[HN Gopher] Dolby Atmos for music streaming is a waste of time
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Dolby Atmos for music streaming is a waste of time
Author : vednig
Score : 7 points
Date : 2024-12-08 20:39 UTC (2 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.pocket-lint.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.pocket-lint.com)
| alsetmusic wrote:
| > It wasn't until 2021, though, when Apple introduced its Spatial
| Audio feature for Apple Music and its AirPods Pro wireless
| earbuds, that Dolby Atmos really took off in the music space. It
| was an exciting development, using advanced audio processing
| technology to create a lifelike surround sound effect using just
| a pair of earbuds.
|
| As a lover of music and a hobbyist musician, I hate Spatial
| Audio. It's corrupting the mix created by the artists. I turned
| it off immediately.
| CharlesW wrote:
| > _It's corrupting the mix created by the artists._
|
| Like stereo mixes, Atmos mixes are also created by the artists
| with their production and engineering teams.
|
| The real problem, as the article notes, is that we're in the
| early days of mixing for object-based audio, just as we were
| once in the early days of mixing for CD. Mixes for the then-new
| CD format were sometimes terrible.
|
| As the article also notes, there are some stellar Atoms mixes
| out there: "...some albums really have been mastered well for
| the format, to the point where I prefer listening to the Atmos
| version. An example of this is the Pixies' classic album
| Doolittle, which has an absolutely stellar Atmos remix. I will
| sometimes turn Atmos back on just to listen to that album."
| saaaaaam wrote:
| This is not correct. Atmos doesn't just happen. The artist (or
| label) has to supply an atmos mix. There are some labels which
| are supplying "upmixed" Atmos audio - but this is now being
| rejected by Apple. So generally speaking if you hear an Atmos
| mix this has been consciously and specifically created.
|
| Albeit some Atmos engineers are better than others.
| enaaem wrote:
| There can be bad implementations, but I am not against it in
| principle. There is no reason why music has to come only from
| the front like in case of stereo.
| RASBR89 wrote:
| I tried this once and it sounded flatter and thinner than the
| normal track. I expected to be wowed but it seems like a novelty.
| thefaux wrote:
| I never understood the appeal of spatial audio. I intellectually
| understand it, but listening on headphones is a fundamentally
| different experience than both live music or listening to
| recordings on speakers. Let a thing be the thing that it is.
| ojkelly wrote:
| Spatial Audio for music is interesting and when properly mixed
| for it a song can be great. But I'm not going out of my way to
| find those songs.
|
| When it absolutely excels is movies and TV, the immersion is
| spectacular.
|
| I'm holding out for an example of Spatial Audio/Dolby Atmos where
| the immersion it can provide adds to the experience. Orchestral
| music is probably the best place to find that.
| donbrae wrote:
| If I'm on headphones (usually wired) I'll choose the Dolby Atmos
| mix pretty much every time. As the article notes, it's great for
| classical and jazz recordings. But I prefer the Atmos mixes for
| other genres and styles of music, too. The various
| instruments/parts seem to have more room to breathe in the mix,
| and I hear new things in familiar tracks.
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