bass. The sound is great with music. It sounds great with movies too, at least in my opinion. By the way, I enjoy the music you play on your videos. It sounds fantastic through vintage JBL's.

Paul H.
Huntington Beach, CA USA

[hernanhaded]

Max Cooper´s "Unspoken Words" and "Emergence" Dolby ATMOS releases are incredible

[JoshColletta]

Yep. I've literally argued with producers over this. They're wasting all this money kitting out their studios -- from big facilities to bedroom rigs -- as if Atmos is going to be THE standard audio format for music consumption for the foreseeable future, and... no, it's not. This is quad all over again. Consumers are not going to reject the affordability, practicality, and portability of 2-channel stereo to gain the vertical dimension or even rear-placement audio. Just isn't going to happen.

Home theater? Sure, absolutely. Audio for video is the only reason for Atmos to exist, be that in homes, movie theaters, or anywhere else. But nobody is going to install Atmos in place of a bookshelf stereo. Nobody is going to install Atmos in place of a hi-fi system. You can approximate three-dimensional audio SOMEWHAT with a soundbar, but not well. You can't replicate it at all in headphones or earbuds, no matter how hard you try, and that 60% figure you cite proves that.

Because in terms of headphones and earbuds, psychoacoustics becomes the necessary mechanism, which is only ever a best guess based on what the consumer's playback device manufacturer thinks your channel separation is supposed to be. We tried that with SEVERAL different standards in the late 90's and early 2000's, and even when you used a CD that was engineered to match your device's standard, it was hit-and-miss at best and outright shit at worst. Which, again, echoes your experience.

So long story short, music will ALWAYS be stereo first and foremost. There will be experimental concerts and albums to take advantage of the Atmos format -- much like The Who's "Quadrophenia." But that will be the extent to which anyone is really going to care about Atmos in the music realm.

[richg]

Steven Wilson is a true Genius. The Album Years is a great Podcast, but you have to check out 3 of his solo records, The Raven That Refused to Sing (and Other Stories), Hand.Cannot.Erase and To The Bone... amazing.

[mattsynth]

I have a 5.1.2 ceiling bouncer system and love the multi channel sound of music much better than stereo. I do wish there were more titles in Atmos because they sound wonderful.

[colinwalker]

Great topic, thanks! I have just moved to Atmos after 50 years of stereo in my main listening room. I now run two significant stereo rooms and one Atmos / Immersive room. The Atmos setup is Anthem AVM 90 processor and Genelec / Perlisten, (9.6.4) a significant cost and two days setup and calibration. The main room has acoustic treatment and RT60 ~400ms but is a smallish room and never worked well with big sounding recordings, reflections though small, were too quick. I could not make a small room sound big. While Atmos / Immersive audio is a mixed bag, it can make my small room sound much larger and less claustrophobic. I still love stereo, but Atmos can be seriously next level and stereo processed as immersive is usually more engaging. I have been an FM radio station engineer and announcer. I've built studios and PA systems and mixed live bands.

[hartyewh]

I turned on the Dolby Atmos on my phone speakers and it really took this watching experience to a whole new level.

[Wildblood]

I see atmos (or 3D audio in general), as a sort of bonus. As home 3D audio systems become more common (soundbars, wireless speakers, etc), people with those systems will say "oh! There's a 3D version of this song - I'll listen to that instead". It feels like it's targeted more towards hybrid users, or home-cinema/gamer users, more than traditional stereo audiophiles - and there's nothing wrong with that.

[leegodwin]

Look forward to the side by side comparison of the speakers in the back ground 🙌😄

Thank you John for the videos and your wise words

[yokotobigeri_]

John, thank you for this comment on Atmos (and Steven Wilson, whom I really adore)... I can only say: everything is right, but I am a fan of Atmos AND hifi stereo. Over years there has not been a standard for surround mixes of music, now there is finally Atmos.I have a "boxy" living room, optimization of echoes in the room is difficult. But I LOVE Atmos content, e.g. the versions of Pink Floyds Dark Side Of The Moon provided by Apple Music or Steven Wilsons Harmony Codex. Listening to those with a Yamaha AV Receiver with a 7.2.1 System (i have upfiring speakers from Monitor Audio in the front and AVM mono amplifiers for supporting the main speakers by BW) is so immersive, I don´t dare to listen to some content in stereo anymore, because to me it would mean a considerable loss of enjoyment. I have a couple of Atmos blue rays (Marillion, SW, Hans Zimmer, Peter Gabriel and others). Especially the live music acts are so much better than in stereo when it comes to atmosphere.

[vampireau]

As an early Atmos adopter, I have meanwhile transformed my living room into a theater room with a 7.1.4 (+ 2 in-couch bass shakers) setup (yes, I have the perfect wife.. :D ) and although great-quality stereo recordings can fill the listening space immensely, there is something magical in being enveloped by a properly-mixed Atmos track. I feel like sitting inside giant headphones, a sublime musical bubble, and for me, it is worth the hassle of filling the room with speakers. It is added value, an elevation of the experience. And the most important thing is that there are enough tracks for me to not be able to listen to all of them as there are other things beside listening to music in life :D So the hundreds of Atmos tracks are more than enough for the occasional listening session. Apple's curated genre-specific Atmos track lists are VERY helpful for discovering new content on a weekly basis.