Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Status
The first post of this thread is a WikiPost and can be edited by anyone with the appropiate permissions. Your edits will be public.

DEMinSoCAL

macrumors 603
Sep 27, 2005
5,070
7,294
It's way too much work trying to figure out if a song is Lossless, Dolby Atmos, etc. Apple needs to update the Music app so that either there are indicators up top where the song is playing so we can easily see if Atmos or Lossless (or both?). Also, on an album, the album may not show Atmos, but some songs ON the album may be (like Gaga's Paparazzi). The list of songs needs a column with not only name and time, but also if Atmos or Lossless are present.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 211

verdi1987

macrumors 6502a
Jun 19, 2010
656
418
It's way too much work trying to figure out if a song is Lossless, Dolby Atmos, etc. Apple needs to update the Music app so that either there are indicators up top where the song is playing so we can easily see if Atmos or Lossless (or both?). Also, on an album, the album may not show Atmos, but some songs ON the album may be (like Gaga's Paparazzi). The list of songs needs a column with not only name and time, but also if Atmos or Lossless are present.
I agree. Lossless or Atmos do show on the mini-player, but I never used the mini-player in almost two decades of using iTunes/Music.

If an entire album is not lossless or Atmos, the tracks that are lossless or Atmos should be individually identifiable in the album list, not just when you play them.

There also needs to be a search filter for lossless, hi-res lossless, and Atmos.

I don’t think any tracks on Apple Music are lossless Atmos (TrueHD encoded). They are Dolby Digital+ (lossy). Lossless Atmos files would be huge. If you compare the size of a track’s Atmos version its lossless version, the lossless file is much larger than the Atmos file.
 

Julien

macrumors G4
Jun 30, 2007
11,859
5,445
Atlanta
Anyone looking for probably the BEST demo of Atmos music should go here on the Dolby site and listen to the 4 tracks. While probably nothing people want or know they are MONSTER Atmos mixes and really let Spatial Audio mixes show to FULL potential.

Also a good demo that is made for Atmos theater but really shines with the AirPods Max.



 
Last edited:

Julien

macrumors G4
Jun 30, 2007
11,859
5,445
Atlanta
I found GOLD. Sgt.Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is available in Atmos. It is only on the Deluxe Edition. All of the original's are in Atmos. The extras/added material isn't and the reason the Album doesn't have Atmos label. This is fantastic since it is probably one of the most influential albums in rock/pop both artistically and technically.


EDIT: I have found a travesty on a quick listen. For some reason A Day in the Life (track 13/last song) is not in Atmos. How can one of the greatest rock songs ever composed not be released in Atmos? I don't understand. Hopefully it. is an oversight and will be corrected soon.

 
Last edited:

PeytonT123

macrumors regular
Oct 17, 2018
177
66
US
It’s a little frustrating that some songs really don’t sound great listening through AirPod Pros, and this was marketed as a feature that was totally compatible with them. There are elements missing, some songs don’t have enough high end frequencies and sound a little thick/muddy due to the extra low end, etc. I feel like the mixes should have been tailored a little more for AirPod listening if that’s what you’re listening on.

I did read though….is there any truth to these sounding better on ios15?
 

thettareddast

macrumors 6502
Aug 29, 2016
401
538
It’s a little frustrating that some songs really don’t sound great listening through AirPod Pros, and this was marketed as a feature that was totally compatible with them. There are elements missing, some songs don’t have enough high end frequencies and sound a little thick/muddy due to the extra low end, etc. I feel like the mixes should have been tailored a little more for AirPod listening if that’s what you’re listening on.

I did read though….is there any truth to these sounding better on ios15?

Apple just serves the content. Authoring and mixing is up to the producer of the music.
 

thettareddast

macrumors 6502
Aug 29, 2016
401
538
Anyone looking for probably the BEST demo of Atmos music should go here on the Dolby site and listen to the 4 tracks. While probably nothing people want or know they are MONSTER Atmos mixes and really let Spatial Audio mixes show to FULL potential.

