Dolby Atmos on MacOS

[pat bateman]

Digging more
On the Firecore Forum talking about Infuse streaming app for Apple TV is mentioned very clear that dolby truehd and Dts hma because of the very high quality will cause problems for Siri and therefore if Apple finds not a solution, Siri is first priority, we will never get lossless on a Mac or Apple TV

Thats a theory from 1 guy on that forum who explicitly said "...I could be wrong..." and just "read it somewhere" - probably on Reddit here. Reddit is full of confidently incorrect people.

Plus it's a weird theory since I think Siri in Apple TV is input only. I have never ran into an instance where Siri talked to me from the Apple TV. It will take commands from the remote, iPhone, HomePod etc. I do however have a HomePod, and the HomePod could be taking over the voice feedback. Plus, the Shield has Google Assistant built-in, and obviously no trouble with pass-through, and Google/Android TV software/hardware is hot garbage. I only have a Shield for lossless pass-through. Otherwise it's a buggy POS.

If Apple doesn't implement lossless Atmos pass-through, it's because they dont care about it since 99.9999% of their customer base doesnt care about it.

I'll be the glass-half-full guy, and say that I think awareness of lossless multi-channel audio is getting a bit of traction. Lossless multi-channel is not like the 2 channel lossless vs 320 kbps mp3 debate. In the case of multi-channel, the difference is astoundingly obvious to the laymen with either music or movies.

 

[relaxing]

I realize the focus of this thread is on Atmos but does anyone play multichannel FLAC (regular 5.1 surround) from their Mac out to an AVR? What's your setup?

I have a 20 year old Yamaha AVR that decodes Dolby PL/EX/DTS-ES, but I'm guessing if I was able to get a spdif or toslink signal out of the Mac, my 5.1 FLACs would not have the correct Dolby bits set for the Yammy to understand?

It also has multich analog inputs, but then I'd need an audio interface with 6 analog outs, which seems pricey.

 

[mkt]

I hear that newer macs do hdmi better
https://support.apple.com/en-us/108928

 

[ClassicalSurroundFan]

I realize the focus of this thread is on Atmos but does anyone play multichannel FLAC (regular 5.1 surround) from their Mac out to an AVR? What's your setup?

I have a 20 year old Yamaha AVR that decodes Dolby PL/EX/DTS-ES, but I'm guessing if I was able to get a spdif or toslink signal out of the Mac, my 5.1 FLACs would not have the correct Dolby bits set for the Yammy to understand?

It also has multich analog inputs, but then I'd need an audio interface with 6 analog outs, which seems pricey.

Yeah, I don’t think FLAC carries Dolby or DTS, but I could be wrong.

I recommend getting an hdmi to MCH analog DAC from eBay. Only works for PCM, 8 channels. They are under $100 and sound great.

 

[ClassicalSurroundFan]

Yeah, I don’t think FLAC carries Dolby or DTS, but I could be wrong.

I recommend getting an hdmi to MCH analog DAC from eBay. Only works for PCM, 8 channels. They are under $100 and sound great.

The good ones look like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/3852915010...fbZm8_pT8C&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Avoid the 5.1 ones with legacy DD DTS decoding, they sound terrible.

 

[JediJoker]

Yeah, I don’t think FLAC carries Dolby or DTS, but I could be wrong.

You can encode DTS-CD audio to FLAC and retain the formatting, but that's a special case.

 

[ClassicalSurroundFan]

You can encode DTS-CD audio to FLAC and retain the formatting, but that's a special case.

Yeah, I actually just burn those directly in to iTunes like CDs. Make sure the title starts with “DTS” though so I don’t try to play them on anything without a decoder.

 

[ClassicalSurroundFan]

Sorry if this is a known problem, or the wrong forum, but I am stuck. I have a Mac mini to a MOTU Monitor 8. I have always been able to run 5.1 from Apple Music, but now it only plays stereo on atmos tracks.

• Test tones in Audio MIDI Setup are correctly playing.
• Settings in Apple Music are Dolby Atmos: Always On

Did Apple Music recently discontinue atmos from Mac mini through audio interface?

 

[sjcorne]

What happens if you change Atmos from “Always On” to “Automatic” ?

 

[Franck]

Sorry if this is a known problem, or the wrong forum, but I am stuck. I have a Mac mini to a MOTU Monitor 8. I have always been able to run 5.1 from Apple Music, but now it only plays stereo on atmos tracks.

• Test tones in Audio MIDI Setup are correctly playing.
• Settings in Apple Music are Dolby Atmos: Always On

Did Apple Music recently discontinue atmos from Mac mini through audio interface?

Try loopback from Amoeba.Set it as a 16 input interface and map the required inputs/outputs to your real interface… for some reason, if Apple does not see 16 outputs it does not think you can do Atmos…
I had this issue and that solved it for me.
Loopback has a free trial, so you don’t risk anything if that does not work.

 

[ClassicalSurroundFan]

What happens if you change Atmos from “Always On” to “Automatic” ?

It was on automatic before and I changed it to always on. I’ll change back to automatic in the morning.

 

[ClassicalSurroundFan]

Try loopback from Amoeba.Set it as a 16 input interface and map the required inputs/outputs to your real interface… for some reason, if Apple does not see 16 outputs it does not think you can do Atmos…
I had this issue and that solved it for me.
Loopback has a free trial, so you don’t risk anything if that does not work.

Thanks. I believe I do have 16 outputs on the MOTU Monitor8, so maybe I’ll try assigning them all on my interface routing software. Never was necessary before.