Is Dolby Atmos the future of music?

A Delightful New Discovery

So, I’ve been an audiophile since I was in high school. I remember going to the house of the Dean of Students, who was a good friend, and listening to music on an extremely high end sound system. First, I’ll never forget how beautiful his huge Musical Fidelity integrated amp with an external power supply was. And second…the sound moved me like little in life ever had. I was hooked. I got some JBL S412s, some cheap Denon amp, and then splurged on an SACD player. As my family can attest, I sat in my room for hours a day burying myself in the joy of music, frequently much to their consternation while trying to sleep.

I’ve previously discussed my adoration of music and high end audio equipment. As someone who struggles to relax and enjoy life, music provides a much needed respite.

In the past month though, I’ve been exposed to something completely new. I want to share it with you.

See, stereo (that is, a left and right channel) music has been the standard since 1933. It came in many formats from vinyl to cassette tape to CDs to modern streaming music, which actually comes in numerous unique formats (ask me about it in the comments). Meanwhile, movies have been something else entirely. For decades, they have incorporated surround speakers to place sound around you. This started with Dolby Digital way back on VHS. Blu Rays really upped the standard with things like DTS TrueHD which honestly sounds fantastic.

But today’s ultra high quality movies and tv shows use a very unique format launched around 2016: Dolby Atmos.

Dolby Atmos is truly a fascinating invention. It first has a normal 5 or 7 channel high quality surround mix, but then has another entirely different layer of sound. This unique layer is individual sound tracks placed in 3 dimensional space around the listener. What this means in practice are speakers on the ceiling in front, above, and behind you so that these sounds do not come out of one speaker, but actually sound like they are coming from a 3d location around you. Atmos tracks can even have these sounds move in three dimensional space (and it’s incredible to hear).

The effect on movies with a good setup is amazing. In previous theater rooms where I had surround speakers, Dolby Digital and the like always seemed to emanate from the point of that speaker. Sure, you could hear something behind you but you could tell it was that speaker. Even in front of me I could always tell which speaker a sound was coming from. I thought this was what surround sound was supposed to sound like.

Meanwhile, in my high end 2 channel setup, I have what we audiophiles call a great “soundstage.” That is, I don’t hear my speakers at all. I hear each instrument placed somewhere between them like the band is set up in front of me. My music doesn’t sound like it’s coming from the speakers at all. It’s something every audiophile pays a lot of attention to and invest a lot in getting right. For instance, placement of speakers and how you aim them plays a huge role in creating this experience.

Now, with my new 7.1.4 (7 surround channels at ear height, 1 subwoofer, and 4 ceiling speakers) playing Dolby Atmos movies…my speakers disappear. It’s honestly mind blowing. Sounds come from the exact location of where, say, a gunshot is made in 3d space, not in the direction of one speaker. It’s actually hard to discern the ceiling speakers. I’ve even had to put my ear to one and to check if it was even working.

The result is that you feel enveloped in sound. It’s like comparing swimming on the surface of a pool to diving in. It’s a remarkable feat of engineering and lets you disappear into movies much more than I ever have in my life. You may have noticed modern IMAX theaters sound incredible and that’s because they use this kind of Dolby Atmos setup.

But we were talking about music! Because, only recently, has some music been upgraded to Dolby Atmos. The best way of obtaining it is streaming through Apple Music who refers to this as “Spatial Audio,” which you may have heard of. So I have my Apple TV hooked up and tried some of Apple’s Spatial Audio.

Now, results are mixed and I’ll get to why in a minute. But this is a crazy new way of listening to music. Instruments are not placed across a two dimensional axis in front of me, but instead surround me from every direction! Again, it’s like diving into a pool of music where you are simply surrounded by it.

When it works well, it’s incredible. Music has never been so exciting. It makes my heart race. To put it very simply, rather than sitting in front of the stage, I feel like I’m standing on it, surrounded by a band.

But the problem is it’s inconsistent. See, music made in this format is as much a reflection of the sound engineer as it is of the recording since they are arbitrarily placing sounds in literal three dimensional space.

This is what it looks like to make:

Audio engineers have a much more difficult job. Rather than simply moving one slider between left and right, they can place any track at any angle, at any height, and at any distance from the listener. The number of variables went up exponentially.

And it shows. Some songs like, and I can’t believe I’m going to admit this, Taylor Swift’s Blank Space (Taylor’s Version) sound absolutely phenomenal utilizing the height and surround speakers to effortlessly help you enjoy the music in three dimensions.

But other songs like Coldplay’s The Scientist…don’t sound so unique. They sound more like they are pumping audio from the surround speakers just because they are there.

What results is an odd experience. Maybe 25% of the songs I have tried sound absolutely fantastic. This would be my preferred way of listening to them. But you can tell that in the rest the engineer either didn’t have the experience or the vision to make a mix that was more moving or interesting than the simple stereo version.

The other issue is when you have 9 speakers, switching in size and quality from big front left and right speakers to little, incapable ones in the ceiling, the quality of the sound gets downgraded from a typical audiophile two channel setup. So while I can hear the damper pedal on Einaudi's Nuvole Biance in my living room, I can’t in my theater. The detail isn’t there. Other details like hearing fingernails on guitar strings get lost in the sea of audio as well, especially with the inconsistency in quality of speakers.

So what does it all mean? Well first off, this is definitely the future of music. Dolby Atmos isn’t just meant for a fully equipped theater room like mine. Everything from headphones to sound bars to TVs and everything else in between frequently decodes Dolby Atmos. This new encoding format, with the right mastering, will make music sound better on any setup. If you have Apple Music, give this playlist a try. You’re likely to have an interesting experience. Make sure to play it on the best setup you have and not that streaming through AirPlay negates the effects. If you have an Apple TV and something like a soundbar or better, you definitely have to try this asap.

So, have I changed my listening spot from my couch? Not yet. There’s a very limited number of songs available in this format and not many of my favorites. Is if a fun gimmick when I want to relax? You bet. And I’ll bet there’s a lot more coming in the future.

God I love technology.