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Apple Lossless and Dolby Atmos is on my iPhone and iPad

kejar31

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You and I may be comparing two different things. I don’t have an Apple TV4K, which Apple says is necessary to get at the version of Dolby Atmos on Apple Music that’s needed to feed an outboard Dolby Atmos processor. From my iPhone, iPad and Mac Mini I can only get access to a 2-channel mix that is designed for 2-channel listening, with no mwention made about any further decoding to feed 7.1.4 channels, or what have you.

Well that explains a lot. You are not going to get proper atmos without an Apple TV4K and external processing. Whatever Apple is doing for headphones with their built in processor is definitely going to sound wrong on speakers.
 
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DavidMcRoy

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Well that explains a lot. You are not going to get proper atmos without an Apple TV4K and external processing. Whatever Apple is doing for headphones with their built in processor is definitely going to sound tight on speakers.

Exactly. I’ll bet this confuses a lot of people who are going to try to “decode” the 2-channel “Dolby Atmos” mixes with Dolby Audio Surround and find that it sounds bad. Sending a conventional 2-channel mix to a Dolby Audio Surround upmixer works very well, however, though obviously not exactly what the mixing engineers intended. I think it was a mistake to give the two very different signals exactly the sane name.
 

kejar31

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Exactly. I’ll bet this confuses a lot of people who are going to try to “decode” the 2-channel “Dolby Atmos” mixes with Dolby Audio Surround and find that it sounds bad. Sending a conventional 2-channel mix to a Dolby Audio Surround upmixer works very well, however, though obviously not exactly what the mixing engineers intended. I think it was a mistake to give the two very different signals exactly the sane name.

I am pretty sure Apple did not intend its users to have a phone or tablet hooked up to a atmos multi speaker setup. They would expect those people to use the Apple TV4K.
 

mSpot

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Tidal has more cash than Qobuz, Roon and Spotify combined
So far, Spotify has spent over $840 million acquiring companies. Spotify operates at another level compared to Tidal.
 

abdo123

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If that’s the case it would be so disappointing! The whole idea behind Atmos is one format fits all and to cripple it like that is pretty nasty.

I mean I understand if a phone did not pass down the track but something like a macbook should definitely do!

I guess Dolby was like ‘No HDMI no passing down complete tracks’ to protect their intellectual property.
 

dmac6419

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So far, Spotify has spent over $840 million acquiring companies. Spotify operates at another level compared to Tidal.
With other people's money, at some point in time they gonna have to make a profit. Square,Twitter,Tidal what ever you want to call them has cash,not just valuation.
 

dmac6419

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That’s how I’m listening, over a 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos system with 4 height channels and it sounds nothing at all like the Dolby Atmos soundtracks I’m accustomed to. It sounds like something that was meant to be heard strictly on 2-channel setup or headphones, not decoded for surround
They're using the same Atmos tracks as Amazon and Tidal
 

Blaspheme

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You and I may be comparing two different things. I don’t have an Apple TV4K, which Apple says is necessary to get at the version of Dolby Atmos on Apple Music that’s needed to feed an outboard Dolby Atmos processor. From my iPhone, iPad and Mac Mini I can only get access to a 2-channel mix labeled “Dolby Atmos” that is designed for 2-channel listening, with no mention made about any further decoding to feed 7.1.4 channels, or what have you as being recommended or required. So, to get access to those mixes from Apple Music, I have to buy an Apple TV4K, which I will do.
This is a bit tangential to the Apple Music discussion, but can you elaborate on what's happening (or not happening) via the Mini: does that mean Audio Midi Setup doesn't expose any Atmos (or similar) speaker options to you?

Apple included "support for Dolby Atmos" via the TV app on (2018 or later) Macs in their announcement a couple of years back (you Mini may or may not be one of those) but I can't confirm from a 2019 MBP. AMS appears to expose relevant speaker options only (via "configure speakers") so I can see different configurations when I select a 6 channel HDMI TV versus an 8 channel USB DAC. None have height channels, even though 5.1.2 would be theoretically possible with 8 audio channels. I don't have an AVR or processor to target though.
 
