Dolby Atmos Music on Blu-ray

[jimfisheye]

There are numerous MAJOR problems with your request.

1. There are NO free public decoders for Atmos, DTSX, or A3D.
2. Commercial decoders are available, but cost thousands.
3. FLAC is limited to 8ch, but those formats above are 10+ch. (WV & WAV can store ~32ch btw)
4. A channel based formal such as FLAC cannot store object metadata

There are some Atmos & DTSX samples here, but they obviously require you to already have a working Atmos, DTSX decoder/AVR (which you don't)

https://kodi.wiki/view/Samples#HD_Audio_Test_Clips

Wav or Wavpack (or ALAC or whatever) would be fine.
Yeah... Not taking a chance on a Dolby product unheard and that then requires purchasing and setting up over 60 speakers! Not with their past reputation anyway. They truly have implemented some great ideas in the past but also the polar opposite. Goes without saying that I'd want to go all or nothing on the speaker array as spec'd. No interest in downmixing the formats to standard 5.1 - that's not going to tell me anything.

Some synth band with a few polite wiggles and warbles isn't going to do it. Roger's tired karaoke Wall performance sure isn't! Honestly, the only "marketing" I see is selling these scam 'shitbar' speakers with Atmos as a buzzword! I'm about as receptive to that as one of those $1000 HDMI cable scams.

Somebody needs to sell this! Point me to some actual discrete 3D mix that will actually make me hungry to set up more speakers to hear it in 3D perspective with discrete madness. Something refined with spacial tricks could be of interest but a demo should include something gratuitous that genuinely can't be done in 5.1 to grab one's attention.

Someone mentioned music club interest. I've thought about freaking out an audience before with things like changing the room dimensions aurally. Put them in a closet one minute and then dangle them over the grand canyon the next. In addition to discrete motion. Could be a lot of fun! But back to the reality of the average club with half the speakers and equipment blown up, the other half wired wrong, and a "sound guy" that listens to mp3's on a phone and doesn't even know how to hook anything up, let alone run it...

Lots of truly great inspiring talk here but someone needs to walk the walk!

 

[haikubass]

Here's a new blu-ray audio release with both Dolby Atmos and Auro-3D formats:
US Army Jazz Ambassadors play Sammy Nestico - The Sammy Sessions

 

[edisonbaggins]

Wav or Wavpack (or ALAC or whatever) would be fine.
Yeah... Not taking a chance on a Dolby product unheard and that then requires purchasing and setting up over 60 speakers! Not with their past reputation anyway. They truly have implemented some great ideas in the past but also the polar opposite. Goes without saying that I'd want to go all or nothing on the speaker array as spec'd. No interest in downmixing the formats to standard 5.1 - that's not going to tell me anything.

Kraftwerk 3-D?

 

[GOS]

I admit, I am way LESS than excited at the horrific number of titles being offered. Maybe I should have known......this is for movies mostly. I guess I had hoped audio would jump on the band wagon. And...by that, I mean music I like. Ugh.....

Same....old...story.....

 

[jimfisheye]

What an epic waste for movies! That was my fear too. Hence my comment of: Let's maybe take some smaller steps and get 5.1 in front of more people before we tell them to go buy 60 some speakers and start hanging some of them from the ceiling!

I'd still like to see a flac file (sorry, a WavPack I guess - flac only supports 8 channels) for something interesting mixed to Atmos or one of the other 3D formats. And I mean something interesting that makes me actually consider buying more speakers and hanging some of them from the ceiling to hear the stupid thing in all its glory! Not just some polite wiggles that someone has to explain to notice. And something that's beyond presenting in 5.1 in the same way that Bitches Brew or Thrak is not possible to present in stereo.

 

[haikubass]

Found a live release in Auro-3D from 2016, off the collective radar:
Brussels Jazz Orchestra – BJO’s Finest – Live! (BD-A)
Mixed by Patrick Lemmens at Galaxy Studios, available pretty cheap on Amazon sites if you search for ASIN B019PL3BOG.

 

[Clint Eastwood]

I admit, I am way LESS than excited at the horrific number of titles being offered. Maybe I should have known......this is for movies mostly. I guess I had hoped audio would jump on the band wagon. And...by that, I mean music I like. Ugh.....

Same....old...story.....

Maybe it all won't be movie based...I'm going to ask Steve if any of the material he has been working on is audio only and not movie related

 

[PmikeK]

Reading your other posts your mind is made up and I have better things to do than change it. Use your imagination or listen to the 3D version of Kraftwerk.

I can imagine a new 3D mix of The Wall with copters flying over head and surround effects flying everywhere. Or a Dark Side of the Moon with the clocks and cash registers going nuts everywhere.

What I don't want is Keith Moon's drum kit in one over head channel like his kit in one rear channel on the newest Tommy release. Some music can benefit greatly with the additional axis of speakers, other stuff, not much. Your original post appeared as a question and when others took the time to answer it you were inconsiderate. If you are looking for people to think like you find another place.

Yep. Balance is key. Bass in one channel also does my nut in, oJays anyone?

 

[Kal Rubinson]

I love REFLECTIONS but I have not gotten around to playing the Ades disc yet. However, I have heard none of them in ATMOS because I run only 5.1

Since then, I set up an Atmos system but, after a bit, I am back to 5.1

 

[Audiowannabee]

Since then, I set up an Atmos system but, after a bit, I am back to 5.1

Why back to 5.1??? Was Atmos NOT worhth the expense? Bigger avr more speakers?

