Article: The Next Track Immersive Music Episode

[Kal Rubinson]

9 hours ago, 3dsoundshop said:

Even if there is no new content... The great thing about Auro-3D is the AUROMATIC upmixer. It is spectacular! There are plenty of films with Atmos soundtracks that are lacking to say the least. But if you play the core 5.1 or 7.1 audio through the AUROMATIC upmixer... Magic happens. The same goes for most streaming content. The immersion is on another level.

 

For music... There are thousands of legacy multi-channel recordings that can take advantage of Auro's superior processing. SACD, DVD-A, etc. For me... Atmos recordings get one listen... Most of the time it leads to disappointment. I am very grateful Auro-3D can pick up the slack. Heck... It even does a great job with two channel.

 

My preferred listening format.

 

 

Sadly... I think Atmos was the wrong choice in this format war.

And you can get the decoder as a VST plugin!!

[Kal Rubinson]

24 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

For all intents and purposes 5.1 is dead if you want to talk about the masses.

Here's the thing, though, I care only about the masses if their behavior contributes to what I want and so far......

 

25 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

I have Elton John's Rocket Man in 5.1 and Atmos. Atmos is better to me because it uses 25% more speakers / the height channels. All the streaming services are doing Atmos.

...........it has not.  A Micky Mouse upsampling of a old rocker holds no interest for me and the addition of more speakers, particularly height channels, has not yet added significantly to my enjoyment of the the music I listen to, so far.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

4 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

But it's not supported and hasn't worked well for consumers at all. 

I agree that it has failed, for many reasons but I would have preferred it.

[Kal Rubinson]

6 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

I mentioned the masses because that's the gist of Pete's argument. 

I understand that we are but the tail of the market and don't get to wag the dog but I always hope that the decisions made by and for the mass market will redound to my own benefit.  Atmos has the potential but, so far, has not had any real impact for me.

6 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Rocket Man is the most far from Mickey Mouse I've ever heard. Just because someone is old and a rock star shouldn't mean much. His art is timeless. 

I will take your word for it.  I went through an Elton John phase too many decades ago.

[Kal Rubinson]

10 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Atmos will be the norm, no matter how it’s played back by the consumer. Stereo, headphones, soundbar, 7.1.4, etc… Won’t matter what the end user does because it’s a single deliverable. 

Agreed and, again, that choice is based on convenience and cost.  Same reasons we got 2 channel stereo instead of 3.  Had that been our history, the evolution to multichannel/surround might have been diferent.