Article: Music - Ultimate Guide To High End Immersive Audio

[The Computer Audiophile]

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[jrobbins50]

@The Computer Audiophile, an excellent overview, and I am, as you know, a big fan of the Atmos format and definitely appreciate the ever burgeoning content being released.  I am certainly looking forward to commercial streaming of lossless Atmos content.  
 

I will take issue with but one point in your fine article. Although very little new to my knowledge is being issued in discrete 5.1 or quad multichannel, there are several thousand albums in this format — all lossless — which most audio systems set up for Dolby Atmos can play and their owners should still consider. Some of these legacy MCH mixes are, in my opinion, far better to listen to than the lossy, and even in some cases the lossless, Atmos mixes that have been released to date. I will offer one (perhaps blasphemous) example. To my (admittedly poor) ears, the 2003 30th Anniversary Mix of Pink Floyd’s DSOTM, available on SACD (which can be ripped to a hard drive), uses the surround channels better than the side/rear of the TrueHD lossless Atmos mix. I hear it in particular on the track “Us And Them,” as those words are sung and spin around the room.

 

Of course, at this point, there are still many discrete, and very good, MCH albums that have yet to be re-mixed and re-mastered for Atmos, and discrete MCH is the only way currently to listen to such surround mixes.  Two discrete MCH album examples are Dire Straits’s “Brothers In Arms” and Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” (two tracks of which are currently available in Atmos).  “Watermelon Man” from Herbie Hancock’s “Head Hunters” album, in 5.1 MCH is truly mind-bending.  I encourage readers who set up Atmos systems of 5.1.2 or larger to compare discrete MCH for themselves. JCR 

[JoeWhip]

Excellent article CC. There is an mmersive download site you forgot to mention, Immersive Album Audio. Not a ton of Atmos but they also have traditional 5.1 mixes as well as Auro 3D. There are some fine jazz Atmos available there. There is new fine immersive  mix that not many are aware of as it is only available on Blu ray with DTS Master Audio 5.1  and that Is Lee Ritenour Overtime. Great music with a  great surround mic and even 1080p video. For those, like me, interested in such things. This is a go to mix for me, it is that good.

[The Computer Audiophile]

9 minutes ago, JoeWhip said:

Immersive Album Audio

Forgot about that one! Thanks!

[El Guapo]

The other notable immersive audio format is ADM BWF master file. Although it's for Dolby Atmos mainly but it still can be opened on DAW which supports it as discrete, lossless MCH tracks. I've heard at least two recording studios in Taiwan plan to release such format for indies / ytubers in the near future.

[The Computer Audiophile]

On 9/29/2023 at 4:31 PM, jrobbins50 said:

Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” (two tracks of which are currently available in Atmos)

 

Here's the entire album in Atmos :~)

 

 

[Sal1950]

"What about the holy grail of discrete immersive audio? This is available from 2L and TRPTK as downloads for purchase. They aren’t cheap, but I believe they are worth every penny."

 

Wonderful sounding recordings for sure!

But why DXD for consumer listening, what the heck is there to be gained

from running the sampling rate up to a ridiculous 24/352.8 ? 

An outrageous waste of bandwidth simply to win at a numbers game!

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 hour ago, Sal1950 said:

"What about the holy grail of discrete immersive audio? This is available from 2L and TRPTK as downloads for purchase. They aren’t cheap, but I believe they are worth every penny."

 

Wonderful sounding recordings for sure!

But why DXD for consumer listening, what the heck is there to be gained

from running the sampling rate up to a ridiculous 24/352.8 ? 

An outrageous waste of bandwidth simply to win at a numbers game!

I hear you Sal. I’d be cool with discrete immersive at a much lower rate, but for now it’s DXD. 

[bbosler]

It has arrived  !!!

 

[jhwalker]

23 hours ago, bbosler said:

It has arrived  !!!

 

Got mine, too.  Ripped all versions from the Blu-Ray :) but still frustrated at the limited number of ways one can play the Dolby Atmos mix.

 

Easiest for me (at least) is from my Sony Blu-Ray player 🤷‍♂️ but I'd prefer being able to play it back from my music server, but Roon doesn't support .MKV files or Atmos playback (at all).  I was able to get it playing back through my AppleTV using Infuze, but would prefer Plex ... which doesn't appear to "see" the .MKV, at all :(

 

In any case, great sound in ALL the formats - very enjoyable.

[The Computer Audiophile]

4 minutes ago, jhwalker said:

Got mine, too.  Ripped all versions from the Blu-Ray :) but still frustrated at the limited number of ways one can play the Dolby Atmos mix.

 

Easiest for me (at least) is from my Sony Blu-Ray player 🤷‍♂️ but I'd prefer being able to play it back from my music server, but Roon doesn't support .MKV files or Atmos playback (at all).  I was able to get it playing back through my AppleTV using Infuze, but would prefer Plex ... which doesn't appear to "see" the .MKV, at all :(

 

In any case, great sound in ALL the formats - very enjoyable.

Here’s one easy way - 

 

[jhwalker]

20 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Here’s one easy way - 

 

I JUST remembered this method.  Re-ripped just the "movie" (BMDV) file using MakeMKV, saved it as an MKV, uploaded to my server and Bob's your uncle - playing back right now via NVIDIA Shield Pro TV :)

[bbosler]

14 minutes ago, jhwalker said:

I JUST remembered this method.  Re-ripped just the "movie" (BMDV) file using MakeMKV, saved it as an MKV, uploaded to my server

same here but using Windows PC >> JRiver >>> HDMI >>> Trinnov

[wisechoice]

Quote

An exact definition of immersive audio is elusive, but at least the name offers a great description of the concept unlike the 100% made up name Wi-Fi. 

 

Did you mean to write Hi-Fi? @The Computer Audiophile

[The Computer Audiophile]

43 minutes ago, wisechoice said:

 

Did you mean to write Hi-Fi? @The Computer Audiophile

No.

 

HiFi = High Fidelity 

 

WiFi = made up marketing name