JustinHardyJ

JustinHardyJ t1_j51kul4 wrote

Reply to comment by SteakTree in What Does Dolby Atmos Actually Do, Is It Good For Music? by pr0_sc0p3z_pwn_n0obz

Aha the Utopias, very good headphones, I use the Hifiman Aryas so obviously pretty different technology going into this.

But yeah I fully agree that I can for sure see myself listening to and enjoying Dolby Atmos for headphones were I to acclimate my ears to that sort of sound. Unfortunately I use the Nvidia Shield TV Pro as my media player so even if I did want to use Atmos for headphones, I wouldn't be able to do so and I have yet to discover an external device that process Dolby Atmos for headphones—so maybe I had a bit of a subconscious bias against Atmos for headphones when I was testing it on my laptop as stereo listening is pretty much my only option when using my proper movie setup.

But I still tried to be as objective as possible and even if there are flaws with downmixing audio, I think there are also bound to be flaws with sound virtualisers as they try to convey something that wasn't intentionally engineered by a group of sound mixers. Still, the technology is very impressive but I believe that you can be just as content with simple stereo content—especially if you throw some bass shakers on your furniture to convey that tactile bass of films.

1

JustinHardyJ t1_j51guos wrote

Reply to comment by SteakTree in What Does Dolby Atmos Actually Do, Is It Good For Music? by pr0_sc0p3z_pwn_n0obz

As a cinephile I was very curious to try Dolby Atmos for headphones. While I certainly recommend everyone try for themselves to see how they like, I personally found it to be less good than just listening in stereo.

I tested lots of films, but one of my favorites references is the IMAX preshow trailer "Infinite Worlds". If you watch it, there's a part where a tiger growls in your right ear. Without Dolby Atmos for headphones this comes across with an excellent sense of texture in the growl, whereas with Atmos enabled I felt a huge loss of texture (and therefore also a little timbre).

I know this is just one example, but it's why I'm personally not a fan. But there is a free trial so I recommend everyone give it a shot and figure out for yourselves if it works for you!

3