Still looking around at the Atmos thing, and bumped into this, a more considered appraisal by someone in the industry, who doesn't give it the thumbs up,

Haven't digested everything in this, but it shows that enthusiasm for the format is a long way from universal, in the industry; what was particularly noteworthy was that every comment I read following, was supportive of his thinking ...

So, here is some 'balance' to the Atmos story - take from it as you wish.

And another one, in the vein of "Atmos", "music" and "sense",

Listened properly to this one ... and I agree with what he says. People don't "take music seriously" these days, when it's not a visual story as well, the home theatre thing ... I'm in that group of people, that he speaks of, who don't lock themselves in a highly specific listening position for long periods of time - it's 'background', so to speak, for my life. Which is not the same thing as putting up with mediocre SQ,  - if you have a get together, a party, some social occasion; and hire some, yes, live musicians, to "entertain everyone" - and they're lousy at doing this, play badly, etc .... you would be really, really pissed off!!

And so it goes for my home system - it has to sound spot on when I stand smack bang in the proverbial sweet spot - and everywhere else as well ; the sense of what I'm hearing should remain the same while I'm in earshot of the rig playing, no matter how focused I am, and whatever I may be doing. A reliable rule of thumb: if you have to make excuses for the system not sounding good, then it isn't! Good, that is ...

For those, OTOH, who take the business of listening to albums very seriously, , it seems that a lot of money and effort is needed to get a proper return on the immersive mix thing - will the average bloke on the street ever be tempted ... hmmm ...