Favorite Dolby Atmos (or spatial audio) albums

[shuppatsu]

I finally got a chance to try out Atmos tracks with a proper 9.1 speaker home theater setup (replete with acoustic treatment). It definitely sounds better than AirPod Pros, but the tracks I like with AirPod Pros sound better with the multichannel setup, and the tracks I don’t like with the APPs sound worse. So I think it’s fair to criticize a track on the basis of how they sound with earbuds.

Specifically, Joao Gilberto’s vocals still sound like he’s being drowned in a bathtub, albeit a bathtub that is a little more in the foreground. Billie Eilish’s distorted voice on Getting Older is still dis-integrated from the mix. And the horns in Al Green’s Let’s Stay Together are still too harsh. Basically, the improved soundstage and imaging of multichannel is both a blessing and a curse, depending on how much attention the engineer takes in making something sound good on its own.

In some ways I prefer the APP experience. Eat a Peach is my gold standard for a naturalistic rock recording on APPs. It’s still good with multichannel, but a little uncanny because of how much drum energy they put into the rear channels. The drums are still placed forward, but tilt your head a bit and suddenly you’re listening to drums behind you. Perhaps this is to mimic natural reverberations, but if so it’s not very convincing. The APPs don’t differentiate fore/aft nearly as well, and as such it avoids that uncanny feeling.

My favorite tracks in my short time were Steven Wilson’s Staircase, Talking Heads’ Crosseyed and Painless, and Allman Bros’ Mountain Jam. I mentioned the bad already. In the “meh” category were Pink Floyd’s Time, and Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody.

 

[bevok]

Really enjoying the Atmos treatment of “Band on the Run”, Jet in particular really benefits from having some of the elements pulled apart slightly or perhaps just heard with different emphasis (listening on IEMs thus far).

 

[srkbear]

So excited to have stumbled upon this thread! For me it’s Steven Wilson’s remixes of both XTC’s catalog (the latest, “The Big Express” is in Atmos—I’m praying for “Skylarking”) and ABC’s “The Lexicon of Love”.

I had an epiphany about Atmos when I upgraded my Sonos surrounds from Play:3s to Atmos-compatible ERA 300s a few months ago. I think the technology has finally reached the point where I foresee this immersive format being how we listen to music in general in the coming decades. I posted a really long-winded rant/rave on the topic on another thread the other day, but the Cliff’s Notes version (sort-of) is thus:

For a long time, besides my AirPods Pro 2, I listened to multichannel/Spatial Audio on my Sonos 5.1.2 setup, with an Arc soundbar, a sub beneath my bed, and two Play:3s as surrounds. The Play:3s are legacy, forward-firing bookshelf speakers I mounted on ear-level stands and faced them inwards a few inches behind my listening spot.

When I listened to Atmos this way, even after utilizing Sonos’ TruePlay room calibration thingamajig, the sounds that came from these Play:3s threw me out of the experience—their elements were not integrated into the whole soundstage, and from my listening position I kept hearing this disembodied guitar or vocal track drowning out the rest of the mix—it was so glaringly coming from that specific driver. It got me thinking of Atmos as something gimmicky, a format I’d never adjust to for everyday use.

Then I finally decided to go full on 7.1.4 by replacing the Play:3s with Sonos’ most recent ERA 300s—speakers that are Atmos-capable, multi-directional, and far better in sound quality. This time, after I performed the calibration, it was a whole different story. I listened to several favorite albums of mine that were expertly mixed/mastered in Atmos—the Beatles “Revolver”, “Dark Side of the Moon”, XTC’s “The Big Express” (Steven Wilson) and ABC’s “The Lexicon of Love” (also Steven Wilson). Now I felt like I was experiencing these albums exactly as I had heard them countless times before—the mix was perfectly balanced, the speakers disappeared, and it was simply the same presentation I was accustomed to, except bigger. Immersive. There was nothing gimmicky about it at all, and I could absolutely imagine a future where this would be the conventional way we listen to all music, as an next evolution from stereo towards approximating live music.

