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One thing I don't really understand about Atmos is, if you're listening through a stereo source (e.g headphones) everything has to be downmixed to two physical

One thing I don't really understand about Atmos is, if you're listening through a stereo source (e.g headphones) everything has to be downmixed to two physical speakers. You can do fancy phase change psychoacoustics stuff but it's still coming out of those two speakers. You're taking a model with effectively unlimited sound sources and rendering it down to a stereo signal like any other non-Atmos source. So is there really a difference compared to a differently-mixed stereo track (other than sucking down a ton of Apple/Dolby marketing hype)? if an artist really wanted their music to sound 3D over stereo speakers, they can already do that during the rendering process.

miskin 5y ago
It is obvious advantage if you have nice surround spraker system that is not made for movies only but is good enough for listening of music. I tried this with Apple TV and 7.1 system and it works quite nice. For headphones it makes sense if they react to your head movement like some airpods do. When I first watched movie with iphone and airpods pro in spatial audio mode, I had to remove headphones to check that the sound was really comming from them and not from phone. It is actually quite good. I haven't listened to music like that yet.
- wonnage 5y ago
  > I had to remove headphones to check that the sound was really comming from them and not from phone I had this experience as well, I kinda liked it but suspect it will be divisive. Also if you switch positions it takes about 5-10 seconds for the system to recenter itself; until then it thinks you're looking left/right.
tester89 5y ago
On the technical perspective no. 3D stereo was always possible, but what Atmos offers is the ability to deliver the 3D experience to any audio player. A mix for headphones won’t sound right on a home cinema, or in a car and having the actual vector data allows for it to sound right everywhere.

miskin 5y ago

It is obvious advantage if you have nice surround spraker system that is not made for movies only but is good enough for listening of music. I tried this with Apple TV and 7.1 system and it works quite nice. For headphones it makes sense if they react to your head movement like some airpods do. When I first watched movie with iphone and airpods pro in spatial audio mode, I had to remove headphones to check that the sound was really comming from them and not from phone. It is actually quite good. I haven't listened to music like that yet.

wonnage 5y ago
> I had to remove headphones to check that the sound was really comming from them and not from phone I had this experience as well, I kinda liked it but suspect it will be divisive. Also if you switch positions it takes about 5-10 seconds for the system to recenter itself; until then it thinks you're looking left/right.

tester89 5y ago

On the technical perspective no. 3D stereo was always possible, but what Atmos offers is the ability to deliver the 3D experience to any audio player. A mix for headphones won’t sound right on a home cinema, or in a car and having the actual vector data allows for it to sound right everywhere.