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DavidMcRoy

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This is a bit tangential to the Apple Music discussion, but can you elaborate on what's happening (or not happening) via the Mini: does that mean Audio Midi Setup doesn't expose any Atmos (or similar) speaker options to you?

Apple included "support for Dolby Atmos" via the TV app on (2018 or later) Macs in their announcement a couple of years back (you Mini may or may not be one of those) but I can't confirm from a 2019 MBP. AMS appears to expose relevant speaker options only (via "configure speakers") so I can see different configurations when I select a 6 channel HDMI TV versus an 8 channel USB DAC. None have height channels, even though 5.1.2 would be theoretically possible with 8 audio channels. I don't have an AVR or processor to target though.

My statement about the Mac Mini having no access to anything beyond 2.0 was incorrect. Although I have a Mac Mini, I have not yet experimented with Apple Music on it, so I have no idea. (I tried to make a correction, my Edit option must have timed-out.
 
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Blaspheme

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My statement about the Mac Mini having no access to anything beyond 2.0 was incorrect. Although I have a Mac Mini, I have not yet experimented with Apple Music on it, os I have no idea. (I tried to make a correction, my Edit option must have timed-out.
Got it. My initial perspective was potentially adding basic surround (5.1 or 7.1) or minimal Atmos (5.1.2) using said 8 channel DAC from Mac. I'm not sure how that Atmos is done at this stage, but doesn't look like it works from (eligible) Mac to DAC via USB (for me anyway) on system level (Core Audio, etc) presumably support is app-specific. Not a drama, I was mostly interested in surround because the odd movie—like Bong's Parasite—really used it well (I don't care about blockbusters as much).

However the Apple Music announcements made me curious, as things are obviously changing. It isn't clear yet how many hardware configurations are supported. There's nothing really specific (to multi-channel Atmos) in settings on Music or TV apps on macOS that I can see. I guess we'll figure it out in due course. The announcement that Atmos mixing will be added to Logic Pro soon is promising.

Incidentally, I had no trouble controlling Mac playback of Apple Music (with library sharing enabled) from iPhone using the iOS Remote app. I haven't tried controlling an iPad (in the CCK playback scenario) that way yet.
 
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DavidMcRoy

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Got it. My initial perspective was potentially adding basic surround (5.1 or 7.1) or minimal Atmos (5.1.2) using said 8 channel DAC from Mac. I'm not sure how that Atmos is done at this stage, but doesn't look like it works from (eligible) Mac to DAC via USB (for me anyway) on system level (Core Audio, etc) presumably support is app-specific. Not a drama, I was mostly interested in surround because the odd movie—like Bong's Parasite—really used it well (I don't care about blockbusters as much).

However the Apple Music announcements made me curious, as things are obviously changing. It isn't clear yet how many hardware configurations are supported. There's nothing really specific (to multi-channel Atmos) in settings on Music or TV apps on macOS that I can see. I guess we'll figure it out in due course. The announcement that Atmos mixing will be added to Logic Pro soon is promising.

Incidentally, I had no trouble controlling Mac playback of Apple Music (with library sharing enabled) from iPhone using the iOS Remote app. I haven't tried controlling an iPad (in the CCK playback scenario) that way yet.

I’m no expert on Dolby matters, but I gather that making use of a Dolby Atmos signal for multichannel speaker playback can only be done by a Dolby Atmos hardware decoder, such as those built-in to a Dolby Atmos AVR. I believe the system determines how many speakers you’re using based on your initial setup to send the appropriate signal to the decoder. I don’t think it‘s possible to perform any of those tasks outside of a dedicated hardware decoder.
 

K man

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Reviving this thread as I can’t find my answer anywhere else.

