Tidal Adds Dolby Atmos Music

[stormchaser]

I'll be joining Perzon57 later today in being the latest to join this effort. My Firestick4k is waiting on me at home!

 

[stormchaser]

Okay, I'm late to the party, but I'm here. Did we ever setup a review thread for individual tracks or is that all buried in the previous 35 pages? Styx's Renegade is really interesting. Red Rider's Lunatic Fringe is well-done. But man, what a mixed bag of both mix and fidelity. I've got my Fire Stick plugged into my Marantz Pre/Pro 7704.

 

[northernsoul]

Having different engineers mixing for the same artist is a really dumb idea. Totally idiotic decision. No cohesion, one mix can be immersive then the next one a complete dead fish. Lady Gaga Born this way has extremely weak drums, almost buried with no bottom, and monster is opposite. Bee gees have 2 mixes; one immersive, one that sounds like it is in stereo.

 

[harync]

Okay, I'm late to the party, but I'm here. Did we ever setup a review thread for individual tracks or is that all buried in the previous 35 pages? Styx's Renegade is really interesting. Red Rider's Lunatic Fringe is well-done. But man, what a mixed bag of both mix and fidelity. I've got my Fire Stick plugged into my Marantz Pre/Pro 7704.

There is a listening thread here: Listening to Now (In Dolby Atmos)

However, both threads seem to be used interchangeably.

Completely agree about the mixed bag. Some mixers seem to get pretty aggressive and/or go for a lot of discrete elements. Others are basically doing extended stereo.

 

[bracelis]

If I disable Atmos and change the format to Digital 5.1 on the Apple TV, it will show "Playing in stereo, Atmos not supported" on the screen.
But it actually plays the Atmos version of the track in discreet Dolby Digital 5.1 (without Atmos of course).
It's obviously not bitstreaming the original track -- if it were, then it would show as Atmos on the receiver.
Or you can also set the Change Format = No with Atmos disabled on the Apple, and the signal appears on the receiver as 7.1 PCM,
So even if you don't have an Atmos receiver or height speakers, you can still hear the Atmos tracks in surround / multichannel.

EDIT / CORRECTION:
The above only works on a non-Atmos receiver if the same [Tidal app / Apple TV] had been connected to an Atmos receiver.
The tidal app 'remembers' the last connection setting.
But if you restart the Apple, then it no longer works on the non-Atmos receiver.

 

[AYanguas]

If I disable Atmos and change the format to Digital 5.1 on the Apple TV, it will show "Playing in stereo, Atmos not supported" on the screen.
But it actually plays the Atmos version of the track in discreet Dolby Digital 5.1 (without Atmos of course).
It's obviously not bitstreaming the original track -- if it were, then it would show as Atmos on the receiver.
Or you can also set the Change Format = No with Atmos disabled on the Apple, and the signal appears on the receiver as 7.1 PCM,
So even if you don't have an Atmos receiver or height speakers, you can still hear the Atmos tracks in surround / multichannel.

With TIDAL App in Windows 10 PC via HDMI to a 5.1 AVR (on my second Room), this does Not Work. Atmos Tracks are played in the AVR just Stereo. Center and Surrounds speakers are silent. No message about "Atmos is not supported" is given by the Windows App.

Pending tests with Fire TV 4K on the AVR 5.1

Checked: Other Multichannel tracks plays correctly 5.1 from my PC. Also TIDAL App on Fire TV 4K (on my Main HT Room) plays correctly TIDAL Dolby Atmos Tracks on Atmos AVR.

 

[bracelis]

With the Tidal App on Windows 10 PC, if I click on an Atmos track, it actually retrieves and streams a different track/file, which is a stereo FLAC.
With the Apple TV 4K, it doesn't matter if I disable Atmos -- it still retrieves the Atmos track/file from the server.
I checked both by capturing and looking at the network traffic.

 

[himey]

With the Tidal App on Windows 10 PC, if I click on an Atmos track, it actually retrieves and streams a different track/file, which is a stereo FLAC.
With the Apple TV 4K, it doesn't matter if I disable Atmos -- it still retrieves the Atmos track/file from the server.
I checked both by capturing and looking at the network traffic.

Do you know if you get the same options under Immersive Audio for Atmos if you don't have the Apple TV 4K connected to an Atmos compatible TV/Receiver?

 

[marpow]

With TIDAL App in Windows 10 PC via HDMI to a 5.1 AVR (on my second Room), this does Not Work. Atmos Tracks are played in the AVR just Stereo. Center and Surrounds speakers are silent. No message about "Atmos is not supported" is given by the Windows App.

Pending tests with Fire TV 4K on the AVR 5.1

Checked: Other Multichannel tracks plays correctly 5.1 from my PC. Also TIDAL App on Fire TV 4K (on my Main HT Room) plays correctly TIDAL Dolby Atmos Tracks on Atmos AVR.

I was wondering about that. So if you want Tidal Atmos, a FireTV 4K stick is mandatory. Do they have a FireTV 4K cube? That is what I have now but it is about 4-5 years old and cannot firmware upgrade.