 

[J. PUPSTER]

Since then, I set up an Atmos system but, after a bit, I am back to 5.1

Kal, I’m interested in hearing a more detailed explanation of this also. I remember you weren’t too happy with the vocal placement for Barber on her Modern Cool Blu-Ray; is it that the height speakers are not creating a natural placement for instruments in the mix? I value your opinion- thanks!

 

[gene_stl]

I have to say, at AXPONA in April, I made it my business to attend a number of Atmos demos. I was underwhelmed. I have actually flown helicopters and don't need an audio simulation in my living room. I have also walked in the woods while it was raining and heard raindrops all around me. This may be OK for home theater but I am not going to cut holes in my listening room ceiling to listen to either those cinema effects nor to yet another remix of rock and roll from the seventies which was originally recorded before digital was even invented.

I would say that if I was a more of a cinemaphile I would consider doing it. (My current digs would make it fairly easy to implement five overheads.) But my main interest is music. I like the idea that with digital recording and releases we can get all the musical detail that might exist on some old two inch wide analog tape with little loss or degradation. But all this excessive upmixing and effects scrambling reminds me of the distinction that used to be made in types of audio mixes. Some mainly classical mixes had stereo pairs of microphones and the engineer was trying to give the listener some recreation of an acoustic event that occurred in space and time. Many pop rock and jazz records were sets of tracks of different instruments and were laid into acoustic space but not duplicating anything that ever happened. To me this is the "fallacy" of all the new "object oriented" 3D systems. Just like CGI throws stuff onto the visual screen that never really happened, these things do the same with the audio. And just like your eye (as of most movies nowadays) can tell when they are showing you CGI the Atmos didn't sound that convincing. I was ready to be wowed. I WANTED to be wowed.

All the systems I heard were on rigging frames which would sound somewhat different because of the lack of room boundaries as well as very different direct/reflection timing. I look forward to some early adopter having me over to listen. I STILL would like to be wowed.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Why back to 5.1??? Was Atmos NOT worhth the expense? Bigger avr more speakers?

Kal, I’m interested in hearing a more detailed explanation of this also. I remember you weren’t too happy with the vocal placement for Barber on her Modern Cool Blu-Ray; is it that the height speakers are not creating a natural placement for instruments in the mix? I value your opinion- thanks!

First, I do not recall listening to Modern Cool in anything but 5.1, so that is irrelevant.
I found the setup with the 4 Dolby-enabled speakers cumbersome and operationally confusing with my Marantz prepro. It was much better in all ways with the Trinnov Altitude but I am not ready to spend what that costs.
More significantly, I do not see that there is sufficient music repertoire in Atmos to motivate me to encumber the disruption and cost of adopting it. My decision is, perhaps, a temporary one.

 

[4-earredwonder]

First, I do not recall listening to Modern Cool in anything but 5.1, so that is irrelevant.
I found the setup with the 4 Dolby-enabled speakers cumbersome and operationally confusing with my Marantz prepro. It was much better in all ways with the Trinnov Altitude but I am not ready to spend what that costs.
More significantly, I do not see that there is sufficient music repertoire in Atmos to motivate me to encumber the disruption and cost of adopting it. My decision is, perhaps, a temporary one.

Kal, perhaps this will refresh your memory https://www.stereophile.com/content/recordings-month-inightclubi-amp-imodern-cooli

Especially the last line of your fine review!

 

[Kal Rubinson]

First, I do not recall listening to Modern Cool in anything but 5.1, so that is irrelevant.

Kal, perhaps this will refresh your memory https://www.stereophile.com/content/recordings-month-inightclubi-amp-imodern-cooli
Especially the last line of your fine review!

Right. What I meant, in the context of this thread, is that I do not recall listening to Modern Cool in anything more that 5.1, so that is irrelevant.

 

[J. PUPSTER]

Right. What I meant, in the context of this thread, is that I do not recall listening to Modern Cool in anything more that 5.1, so that is irrelevant.

Not trying to get everyone's Tommy John's in a bunch. I'm aware Modern Cool is not Atmos, was only trying to suss out if your preference to 5.1 rather than Atmos (due to height speakers) was more "generally" due to the position of vocals/instruments from a particular area of the mix. (i.e. an Oboe emanating from the ceiling.)
I should stop now before I start confusing myself.
Your explanation cleared that all up - thank you Kal!

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Not trying to get everyone's Tommy John's in a bunch. I'm aware Modern Cool is not Atmos, was only trying to suss out if your preference to 5.1 rather than Atmos (due to height speakers) was more "generally" due to the position of vocals/instruments from a particular area of the mix. (i.e. an Oboe emanating from the ceiling.)

Well, I don't want anything emanating from the ceiling (except in the rare cases where the artist/composer so specifies).

 

[HomerJAU]

I‘ve found some of the Atmos music mixes shift the front image (through object encoding I presume) up above my floor standing speakers which gives me a more enjoyable listening experience. Its not just about having disecrete sounds in all four ceiling speakers, although that does occur in some tracks.

My only concern at this point is lack of Atmos music releases. I’d hoped UMG would have announced a release date for disc based Atmos music by now. It’ll be a bummer if it’s limited to streaming services.

 

[edisonbaggins]

Some Atmos album recommendations:

 

[4-earredwonder]

Some Atmos album recommendations:

HOT STUFF entrenched on his throne touting ATMOS.........Hopefully many more titles to come in 2020.......Nice video, Mike.