Tidal offer Atmos in their iPhone app.

Are they stereo mixes meant only for headphone listening or proper Dolby Atmos mixes?

If I were to plug my iPhone into an AVR (lightning to HDMI) would the Tidal Atmos tracks be downmixed to 5.1 (what’s supposed by the lightning to HDMI connection) or 2.0?
 

chelgrian

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Reviving this thread as I can’t find my answer anywhere else.

Tidal offer Atmos in their iPhone app.

Are they stereo mixes meant only for headphone listening or proper Dolby Atmos mixes?

If I were to plug my iPhone into an AVR (lightning to HDMI) would the Tidal Atmos tracks be downmixed to 5.1 (what’s supposed by the lightning to HDMI connection) or 2.0?
Plugging a phone into an AVR will not work for this. The way the Lightning to HDMI adaptor works is by sending a highly compressed H264+AAC stream across the lighting port then decompressing and generating the HDMI within the dongle. Tear downs show an entire general purpose processor inside this dongle.

To get Atmos over HDMI you have to be playing from an Apple TV plugged in to a compatible device.

It's not documented but there are reports that on the latest versions of macOS if you have an audio device with exactly 16 outputs then you can configure 'speakers' in audio midi setup to 7.1.4 on the first 12 channels and Apple Music will then decode and playback Atmos out of that. This is generally useless in a non-professional setting as no AVRs have any kind of discrete 7.1.4 input.
 

K man

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Plugging a phone into an AVR will not work for this. The way the Lightning to HDMI adaptor works is by sending a highly compressed H264+AAC stream across the lighting port then decompressing and generating the HDMI within the dongle. Tear downs show an entire general purpose processor inside this dongle.

To get Atmos over HDMI you have to be playing from an Apple TV plugged in to a compatible device.

It's not documented but there are reports that on the latest versions of macOS if you have an audio device with exactly 16 outputs then you can configure 'speakers' in audio midi setup to 7.1.4 on the first 12 channels and Apple Music will then decode and playback Atmos out of that. This is generally useless in a non-professional setting as no AVRs have any kind of discrete 7.1.4 input.
I'm aware you won't be able to send full Dolby Atmos over from the phone like this.

However, since iOS support decoding of Dolby Atmos, and the lighting to HDMI connection supports 5.1 audio, I wonder what will be sent to the AVR; 2.0 or 5.1?
 

chelgrian

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I'm aware you won't be able to send full Dolby Atmos over from the phone like this.

However, since iOS support decoding of Dolby Atmos, and the lighting to HDMI connection supports 5.1 audio, I wonder what will be sent to the AVR; 2.0 or 5.1?
So the specs for the adaptor itself do not say anything about 5.1, there are some iPad specs which claim 5.1 when playing stuff using this adaptor which will almost certainly just be pass through of a Dolby Digital (AC3) bitstream from whatever video app you are playing from.

The only way to find out would happen test it I'm afraid. My bet would be on a stereo downmix but I could be wrong I can't really justify buying one of these adaptors just to see what happens.
 

Sancus

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This is generally useless in a non-professional setting as no AVRs have any kind of discrete 7.1.4 input.

I wouldn't quite say useless, if you are fine with the limitations(you can only get Atmos from Apple streaming sources this way, I'm pretty sure), it can be used to skip an AVR entirely and just go direct to an amplifier or active speakers.
 

chelgrian

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I wouldn't quite say useless, if you are fine with the limitations(you can only get Atmos from Apple streaming sources this way, I'm pretty sure), it can be used to skip an AVR entirely and just go direct to an amplifier or active speakers.
You need an audio device with 16 discrete outputs which puts you in to needing to spend on something like a MOTU 16A at ~£1500
 

Sancus

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You need an audio device with 16 discrete outputs which puts you in to needing to spend on something like a MOTU 16A at ~£1500

Yeah, I didn't say it was cost effective but some people seem to want to do it at all costs.
 
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