Apple Music: How to Enable Dolby Atmos Spatial Audio

[MacRumors]

Apple has rolled out a new spatial audio feature for Apple Music subscribers that uses Dolby Atmos to create a richer, more immersive soundstage when listening to songs in the Apple Music catalog.

With Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos enabled, the subjective experience is that musical notes are coming from all around you. The steps below show you how to control the new audio feature on any iOS device with an Apple Music subscription.

1. Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Tap Music.
3. Under "Audio," tap Dolby Atmos.
4. Select from Automatic, Always On, and Off.

Now that you've enabled Dolby Atmos, you'll be able to enjoy a more immersive audio experience. Apple Music will play Dolby Atmos tracks on all AirPods and Beats headphones with an H1 or W1 chip, as will the built-in speakers of the newest iPhones, iPads, and Macs. Just make sure that you have Spatial Audio enabled on capable headphones.

You can check which tracks in Apple Music support the audio effect by looking for the logo in the app interface. Apple plans to add new Dolby Atmos tracks on a regular basis, and will offer up a curated selection of Dolby Atmos playlists. At launch, there are thousands of Dolby Atmos-enabled songs that are available to listen to.

Article Link: Apple Music: How to Enable Dolby Atmos Spatial Audio

 

[kristianaldrin]

I enabled it then tried out playing my library it crashed and started to download my library 🤨

 

[Julss1982]

Hello. There is no such function in my iOS 15 iPhone 12 mini What can I do?

 

[iMacPad]

can i play dolby atmos music from my iphone on a dolby atmos compatible bluetooth speker (echo studio)?

 

[Chrjy]

Slightly off topic but why do the screenshots of the iPhone always look so great as though it's a totally flat screen. It's like it pops off the device. Probably just me! My iPhone 12 Pro never looks like that in real life from an angle.
Renders always seem to look better in my opinion.

Back on topic, I've listened to a few tracks with spatial audio and they have all sounded pretty awesome. To compare I went to Settings>Music and toggled spatial audio on and off and there is a significant difference.

 

[Takisca]

Does this work on the original HomePod?

 

[InsideApple]

A bit off topic question: I redownload the Music app and the bubbles showed up again, where you can select artists etc. I pressed done too fast, and now on “listen now“ I see **** I don‘t wan‘t 😅
I already read, you can‘t get those bubbles again go fast deselect..
Can someone confirm or better show how to adjust those bubbles?

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Slightly off topic but why do the screenshots of the iPhone always look so great as though it's a totally flat screen. It's like it pops off the device. Probably just me! My iPhone 12 Pro never looks like that in real life from an angle.
Renders always seem to look better in my opinion.

They do look crispy clean huh?

 

[ChrisMoBro]

I listened to the Marvin Gaye demo and it sounded cool but then I listened to a few other tracks and they were either almost identical or sounded pretty bad. Blink 182’s ‘What’s My Age Again’ sounded awful. The vocals were muddy and the guitars lacked the crunch. I switched Dolby Atmos off and it instantly sounded better and less like a demo.

 

[johnyslats]

Hello. There is no such function in my iOS 15 iPhone 12 mini What can I do?

That screen suggests you’re not subscribed to Apple Music

 

[dhokes]

It would be good if it was mentioned when/how to get the Dolby Atmos setting to appear! I don’t see it yet on my iPhone 11 Pro running iOS 14.6. It has no updates available at the moment.

 

[kristianaldrin]

Hello. There is no such function in my iOS 15 iPhone 12 mini What can I do?View attachment 1789704

Try and restart the iPhone

 

[topdownjimmy]

Just make sure that you have Spatial Audio enabled on capable headphones.

You don't need any special headphones for Spatial Audio in Apple Music. The article you link to makes the common error of conflating "Spatial Audio" and "Dynamic Head Tracking," which are two separate things. They can occur together, but don't have to.

Spatial Audio is available on Apple Music with *any* pair of headphones, or with Dolby Atmos-enabled speakers: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212182

Spatial Audio on Apple Music does *not* do any Dynamic Head Tracking (yet), so you don't need headphones with a U1 chip. Any standard headphones will do.

 

[vinegarshots]

Hmm...gotta be honest, it doesn't sound dramatically better to me on my AirPods Pro. At least not what it's been hyped up to be

EDIT: BOOM by Tiesto & Sevenn sounds really good though. The choice of genre/song/mastering quality must also determine some of the end result with this.

 

[Chrjy]

Hmm...gotta be honest, it doesn't sound dramatically better to me on my AirPods Pro. At least not what it's been hyped up to be

Have you tried playing a track then going to your device Settings > Music and toggle spatial audio on and off whilst the song is playing, there was a huge difference to me.

 

[Julss1982]

That screen suggests you’re not subscribed to Apple Music

So Dolby Sound activation is linked to an active Apple music account. Doesn’t make much sense imho. This should be a “music on device” option. Thanks, anyway.

 

[flyingspur]

Automatic = plays Lossless for external DAC/Amp.
Automatic = plays Atmos on Apple gear.
Always On = plays Atmos whenever possible on any gear.

 

[5097842]

Apparently I’m the only one who thinks this sounds like complete garbage. Listening on AirPods Max. IMHO, vocals sound overly processed and percussion sounds really flat. Listened to many of the tracks on the Spacial Audio playlist and none sounded like an improvement or even good.

 

[pcd213]

I need to say it… Apple has done a terrible job at marketing these features and doing so in a clear, easy to understand capacity. What a mess!

 

[JippaLippa]

I can't wait for new models of earbuds to be released with atmos support and spatial audio.

Curious to see the beats studio wireless

 

[residentgalah]

Apparently I’m the only one who thinks this sounds like complete garbage. Listening on AirPods Max. IMHO, vocals sound overly processed and percussion sounds really flat. Listened to many of the tracks on the Spacial Audio playlist and none sounded like an improvement or even good.

You’re far from the only one.

 

[Chrjy]

I need to say it… Apple has done a terrible job at marketing these features and doing so in a clear, easy to understand capacity. What a mess!

I would agree with you, very unlike Apple.

 

[antiprotest]

Apparently I’m the only one who thinks this sounds like complete garbage. Listening on AirPods Max. IMHO, vocals sound overly processed and percussion sounds really flat. Listened to many of the tracks on the Spacial Audio playlist and none sounded like an improvement or even good.

No from what I'm seeing it seems you're in the majority.

 

[Chrjy]

Does this work on the original HomePod?

From my understanding, it's coming later in the year for the original HomePods.

 

[paulypants]

So Dolby Sound activation is linked to an active Apple music account. Doesn’t make much sense imho. This should be a “music on device” option. Thanks, anyway.

It doesn't make sense because you're not understanding how it works. This isn't just a toggle switch that makes existing audio tracks magically sound different.