Article: Atmos Music and Some Current Favorites, Part 1

[The Computer Audiophile]

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[bobfa]

Chris, thank you for the shout out and the leading role in this journey!

 

I feel like rip-van-winkle, I have been sleeping through a sea change.  Since Apple announced their lossless streaming service and their Dolby ATMOS Spatial Audio, there has been a little tickle in the back of my brain.  Recently that tickle has turned into a full-on itch that has to be scratched.  Listening on the new AirPods Pro 2 and experimenting with a Sonos ARC sound bar system has re-enforced that feeling that this is REAL!.  

 

Many of us have two channel systems that have been crafted to our personal perfection or are rising to that goal.  Moving to an 11 channel system with speakers placed all around the room requires a different level of understanding and commitment.  Some think I should be committed....  Yet at its core this is a chance to learn, experiment and embrace a new way of enjoying music.

 

I will leave you with a short bit of homework.  If you have a TV surround system that has streaming access get a trial of the Berlin Philharmonic subscription.  They are broadcasting their concerts on the internet:  https://www.digitalconcerthall.com/en/immersive

 

Bob

 

 

 

 

[JoeWhip]

After staggering my new 83” Sony OLED, I will be adding Atmos to my HT room. The room is small, 10x15. I have a 5.1 set up and just ordered 2 in ceiling speakers for Atmos for a 5.1.2 system. I will need a new processor so the install will have to wait until next year. The 4K Blu ray player does a great job of decoding Atmos mixes in movies sending them out via the MC analog outs. No height info but damn nice 5.1 presentations. Looking forward to adding Atmos ceiling speakers. 4K Blu rays are an amazing experience as are the live 4 k sports broadcasts I have been enjoying via you tube TV, like the Phillies playoff games on Fox, and the EPL.

[bbosler]

so call me Mr. Obvious, but what we need is a database for all of this, does it exist ?

 

• Artist
• Album
• available formats (5.1, Auro3D, Atmos, etc)
• where available (Apple, Tidal, Amazon, download, DVD, SACD, etc.)

 

I know you are focused on Atmos because that is where the vast majority of the activity is right now and will be going forward, but there is a lot of wonderful 5.1 stuff out there too

 

am I just dreaming? 

[Rt66indierock]

Chris, I can see you liking the Dead more in ATMOS and I hope you play Zappa's Joes' Garage just for fun. Please give some John  Hiatt a try too.

[JoeWhip]

I think Chris is waiting for that sure to be impending influx of all that Japanese jazz in Atmos.

[scintilla]

Oh crap, now I will need to renew my Apple music again just as it is expiring... damn you. ;)

 

Speaking of Dead, can we get some Dead Can Dance in Atmos?  I mean...

[DigiPete]

9 hours ago, bbosler said:

so call me Mr. Obvious, but what we need is a database for all of this, does it exist ?

 

• Artist
• Album
• available formats (5.1, Auro3D, Atmos, etc)
• where available (Apple, Tidal, Amazon, download, DVD, SACD, etc.)

 

I know you are focused on Atmos because that is where the vast majority of the activity is right now and will be going forward, but there is a lot of wonderful 5.1 stuff out there too

 

am I just dreaming? 

QuadraphonicQuad is a great place to start.
We have databases of MC recordings known as "Surround Poll charts"
No charts for streaming, but plenty of inspiring Atmos streaming threads.

Also a good source for info on the different HW.
Several MC aficionados are both members here and there.

 

[ted_b]

11 hours ago, DigiPete said:

No charts for streaming, but plenty of inspiring Atmos streaming threads.

Garry is actively building one, and it will be a sister site that links.  I won't put links in here but peruse the quad site and look for HomerJAU.

 

My 7.2.4 Atmos theater is partially up (5.1.4 right now until I rerun some cabling and rerun RoomPerfect).  I will write up something soon, but suffice to say Chris and I are chatting and agree 100% on the immersive momentum in the industry right now.  As a long-time surround listener (and in the biz as a founding member of NativeDSD) I am geek'd over the amount of surround interest lately.

 

For those interested in the early jazz/pop classics and wondering if Atmos works at all with them, get on Apple Music with your ATV4K and try

The Temptations: Sky's The Limit

https://music.apple.com/us/album/skys-the-limit/1443182797

 

or

 

Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Irving Berlin Songbook

https://music.apple.com/us/album/ella-fitzgerald-sings-the-irving-berlin-song-book/1469580881

 

They are, of course, not state of the art in immersive mixes but they show what even these types of genres and aged recordings can become if the Atmos mixing folks do the right thing.  And stay away from almost all Warner stuff, it's fake.

[The Computer Audiophile]

9 minutes ago, ted_b said:

The Temptations: Sky's The Limit

https://music.apple.com/us/album/skys-the-limit/1443182797

That's absolutely gorgeous @ted_b. Thank you!

[jrobbins50]

2 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

That's absolutely gorgeous @ted_b. Thank you!

Agreed, @ted_b.  
 

Take the “time” to check out the opening cut, “Time,” by Swedish House Mafia on the Paradise Again album, and the opening cut, “The Time (Dirty Bit),” by the Black Eyed Peas on The Beginnings (Deluxe) album.  Lots happening on both.