Also a good demo that is made for Atmos theater but really shines with the AirPods Max.



these are really really good mixes. and shows it has nothing to do with the downstream devices (when playing from website, apples "spatial audio" option does nothing because its just a binary tag), but all about the authoring
 

kyussmondo

macrumors regular
Apr 7, 2010
105
40
UK
Somehow all the songs with Dolby Atmos tag sounds very impressive on iOS15 beta. On 14.6, the worst.
I hope that is the case. I am using AirPod Pro's on iOS 14.6 and listening to some of these songs that people are recommending, some of them sound terrible compared to the original, like Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory lacks any sort of low end, the separation of the instruments is completely off compared to the original mix. Same listening to tracks like Free Bird and Paparazzi. Some songs are just noticeably quieter, even with Sound Check enabled. I really hope there is some kind of bug in iOS 14.6 which is fixed in iOS 15 (or hopefully they release a patch - iOS 14.6.1 or something as I don't really want to run beta software). Generally, the newer pop albums and some of the old classics like The Beatles, Marvin Gaye etc sound good (I wouldn't say there are massive changes, but it is not so bad like some of the rock albums released in the 2000s which quite frankly sound terrible and make me keep off Dolby Atmos at the moment). I don't know whether it bugs or it is just a money grab by some of the labels and bands putting out some half-assed remix in Dolby Atmos just to get in the playlists. It may be a mixture of both as you would think Apple themselves would check these tracks before featuring them.

Some songs do sound pretty good, songs like Sweet Child Of Mine, a song which I know very well does sound good and you can notice some subtle differences, although as only two songs on Appetite For Destruction are in Dolby Atmos then there is a volume shift between Atmos and non-Atmos songs, which is a bug they really need to address.

Okay, one I have been impressed by is Tom Sawyer by Rush, I still love the original stereo mix, but the Dolby Atmos conversion is great as is Limelight. I would love to see Rush do the whole Moving Pictures album and do the rest of their discography. All rock bands take note, if you are going to remix in Dolby Atmos, check out what Rush did. Jackson 5 - I Want You Back also sounds different (not in a bad way). I feel there is slightly less bass than the stereo version. The most noticeable difference is the vocals. The vocals sound live, like you are in the room with the band which helps brings it to life a bit more, my only criticism is maybe they went a little over the top with the reverb, but it is another good example of what is possible.

With Dolby Atmos mixes, at the very least make it sound comparable to the stereo mix and maybe add some subtleties here and there (e.g. The Beatles, Marvin Gaye, Guns n' Roses, modern pop like Lady Gaga's Chromatica (not Paparazzi)), or make full use of the format while not losing the original fidelity and it not sounding gimmicky (e.g. Rush and Jackson 5).

Maybe Dolby Atmos and Spatial Audio will be the future of music, but like when the CD was first released there were a lot of CDs released originally that were just badly copied from vinyl. I hope the likes of Apple, Tidal, etc can put some pressure on labels and get some quality control.

Bands like Linkin Park, Fall Out Boy, Blink 182 etc sound terrible right now. Maybe they will sound better in iOS 15 and it is a software bug in iOS 14.6.
 
Last edited:

dannys1

macrumors 68040
Sep 19, 2007
3,798
7,005
UK
There's nothing in Dolby Atmos I prefer over the original stereo. The vocals sound like they've got a really fake reverb on them, the bass and kick are almost non existent and I miss the glue of a 2-track compressor holding it all together.

The extra space for the mix the breath is quite nice, but that's about - I don't get the "coming from behind" effect in headphones at all, it just doesn't for me - it just sounds like wide, hard panned, stereo - it obviously doesn't "trick" my brain the way it's supposed to.

Also the volume difference between Atmos and Stereo due to the missing mastering limiter is a complete pain in the ass when listening to an album where only a couple of things are in Atmos.
 

dannys1

macrumors 68040
Sep 19, 2007
3,798
7,005
UK
If you want to experience extreme drum’s depth/width and something VERY rare in pop/rock check out I’m Coming Out by Diana Ross. The intro has a fantastic drums set that is full on depth and width. The song while catchy is a little post disco and slightly dated but listenable.

Then check out at time stamp 3:00 for a super rare trombone solo followed by anther drum set that is outstanding. It is a Nile Rodger’s mix at it’s best.

Again the original stereo mix sounds much better. Clearer, sharper, punchier, fatter - it's better in just about every way.
 

darngooddesign

macrumors P6
Jul 4, 2007
18,362
10,114
Atlanta, GA
It's way too much work trying to figure out if a song is Lossless, Dolby Atmos, etc. Apple needs to update the Music app so that either there are indicators up top where the song is playing so we can easily see if Atmos or Lossless (or both?). Also, on an album, the album may not show Atmos, but some songs ON the album may be (like Gaga's Paparazzi). The list of songs needs a column with not only name and time, but also if Atmos or Lossless are present.
That information is visible.

it would be good to have AM alert you when one of the albums in your library become lossless or Atmos.