 

[olgitnorm]

This is a today response from my request opened to TIDAL support about the low volume level on Atmos tracks:

"""""""""""""""""""
Hello,

The issue is on Dolby's end and we are currently working with them to increase the volume "DB", so hopefully it should be resolved this week.
Thank you for your patience.

Best Regards,

Annette
TIDAL Member Support
Team Lead
"""""""""""""""""""

Or then again maybe this week
Wonder how they will implement this maybe an app update cos if they just suddenly increase the volume by 20db some people are going to get a shock

 

[northernsoul]

Still no more playlists added since I joined 2 weeks ago.

 

[stormchaser]

We are still very early in all this, but I must say that my greatest pleasure here has been being forced to experience Tidal itself more than the Atmos tracks. I've really been enjoying the creativity of some of the playlists and discovering some new artists.

 

[jaap74]

Just read this : AirPods Pro get a huge new Dolby Atmos update in iOS 14

This but just made me laugh : "As well as allowing for clever virtual Dolby Atmos, the AirPods Pro will also be able to tracks the motion of your head and your device, to ensure that the audio always appear to originate from the correct position"

 

[Beefalo]

Just read this : AirPods Pro get a huge new Dolby Atmos update in iOS 14

This but just make me laugh : "As well as allowing for clever virtual Dolby Atmos, the AirPods Pro will also be able to tracks the motion of your head and your device, to ensure that the audio always appear to originate from the correct position"

Neo-Clever Marketing for Dunderheads.

 

[jaap74]

With each new way to listen to "Atmos" the further it is diluted into absolute meaninglessness.........

 

[usccompeng]

So just to confirm, nobody has been able to figure out how to downmix Tidal Atmos to 7.1 or 5.1 TrueHD or Dolby Digital Plus with a pre-Atmos AVR and Firestick 4K, correct? My setup is the above mentioned Firestick, Tidal Hifi account (came included with my Sprint account), I've verified that I have latest FireTV software update, and the Firestick is directly connected to a Pioneer SC-1522-K 9.1 channel receiver. It has HDCP 2.2 and TrueHD decoding but no Atmos. According to Dolby Labs, Atmos is supposed to contain a TrueHD core that is fully backward compatible with pre-existing 7.1 and 5.1 channel equipment, so I don't know why I'm only seeing 2 channel input on my receiver when I try playing the Atmos tracks.

 

[edisonbaggins]

According to Dolby Labs, Atmos is supposed to contain a TrueHD core that is fully backward compatible with pre-existing 7.1 and 5.1 channel equipment, so I don't know why I'm only seeing 2 channel input on my receiver when I try playing the Atmos tracks.

My guess is that Dolby Digital + is not compatible in the same way. Tidal Atmos is not delivered via Dolby True HD.
I'm not sure in exactly what ways DD+ is a different animal, and I'd like to learn more, but it is.

 

[JediJoker]

My guess is that Dolby Digital + is not compatible in the same way. Tidal Atmos is not delivered via Dolby True HD.
I'm not sure in exactly what ways DD+ is a different animal, and I'd like to learn more, but it is.

In the case of DD+, it should include a standard DD core that any DD decoder can read. Of course, a TrueHD decoder should also be able to handle DD+ natively, as it's a lower spec. Wrapping Atmos data in a DD+ container, however, might change things. Or, perhaps the Tidal implementation is nonstandard or a new, as-yet-not-fully-supported, backwards-incompatible standard created in collaboration with Dolby. If other Atmos-into-DD+ streams play back correctly, that would seem to be a problem unique to Tidal.

 

[himey]

So just to confirm, nobody has been able to figure out how to downmix Tidal Atmos to 7.1 or 5.1 TrueHD or Dolby Digital Plus with a pre-Atmos AVR and Firestick 4K, correct? My setup is the above mentioned Firestick, Tidal Hifi account (came included with my Sprint account), I've verified that I have latest FireTV software update, and the Firestick is directly connected to a Pioneer SC-1522-K 9.1 channel receiver. It has HDCP 2.2 and TrueHD decoding but no Atmos. According to Dolby Labs, Atmos is supposed to contain a TrueHD core that is fully backward compatible with pre-existing 7.1 and 5.1 channel equipment, so I don't know why I'm only seeing 2 channel input on my receiver when I try playing the Atmos tracks.

I don't think any device has worked without a compatible TV AND receiver. Even the dude with an Apple TV 4K who turned off Atmos had compatible equipment. Hopefully I am wrong about this...

 

[himey]

In the case of DD+, it should include a standard DD core that any DD decoder can read. Of course, a TrueHD decoder should also be able to handle DD+ natively, as it's a lower spec. Wrapping Atmos data in a DD+ container, however, might change things. Or, perhaps the Tidal implementation is nonstandard or a new, as-yet-not-fully-supported, backwards-incompatible standard created in collaboration with Dolby. If other Atmos-into-DD+ streams play back correctly, that would seem to be a problem unique to Tidal.

Without that hdmi handshake showing you have the correct hdmi version I don't think it will work, even with a processor that will do DD+. Hopefully I am wrong...