@axo1989 , thanks for the tips. I have been less than thrilled with the Firestick, but it integrates well with Tidal and Atmos music. I agree it is time to take the leap into the apple ecosystem and the new ATV4K seems easy enough. It is nice to have so many choices of headphones and have never gotten into them much before. I was looking at getting a separate preamp for 2 CH in my main HT system and this checked that box. I was looking at DAC’s like the Chord Qutest and this checked that box too, the Qutest was about $300 less but lacked all of the other features this unit has. Finally I have never gone down the headphone rabbit hole because I prefer speakers. The fact that this unit had the other features I wanted the headphone amp was what pushed me over the edge to pull the trigger. I use a Sony universal player for CD’s. SACD’s, streaming via DLNA, and bluerays. I like the sound signature and we’ll see how it works as a transport for this unit. Just wanted to get some advice before jumping in with headphones that will do both 2 CH and atmos.
What is Your Opinion of Atmos Music?
Most members here have "stereos" for music and "home theater" for movies. Atmos music takes the immersive format that started with movies and uses it for music. It seems Dolby has a series of interviews/tutorials with recording engineers and that is picking up momentum. Personally I listen to immersive music (atmos and surround sound) about 80% of the time and the other 20% I listen to two channel on my desktop system. What is your experience with either Atmos music/spatial audio or using any of the various upmixers (auro-3d, dolby surround, etc) for immersive music listening?
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Apple "Spatial Audio" mix might be different than the Dolby Atmos mix created in the studio if you are using headphones. Apple has its own "spatial audio" renderer for headphones that takes the original atmos mix and puts it through its own renderer UNLESS you are using ATV4K via HDMI to a receiver. If you want the original mix on headphones use Tidal. Check out this diagram and the follow up article:
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@kota1 The article is out of date in some respects, Apple added spatial audio monitoring to Logic Pro at version 10.7.3 (current version is 10.7.5).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. |
@axo1989 , it isn't necessarily good or bad, but different. Dolby makes a big deal about artist intent, they should use the same renderer if possible IMO. |
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