It’s just another option. You don’t Have to listen to the album that way. I personally love it but can go back to regular stereo if I want.
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Spatial Audio on Apple Music Promoted in New 'Beyond Stereo' Ad
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In case you weren’t aware, neither Apple nor Dolby owns an orchestra or a band at my last check. So, they are unlikely to have produced OR be able to provide you the content you’re looking for.
I had no idea it was a downgrade to music. I'll still try it. Wasn't sure I would even know the difference.
The trouble with Apple's algorithm, as opposed to Dolbys, is that it seems to be ignoring the binaural fold down.
Apple did provide some classical and jazz. On my speakers, the jazz sounds fantastic. It has ambiance...not some Pixar intro style - use of those surround speakers. What happens is you feel more connected to the performance because it is more immersive.
The articles I have read say there has been a big push for Atmos adoption in studios going back about 18 months and it will be interesting to see if Telarc and other classical labels push out their SACD multichannel mixes to Atmos. At this point, we are extremely early in the process, so who knows what the Atmos library will look like in a year.
As with all things that require audio mixing, I think it will be hit and miss... similar to the loudness wars CDs versus CDs that were mixed for good sound quality. Unlike the past, it is easy to have access without any extra financial investment, so I expect more people will at least try it when compared with SACDS or DVD-A.
I think once Dolby Atmos is the standard they will sound good but right now with the conversion most sound bad in my opinion. I want Apple to provide full details concerning in what format they were originally mastered and a easier way to turn it on/off
You're wrong. That's the job of the mastering engineer. They make sure it sounds the same no matter what pair of speakers you use. That's why SA isn't changing anything any time soon, because it won't work well unless it's mixed AND mastered down to those specifics.
Source: over a decade in the industry.
The conversion isn't fully automated. A mixing engineer has to create a binaural downmix of a multichannel Atmos mix and monitor it with headphones, at least that's what Dolby's standards require.
There isn't automated generation of a binaural or multi-channel mix from a stereo mix.
Human action and neglect is involved in making crummy Atmos mixes.
For classical and pop, I think Spatial really nails it consistently, even for some Hip-hop. What I was really excited to listen is one of my favourite bands, Gojira’s new album Fortitude, and I was really disappointed… it seems to me that the mixing just not meant for spatial and they would have adjust a lot to make it good. Overall, I am happy with spatial , deffinetly worth listening to “The Immersive Experience” by Ben Gernon to get a nice demo with spatial audio for classical music
On speakers? What's between Apple Music and your speakers? Just playing it on stereo speakers is... sub-optimal.
It is only dynamic range if it gets used. If the peaks don't take advantage of it, it's just lower volume.
There’s some jazz and classical, but it was provided by the artist, not by Apple. I think the original poster was asking for Apple to provide more Dolby Audio content, but it’s the artists that need to make that happen.
I think if Dolby has worked to make it easy to do, someone’s going to do the mix down, if only to grab some additional streams from folks looking for stuff to listen to. (I know I’ve found two artists in the Spatial Audio playlist that I hadn’t heard before)
VR and games are already using ambisonics, which is regarded by many to be technically superior to Atmos. It doesn't provide the same opportunities for lock-in, though.
Um. So you’re saying they own this individual which is why they’re featured in that ad? Did Apple own Twigs, or Eminem, Jet, U2, Brendan Benson, The Ting Tings, Cake or any other artist that has been featured in their music ads? I’m sorry I’m not following your logic here.
Isn’t the VR hardware purchased a greater opportunity for lock-in, though? OR, can any VR game can be played on any other VR headset? If anything, with Dolby Atmos being a widely recognized standard, audio developers can avoid having to come up with a separate solution for each headset they want to release ambisonic content for.
Apple does not have a record label and has no production say over what any artist does. Asking Apple to remaster audio they do not own to Dolby Atmos, doesn’t make sense (and, is likely illegal). Asking an orchestra to remaster their content or asking a band you like, to remaster their content is the way to communicate to those content owners that you’d like to see their content remastered to Dolby Atmos.
"Surround Sound" is literally that - sound that surrounds you on the same level you are on. Spatial adds sounds above you (including above left, right, etc). I am not sure how that works for music (I mean, who expects the chorus to be above you - lol) but in movies it provides a more realistic sound enviorment,
Only Spotify can enable Dolby Atmos for Spotify. It’s in the audio stream. If Spotify isn’t sending a Dolby Atmos stream, then you’re not going to hear Dolby Atmos.
In the case of the Beatles, and probably all of these releases, they had an engineer mix them. They weren't just put through a DSP system. Abbey Road's version was issued with their 50th Anniversary package.
As for the height channels, they would only give the engineer more options and often just give you a much larger soundstage. Personally, I have your typical 5.1 system with front floor standing speakers and play these songs in virtual Atmos mode. I haven't ever considered adding height channels, but I may do it next year when there are many more albums. Even in this "virtual" Atmos mode, the sound stage is huge and takes advantage of the entire space. It give you an affect of having much larger speakers. I would expect adding a couple more speakers above the floorstanders would make the sound even more impressive.