What is Your Opinion of Atmos Music?

While I never cared much about home theatre sound, but after seeing Bong Joon-ho’s film Parasite in a good theatre (last film before covid, that’s a while back :-) where surround really added to the house-as-character motif, I became interested. So when my hand-me-down stereo DAC died I replaced it with an 8-channel.

That was with regular surround in mind. Fortuitously, Apple’s macOS TV.app gained support for Atmos (up to 14 channels now) which means I could do 5.1.2 for example (or add another DAC and create an aggregated device via CoreAudio to get more).

I haven’t gone there yet (need amp channels and speakers, obviously). But I can listen to the binaural Atmos mix via headphones (AirPods Max) in the meantime. I’m one of those people who hears headphone soundstage more-or-less in a line transecting my ears so I’ve never been much of a head-fi enthusiast. But the Spatial Audio mix (aka Atmos) usually improves things, moving the main soundstage forward and and expanding it generally (I listen to studio-assembled music for the most part so I’m not pursuing venue sound, so no comment on that).

So far that works from TV.app (where it’s quite uncanny) and Music.app on recent macOS, iPadOS and iPhoneOS devices (and from an Apple TV hardware box too of course). As Apple Music is my usual source that’s pretty helpful. The head tracking is ok but I little off right as I turn from centre. I’ve set up the personal spatial profile by doing the LiDAR ear scan thing, which helped a bit.

Apart from encouraging up-to-date hardware (the source of Apple’s gratuitous billions) there’s no extra charge for hi-res or spatial.

@kota1 Haha thanks, I don't generally watch YT with funny faces and amped-up headlines on the splash screen (which is to say I barely watch YT at all :-) but I understand Atmos basics.

Apple Music doesn't play spatial (Atmos) to a stereo setup by default, but it can be set to do so. I've tried this on some recent releases done with Atmos and hi-res but I can't say any difference in stereo image or tonality jumps out at me. Changing the player preferences is a couple of steps so no instant switching. And I haven't really kicked back and relaxed into it to appreciate the subtleties on the level of old vs new DAC for example.

@kota1

I intend to listen in my main listening system (in my profile). The DAC/pre I bought is the Sony Signature TA-ZH1ES. I can use it as a DAC with my HT processor, as a 2 CH preamp connected directly with my active speakers (they have both XLR and RCA inputs with a toggle switch), and as a headphone amp. My transport/streamer is my Sony Universal/Blue-Ray player, my Onkyo DAP (android OS), or my Bluesound Node. I am thinking about Sony’s matching headphones, the Signature MDR-Z1R and have a budget of around $2K. I can get an Apple product if necessary. Thanks for any advice.

I have three headphones: Senny HD650, Sony Z1R and Apple AirPods Max (in order of acquisition). I reckon if you already have the Sony signature player you’d be mad not to get the matching headphones. They are beautifully constructed and detailed, light and most comfortable to wear despite the large-ish size, and of course sound very good. Bass is extended and well rendered. Detail retrieval is very nice. Voicing of the treble is exciting but can overcook things at times on modern productions with processed vocals. I usually use them at my home office desk powered by a Chord Mojo, so they aren’t getting any help. I have the recurring fantasy of running them from Woo Audio Fireflies, which I should try. But I’m not a headphone freak so it’s a ways down my listening/shopping list. My usual source is Apple Music: the spatial audio tracks play as expected but the head-tracking doesn’t, of course.

What about AirPods Max? I use them a lot: noise cancelling is effective (which also means you can enjoy listening at lower levels) and the spatial effect is better. Head-tracking is fun (when running on devices that support it, Apple Silicon Mac, iPhone or iPad in my case) and nails the illusion of audio coming from the image source (I’ve done the LiDAR thing on my ears). Despite the smaller drivers (40 mm on Apple vs 70 mm on Sony) the bass isn’t lacking in quality or quantity—I think Sony actually made the Apple drivers judging by published images. The somewhat smoother/darker/mellower high-end is preferable on certain tracks. Distortion is low and detail is excellent. They are at least as well made. And of course, wireless is very handy. But that means 24/48 tops as Apple hasn’t gone any further.

I’d get both of course (easy to say when I already did). But you’d want an Apple source device also—otherwise you are wasting usability and spatial potential—that’s a bigger decision. I gave up on Tidal/MQA for example, so my source lineup and yours don’t correlate at all. If you want to dip your toe in at less expense, most reports suggest the new series AirPods Pro are quite good.

@kota1 I forgot to mention: the cheapest Apple source (if you did want to try AirPods Pro or Max) is of course an AppleTV box. You probably get a free trial period of Apple Music with that. And you get to try all the spatial things.

@kota1 The article is out of date in some respects, Apple added spatial audio monitoring to Logic Pro at version 10.7.3 (current version is 10.7.5). Both Apple and Dolby user guidance describe this (on the production side, which the writer was addressing).

To be terminologically precise, you would be listening to the same mix, but a different rendering. I can’t offer an opinion on whether the spatial audio renderer is better/worse, I haven’t used Atmos via the other services. From your position, you are still faced with different playback scenarios to (potentially) try out one way or another.

That solves your problem, no need to get an Apple thing, stick with Sony. The Z1R are extra-nice headphones.