You know, civilized discussion requires engagement, not merely lodging a dumb insult and then sidestepping the points actually made.
What points? You come in talking smack about Neural X that isn't true, downplay the usefulness of more channels, particularly in DTS:X, which with DTS:X Pro uses all available speakers as if they were rendered and then imply there are only ten people worldwide with >11 channel Atmos. I didn't say you had to know them in person.
Perhaps. I have no knowledge about that, as movie sound IMO isn’t that important.
It's the primary function of Atmos. You bought an Atmos system mostly for music? I Iisten to a lot of Atmos music, but most people I know online mostly use it for movies. I use Logic 7 for stereo music upmixing. It's by far the best stereo music upmixer I've heard. I plug an MC-1 into the 7.1 inputs and have a DC-1 in my Carver system and a third one in my exercise room (5.1).
In any event, it’s out of the scope of what I wrote: “stereo upmixer.” Generally, movies have not been in stereo for some time.
Most movies on disc still include a Dolby Surround stereo track, particularly older movies that get a new Atmos track so you hear the original (only 70-80 years worth of movies there so no big deal). But a separate stereo mix usually sounds better than a down mix so many new movies still include a stereo one on disc.
If what I’ve heard translates to movies, that means it tries to put sound all over the place, so you always know you have all those speakers. I guess some people prefer that over the system disappearing?
Neural X can make a 5.1 or 7.1 soundtrack sound like it's in Atmos or X. It's less precise with stereo, but still maintains front to back mixing overhead unlike DSU with uses a stereo array. I heard a golf ball hit the front ceiling in a TV show with Neural X.
The question of speakers "disappearing" isn't really about '70s or '80s mono surround arrays, but whether they image anywhere the sounds are placed or just at the speakers. I'm running 19 more or less discrete speakers (plus four experimental floor effects speakers and optional Surround Height for Auro-3D for 25 total plus subs) and the sounds image where they are placed in the room in Atmos, not at a speaker unless that's where it's placed.
I use dialog lift so not even dialog comes from a center speaker, but from about 30% upwards in the middle of the screen (adjustable). The left/right mains are set to image match at 30% also for a consistent front sound stage across the screen.
Maybe. We’re also talking about small rooms, and of course practicality issues.
I don't think Top Middle or Front Wides are all that impractical in many rooms. I realize some homes like in the UK tend to be smaller on average and maybe rear surrounds are harder to fit but Top Middle is just between the Heights or Tops (I'm using Heighrs+Tops instead because there's a steel beam box in the center of the room and I want consistent overhead panning).
My room is 12.5 feet by 24.5 feet by 7.5 feet so not huge, but maybe longer than average since I squeeze three rows in plus ss#2 in addition to front wides at ear level and eight (Heights+Tops) across ceiling with optional Surround Height above the sides on the side walls. I have four floor speakers beside the L/R mains and side surrounds (extracted from out of phase signals between the mains and surrounds) so ambient reflections come from the floor like live ambient reflections.
Besides, if you’re just talking about movies, the “imaging” is pretty much what you see on the screen. As long as the sound is close, it’s generally fine. Even Atmos bouncers work pretty well in concert with visual cues.
That's where I disagree 100%. When the flying car in the 2nd Harry Potter movie is going around as Harry is waking up 10 minutes in, the car flies high around the room on the left side and then the camera angle changes and it swoops in from behind my left shoulder moves directly overhead above me and flies right into screen. It does match the screen, but it doesn't start on the screen.
Similarly, a few minutes later at Ron's house, the owl swoops in from the back of the room over my right shoulder and smacks right into the screen. You almost want to duck because it's like a hologram moving across the room.
Yello's album Point in Atmos does a similar effect with a buzzy synth sound going from the center speaker (part way up the screen) flies straight towards me and passes just over my head straight into the back of the room on the song Big Boys Blues. If it doesn't sound like a real object buzzing past your head and almost freaks you out with your eyes closed because it sounds so real, then your system needs more resolution via closely matched excellent imaging speakers.
That is correct. I know personally exactly one household with an immersive system: ours. Admittedly suburbanites may know more such people. But immersive is a small niche in the world, unfortunately small in my view.
It's certainly more than ten people worldwide with >11.1 systems.
HTP-1 was never as a tenth as bad as Emo to start
I don't know about that. If your system won't reboot without a USB stick it's pretty bad. It's even worse that customers had to fix it. Newer Emotiva units are still buggy, but functional so I'm not seeing a huge difference between the early complaints. Either way, both had major issues and neither has delivered all the features promised.
never needed a separate computer box dongle for Dirac, and the early issues that did exist were remediated.
Most people use a laptop to configure DIRAC as far as I know. How's that not a dongle? The extra box is only connected during programming.
The big and potentially disqualifying HTP-1 glitch (the doom loop issue) was resolved largely by one very smart and generous user (+testers)
Yes, years later when it appeared Monoprice had abandoned the unit. They then reappeared, sent out some ART betas and were never heard from again. No actual working ART for regular users and still no DTS:X Pro SIX YEARS LATER!
