There is no (true) ATMOS or Surround from HPs. The best you can get with them is stereo. You may read marketing tags like ATMOS, etc assigned to them but there is no way to have real ATMOS with ANY 2 physical speakers at any price. Real ATMOS is about adding to the traditional, full surround setup of 5.1 or 7.1 (that's 5 or 7 separate speakers surrounding you and 1 subwoofer) by putting some speakers on another plane (most commonly overhead in the ceiling).
If you want to become 'whelmed' with Atmos and Surround, abandon the idea of getting it with HPs (there's not even RUMORS of Apple developing the supporting software in that direction) and start digging into an idea of buying yourself a good-to-great receiver and traditional speakers. For the price of a new iPhone, you can get a fairly nice setup. For the price of about 2 iPhones, you can get a pretty good/great setup. Either will be FARRRRRRRRR superior for home theater audio than 1 or 2 HPs.
And, unlike 1 or 2 iPhones which will be software obsolete in about 4-5 years and vintaged in about 7, those speakers will likely still sound great upwards of 20+ years from now (and work with all audio providers instead of thoroughly walled off). IMO, the place to sink some tech premium cash is in things that offer their best for the
longest terms. Speakers definitely qualify. iDevices do not. Consider stretching the use of an existing iDevice or two for another year+ and putting the "next new iDevice" budget towards a full Home Theater setup.
In case you are wondering, soundbars with words like surround sound and ATMOS on the box are NOT real surround or ATMOS either. How can they be when all of the physical speakers are in ONE case? If a "soundbar" came in the form of a huge sphere that you stepped inside to hear the surround/ATMOS, then you could have real, full surround/ATMOS. But a soundbar sitting out front, all jammed into 2-4 feet wide stick case is NOT either... regardless of what is written on the box and/or spun in the marketing.
If you want to be 'whelmed' go to an ATMOS theater for a movie and take a good look around before the lights go down. You'll see speakers down front, to your sides and behind you. If you look harder, you'll see a subwoofer or 2+. If you look up, you will probably see some speakers above too. Now translate that to a
home theater. If the pro theaters could deliver full ATMOS or surround with only a HP or two down front, they would all be on that much cheaper train already.
HPs are great at their intended purpose:
music reproduction from a small form factor. We Apple people are trying our very best to force them to stand in as home theater speakers too. They can if one can be happy with only stereo sound vs. home theaters built upon concepts of 5 surrounding speakers + sub, 7 surrounding speakers + sub, etc. since roughly 1991 or so. Else, to get the real thing, one must choose tech that actually supports it. HPs do not and there are no rumors that suggest they ever will right now.
As to the "disturb our neighbors" concern, that is exceptionally nice of you to care enough about others to make some sacrifice yourselves. We need more people like you in the world.
That said, eventually you might move and your speakers will move with you. So getting more oomph than you choose to enjoy now somewhat "future proofs" where you might live in the future.
A whole other consideration is to get some loaded headphones for all listeners that simulate surround sound. Then you can crank the volume as loud and you like and not even hint at disturbing neighbors at all. You would not be the first to turn to using a good set of headphones in this kind of situation. There is a group of headphones that present themselves as
ATMOS headphones. If they spread real sound around your ears, they likely fake it better than less than 5.1 with some ceiling speakers too.