Screen Shot 2021-08-07 at 7.01.59 PM.png
 
  • Like
Reactions: 211

iGeek2019

macrumors 6502a
Jul 26, 2019
883
2,857
No Selection
I would say it is still far from ‘perfect’ compared to the stereo original but someone at Apple and/or the record labels must have been listening to feedback as Buddy Holly by Weezer sounds slightly better than when it first launched as Dolby Atmos on Apple Music.
 

chiefdave

macrumors member
Sep 12, 2012
46
30
I would say it is still far from ‘perfect’ compared to the stereo original but someone at Apple and/or the record labels must have been listening to feedback as Buddy Holly by Weezer sounds slightly better than when it first launched as Dolby Atmos on Apple Music.
Suspect more songs might have been changed. Went to play my Kacey Musgraves playlist and half the songs come up with content not authorised, they are all songs that are in Atmos. Deleted my download and played over wifi and no problem.

The mixes are really odd though, there's random volume changes that make it sound like a dodgy third generation tape. And there's no consistency with how the tracks have been mixed.

I'm close to switching Atmos off. Doesn't feel like its worth keeping on for the odd track they've managed to mix properly.
 
  • Like
Reactions: iGeek2019

Minato1990

macrumors 6502
Aug 12, 2017
473
980
So what are they waiting on to mix the rest of Appetite for Destruction In Dolby Atmos. The 2 tracks sound soo much better on my stereo homepods compared to the rest of the album
 

dannys1

macrumors 68040
Sep 19, 2007
3,798
7,005
UK
Having picked up my HT-A9 Dolby Atmos system with SW5 sub NOW I can say Dolby Atmos sounds good on an actual surround sound system - it's rubbish in headphones, doesn't work at all and will remain off. But loading it up on Apple TV gives proper directional sound that weird binaural smeary fake pseudo processing in headphones cannot come anywhere near.
 

Eric Idle

macrumors 6502a
Jan 4, 2020
593
473
Having picked up my HT-A9 Dolby Atmos system with SW5 sub NOW I can say Dolby Atmos sounds good on an actual surround sound system - it's rubbish in headphones, doesn't work at all and will remain off. But loading it up on Apple TV gives proper directional sound that weird binaural smeary fake pseudo processing in headphones cannot come anywhere near.
I completely disagree, at least when I listen with my AirPods Max. The spacial audio is spectular.
 

dannys1

macrumors 68040
Sep 19, 2007
3,798
7,005
UK
I completely disagree, at least when I listen with my AirPods Max. The spacial audio is spectular.

It's garbage. But if you think that's spectacular - you should hear it with actual Dolby Atmos speakers instead of a faux phantom setup.
 
  • Like
Reactions: zakarhino

JakubWrobel

Cancelled
Apr 22, 2020
54
35
Tiny Dancer and Rocket Man by Elton John. Listened to them this morning on my new Samsung Q Series sound bar and was completely blown away by the sound. Stunning.
 

dannys1

macrumors 68040
Sep 19, 2007
3,798
7,005
UK
Tested AirPods Pro 2 today with the new headscanning for spatial audio - whilst they do sound better than AirPods 1 - both the Max and Pro 2 still sound terrible when trying to do Dolby Atmos. No matter how much specialised audio processing you do, you simply can't create a surround bubble with two speakers - it just sounds like wider stereo.

A year or so later though and on a proper Dolby Atmos sound system with a sub like the HT-A9 where sounds genuinely do come from behind and above you it sounds amazing. I can only imagine how much better the height sounds with in ceiling speakers rather that virtualised up firing ones - one day i'll install it!

For headphones though I laragely recommend turning atmos off, the stereo mix 9/10 sounds better on headphones, there's an odd occasion where the Dolby Atmos mix sounds better but it's not because it sounds anything like Dolby Atmos should, it just sounds better than the stereo mix, it's rare though. It's generally with audio that doesn't have much of an exaggerated Atmos mix - the "bigger" the mix the more artificial processing Apple has to apply to headphones and it sounds worse and worse.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.