Dolby Atmos vs multichannel on AirPods Pro

[sman789]

I watch stuff on my Apple TV with my AirPods Pro because they sound better than with my TV speakers. Most of the stuff I watch says MultiChanel but I just checked to make sure Spatial Audio is on and I noticed it says Dolby Atmos instead of Multichannel. My question is, what is the difference between Dolby Atmos, and MultiChanel on AirPods Pro.

 

[waw74]

multi channel usually means 5.1,
atmos is multiple tracks, but each track has a location that can be changed

with either it's still just stereo going into your head, since there are only 2 speakers involved. They just do a little audio processing to make things sound like they're coming from different places.

if you've got Apple Music, search for dolby labs, they have a few test tracks that go through each of the various speakers, and says the name out of that speaker (left front, right rear height, etc...) , you can kinda hear how they move around