In Apple’s case the difference is that Spatial Audio is the type they advertised with head tracking and other fluff. Dolby Atmos is a way to encode surround and thus also spatial sound.
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Apple Music Dolby Atmos Compatible With All AirPods Models and Other Headphones
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I wouldn’t worry about this anymore. This was a big problem during the first few weeks of Apple Music, but they fixed it.
I signed up for Apple Music on day 1, and there was a major bug that could change the metadata on your locally stored music. My library got completely messed up and I’m still finding mislabeled songs 6 years later. I didn’t have a current backup at the time. Just make sure you have a backup, but I wouldn’t worry.
When you sign up for Apple Music on your computer, it will attempt to match your current songs to the songs in Apple Music, and upload the rest. There is still no force upload option.
BT 5 maxes at 2Mbps (theoretical, at optimal setting).
ALAC requires between 1.5Mbps (CD quality) and 10Mbps (High Resolution).
while it may be possible to provide (via firmware updat) CD quality which should work fine when in good range, anything above CD quality is impossible.
I wish there was a "force match" option instead. Sometimes just one song of an album didn't get matched for whatever reason. And now these songs will be the only ones not "lossless"...
“You can also hear Dolby Atmos music using the built‑in speakers on a compatible iPhone, iPad, MacBook Pro, or HomePod, or by connecting your Apple TV 4K to a compatible TV or audiovisual receiver.”
I’m also assuming this means original discontinued HomePod and not HomePod mini.
I think it'll be the original HomePod as that software was already updated to support Dolby Atmos, so really not much more I think they need to do there.
It's just fake reverb and stuff. Remember Dolby ProLogic - making surround sound and a center channel when presented with stereo? That's what this is.
I’ve been hoping for that for 6 years 🥲Sometimes removing the song from iCloud music library, and re-adding it works, but this seems to work less often lately.
Yes in this instance. They did a great job to try to confuse everyone that the initial Space audio they talked about when APM debuted is the same thing as Dolby Atmos.
Well... In 1980s, there were several spatial audio recordings that were in fact stereo recording and worked only on headphones. The trick was, that you took model of human head with modeled ears and microphones in the ears. If you record anything with this model and listened to it on headphones you will have full spatial audio experience (you can't move the head to change your position, but the sound would be perfectly spatial).
Dolby Atmos Headphones is doing the same thing but using mathematics to convert real spatial audio to stereo recording with simulated audio bounces in environment to fully fool you to hear 3d spatial audio.
If you can do this real time and best of all with motion tracking of the headphones you will recreate full spatial audio using only 2 audio channels. You can even do this with 2 speakers and one microphone to get rid of the headphones requirement.
Nay.
Lossless means there is perfect bit-for-bit reproduction of whatever is defined the source/reference/master.
"CD-quality" refers to the Red Book standard, which is 44kHz 16-bit. It is good enough, but there are higher standards available. (It speaks nothing to relationship to the source, but its understood the source is higher quality.)
Atmos is a brand/product/tech of the Dolby company. It encapsulates mixing/encoding/playback of multi-channel or multi-location audio.
For all intents and purposes, the point of Atmos is to provide a spatial audio experience.
The truest and most accurate way reproduce spatial audio is of course to have many discrete physical speakers at many different locations.
But technically you can have "Atmos" playing through 2 discrete speakers like on a phone, or a laptop, or a single physical soundbar -- so long as they are certified and licensed with Dolby. The fancy processing in the pipeline can try to simulate a spatial experience. Whether it is actually realistic or not is where the big debates occur.
Microsoft has its own spatial simulation called Windows Sonic.
Apple's version is Spatial Audio. Is it good? I haven't really tried watching spatial movies (5.1, DD, DTS, Atmos, whatever) with my Airpods Pro. But I have tried one aspect of Spatial Audio which is the head-tracking tech and it is eerily good. For music? honestly don't care... never thought music as an experience that requires spatial context so plain ole stereo is good for me.
For all intents and purposes, the point of Atmos is to provide a spatial audio experience.
The truest and most accurate way reproduce spatial audio is of course to have many discrete physical speakers at many different locations.
But technically you can have "Atmos" playing through 2 discrete speakers like on a phone, or a laptop, or a single physical soundbar -- so long as they are certified and licensed with Dolby. The fancy processing in the pipeline can try to simulate a spatial experience. Whether it is actually realistic or not is where the big debates occur.
Microsoft has its own spatial simulation called Windows Sonic.
Apple's version is Spatial Audio. Is it good? I haven't really tried watching spatial movies (5.1, DD, DTS, Atmos, whatever) with my Airpods Pro. But I have tried one aspect of Spatial Audio which is the head-tracking tech and it is eerily good. For music? honestly don't care... never thought music as an experience that requires spatial context so plain ole stereo is good for me.
And to a certain extent, I don't want my music messed with.
Some of those old tracks where stereo was a new thing and the guitars were hard panned... leave it alone.
New stuff, also, just play it back the way the musician and audio engineer intended. Sure Atmos has its place, movies, when the audio engineer is mixing for it.
But if my favorite album, new or old, is getting remixed for some fake format, that's not right.
It would be like someone rewriting your favorite novel. And whatever this is compared to remastering isn't the same. Remastering is akin to refurbishing a painting that's gotten smudged and faded and someone goes in carefully to clean it up, making it seem like new.
Some of those old tracks where stereo was a new thing and the guitars were hard panned... leave it alone.
New stuff, also, just play it back the way the musician and audio engineer intended. Sure Atmos has its place, movies, when the audio engineer is mixing for it.
But if my favorite album, new or old, is getting remixed for some fake format, that's not right.
It would be like someone rewriting your favorite novel. And whatever this is compared to remastering isn't the same. Remastering is akin to refurbishing a painting that's gotten smudged and faded and someone goes in carefully to clean it up, making it seem like new.
this just in: dolby has declassified an internal webinar meant for industry execs, dated May 12th, detailing the imminent launch of a quote "promising one" in terms of "devices to play" for Dolby Atmos Music, see my tweet and find the video,
comment made in video at 51 minute mark.
also, if going by the words of this Dolby Exec. Apple was supposed to launch earlier, but it's timeline kept 'slipping'
also, if going by the words of this Dolby Exec. Apple was supposed to launch earlier, but it's timeline kept 'slipping'
The MacRumors article seem to say that non-Apple headphones won't support Dolby Atmos in movies?
Edit: Actually article is saying movies and TV shows will have Spatial Audio (not Dolby Atmos), thus non-Apple headphones won't support it. They must mean movies and TV shows on Apple TV+ will have Spatial Audio.
BTW, any reason NOT to have Dolby Atmos to "Always On" in Apple Music?
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the atmos/surround mix of some songs sound a bit weird to me. its to each persons taste however.
Agreed. Who wants music that's been remixed by people who weren't a part of the original production?