Hi All, I found this forum whilst looking around for ways to preserve Atmos while converting to EAC3 - Now that Apple TV and Mac support EAC3 passthrough with Atmos. Hopefully they will eventually passthrough MLP, but that seems unlikely given the lack of BD support. I love collecting the SDE releases with Atmos and they certainly seem to be releasing a lot of my favorites at once. I like to have physical media, but I like the convenience of being able to play anywhere without a disc. I recently used the Plex tools to make a 7.1 EAC3 but I'm not convinced it preserved enough of the mix of the original. Previously I have collected quite a few SACDs which I originally would play back on my modded Korg MR2. I currently subscribe to Roon and Qobuz but this may be the last year I do that. Roon has not embraced Atmos music and I really find immersive audio more enjoyable than "Hi Def". I definitely went through a phase where I was very into HD audio - I found it easier to pick out lyrics on my Chord Mojo(2) Poly (which took over from the MR2) and extended that "I can make out the lyrics" experience to regular CD Audio. I used to poo-poo Bluetooth headphones until I got Apple's AirPods Pro and they give me a very comparable experience as far as music enjoyment is concerned and open up Spatial Audio on the go.
I suppose the only thing I haven't mentioned yet is my living room gear, I have my Mac Mini connected to the Chord Mojo as well as via HDMI to my Onkyo TX-RZ11000 in 5.1.4 with a full set of Pioneer Andrew Jones speakers (tall Stereo, bookshelf surrounds) and an Energy sub which has never underperformed such that I want to replace it. I have a Sony BD/SACD player (I think we all know why) and I have a couple of 90's vintage Desktop MIDI devices - Yamaha MU2000EX and Roland Integra 7.
As far as music goes, I enjoy having background music, so the MIDI can really scratch that itch and with the Integra I can create a 5.1 mix. As far as genres go, Jazz, Prog Rock, Classical, 80s Pop, Ska, Funk, Punk, Ambient, and EDM if I'm in the right mood.
This has been a long post, so thanks for reading this far, I look forward to joining the discussion.
Faye