 

Oh, and “Stressed Out” by Twenty One Pilots on the Blurryface album sounds great, too. JCR 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Brian Eno re: Atmos

 

 

[bobfa]

That little video with Brian Eno is such a wonderful description of ATMOS.  

 

Interesting Quotes:  

         " Nearly all technologies can do something that nobody thought of doing before"

"I am a visitor in the middle of something"

         "Why stick him on the wall?"

"Feelings are the beginning of thinking"

[El Guapo]

On 10/20/2022 at 9:26 PM, ted_b said:

The Temptations: Sky's The Limit

https://music.apple.com/us/album/skys-the-limit/1443182797

 

or

 

Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Irving Berlin Songbook

https://music.apple.com/us/album/ella-fitzgerald-sings-the-irving-berlin-song-book/1469580881

These two albums are soooo good especially upsampling to 12ch DSD256!

[jrobbins50]

It appears that the Elton John Diamonds collection is back to being Atmos!  @The Computer Audiophile or @El Guapo, can you confirm?  JCR 

[The Computer Audiophile]

6 minutes ago, jrobbins50 said:

It appears that the Elton John Diamonds collection is back to being Atmos!  @The Computer Audiophile or @El Guapo, can you confirm?  JCR 

Yes!

[ted_b]

Since it hasn't already been actually added to the list......

 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/foreverandevernomore/1635589174

[The Computer Audiophile]

3 minutes ago, ted_b said:

Since it hasn't already been actually added to the list......

 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/foreverandevernomore/1635589174

Just received the Blu-ray with lossless TrueHD Atmos :~)

[bobfa]

On 10/21/2022 at 1:30 PM, The Computer Audiophile said:

Just received the Blu-ray with lossless TrueHD Atmos :~)

Can you play that disc with a Blu-ray Player on the MAC?  

[The Computer Audiophile]

15 minutes ago, bobfa said:

Can you play that disc with a Blu-ray Player on the MAC?  

Probably could, but there’s no TrueHD decoder in the app. Thus, need to rip and play with Dolby Reference player. 
 

P.S. The Reference player was recently updated to enable full screen video playback. For people into movies, like @El Guapo, this is huge!

[jhwalker]

I have a fairly large local collection of multichannel recordings (mostly classical), and I enjoy them so much.  The sense of realism is so much more pronounced, to the extent sometimes I filter my library on (everything but stereo) just to listen to multichannel.

 

I wish the streaming services (other than Apple, of course; i.e., Tidal, Qobuz, etc.) would get on the bandwagon and start streaming Atmos, as well, and / or that Roon would start supporting Apple Music (I know it's not Roon's choice whether they support it or not - kind of a joint effort for them) for that full experience without pushing through an AppleTV (which is really the only way I get Atmos content at the moment).

[jrobbins50]

2 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

P.S. The Reference player was recently updated to enable full screen video playback. For people into movies, like @El Guapo, this is huge!

Speaking of movies through the DRP, I’d like to play my Atmos edition of Top Gun Maverick through there. My 74 Gb version is in MKV which apparently is not supported by the DRP. @El Guapo, what software program would you recommend for (as close as possible) losslessly converting the MKV to a format recognized by the DRP?  Thanks. JCR 

[The Computer Audiophile]

18 minutes ago, jhwalker said:

I have a fairly large local collection of multichannel recordings (mostly classical), and I enjoy them so much.  The sense of realism is so much more pronounced, to the extent sometimes I filter my library on (everything but stereo) just to listen to multichannel.

 

I wish the streaming services (other than Apple, of course; i.e., Tidal, Qobuz, etc.) would get on the bandwagon and start streaming Atmos, as well, and / or that Roon would start supporting Apple Music (I know it's not Roon's choice whether they support it or not - kind of a joint effort for them) for that full experience without pushing through an AppleTV (which is really the only way I get Atmos content at the moment).

It’s a marathon, not a sprint :~)

 

I don’t see Roon ever supporting it. The company seems uninterested. 
 

A step forward will be an app like Audirvana being able to use the built-in Dolby Digital + decoder in macOS, just like Apple Music does, and stream Atmos from Tidal. 
 

Also, HiFi manufacturers need to perk up and realize technology is moving. They need to support more than 8 channels and use technologies like Ravenna to input up to 16 channels of DXD. The pro world is way ahead of HiFi today. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

7 minutes ago, jrobbins50 said:

Speaking of movies through the DRP, I’d like to play my Atmos edition of Top Gun Maverick through there. My 74 Gb version is in MKV which apparently is not supported by the DRP. @El Guapo, what software program would you recommend for (as close as possible) losslessly converting the MKV to a format recognized by the DRP?  Thanks. JCR 

I believe MakeMKV can backup the disc, unencrypted. Then you can use M2TS files in the DRP. I think. 

[Roy Boy]

After streaming some Atmos music into my non-Atmos 7.1 system it has me thinking about future upgrade paths. In my current system I also stream ripped mch SACD from my NAS via Oppo 103d via HDMI to Integra 80.3 processor. It seems like the current generation of Atmos capable processors seem to dropping support for DSD decoding and/or 7.1 analog input. I do not see me going down the path as Chris did due to the complexity and my system needs to support 2 ch Hi-Res/ Atmos for music and Atmos for movies. Any insights into a way forward to support all these formats? Thanks