I’m astonished by the number of quality Atmos/Spatial Audio releases that are coming out every day. Say what you want about Apple, but when everyone was gushing over Tidal’s lossless and high resolution masters and trashing Apple for not following suit, when they finally announced they were “upgrading” their entire catalog to these formats (for free), they made it clear that they were only doing so based on consumer demand, and that their primary focus is on Spatial Audio. I’m sure at least some of the innovative engineers they summoned were aware that the negligible differences between contemporary lossy and lossless formats was far less likely to make a future impact than pursuing a whole new way of experiencing music altogether.

Personally I’m convinced—I think we have reached the stage where it’s time to add the third dimension to the average consumer’s listening experience, and manufacturers are designing affordable options to facilitate this not only through complicated home theater speaker configurations, but in everyday ear buds using psychoacoustic and holographic techniques. I’m already rummaging through this thread for ideas on which albums to check out next—please keep them coming!

 

[bevok]

So excited to have stumbled upon this thread! For me it’s Steven Wilson’s remixes of both XTC’s catalog (the latest, “The Big Express” is in Atmos—I’m praying for “Skylarking”) and ABC’s “The Lexicon of Love”.

I had an epiphany about Atmos when I upgraded my Sonos surrounds from Play:3s to Atmos-compatible ERA 300s a few months ago. I think the technology has finally reached the point where I foresee this immersive format being how we listen to music in general in the coming decades. I posted a really long-winded rant/rave on the topic on another thread the other day, but the Cliff’s Notes version (sort-of) is thus:

For a long time, besides my AirPods Pro 2, I listened to multichannel/Spatial Audio on my Sonos 5.1.2 setup, with an Arc soundbar, a sub beneath my bed, and two Play:3s as surrounds. The Play:3s are legacy, forward-firing bookshelf speakers I mounted on ear-level stands and faced them inwards a few inches behind my listening spot.

When I listened to Atmos this way, even after utilizing Sonos’ TruePlay room calibration thingamajig, the sounds that came from these Play:3s threw me out of the experience—their elements were not integrated into the whole soundstage, and from my listening position I kept hearing this disembodied guitar or vocal track drowning out the rest of the mix—it was so glaringly coming from that specific driver. It got me thinking of Atmos as something gimmicky, a format I’d never adjust to for everyday use.

Then I finally decided to go full on 7.1.4 by replacing the Play:3s with Sonos’ most recent ERA 300s—speakers that are Atmos-capable, multi-directional, and far better in sound quality. This time, after I performed the calibration, it was a whole different story. I listened to several favorite albums of mine that were expertly mixed/mastered in Atmos—the Beatles “Revolver”, “Dark Side of the Moon”, XTC’s “The Big Express” (Steven Wilson) and ABC’s “The Lexicon of Love” (also Steven Wilson). Now I felt like I was experiencing these albums exactly as I had heard them countless times before—the mix was perfectly balanced, the speakers disappeared, and it was simply the same presentation I was accustomed to, except bigger. Immersive. There was nothing gimmicky about it at all, and I could absolutely imagine a future where this would be the conventional way we listen to all music, as an next evolution from stereo towards approximating live music.

I’m astonished by the number of quality Atmos/Spatial Audio releases that are coming out every day. Say what you want about Apple, but when everyone was gushing over Tidal’s lossless and high resolution masters and trashing Apple for not following suit, when they finally announced they were “upgrading” their entire catalog to these formats (for free), they made it clear that they were only doing so based on consumer demand, and that their primary focus is on Spatial Audio. I’m sure at least some of the innovative engineers they summoned were aware that the negligible differences between contemporary lossy and lossless formats was far less likely to make a future impact than pursuing a whole new way of experiencing music altogether.

Personally I’m convinced—I think we have reached the stage where it’s time to add the third dimension to the average consumer’s listening experience, and manufacturers are designing affordable options to facilitate this not only through complicated home theater speaker configurations, but in everyday ear buds using psychoacoustic and holographic techniques. I’m already rummaging through this thread for ideas on which albums to check out next—please keep them coming!

I completely agree, but curse you for waxing about the Era 300's which I'd convinced myself wouldn't be a worthwhile upgrade as rear surrounds (over Sonos Ones). I have a 30% off upgrade credit that expires in a few days . . .

It really amuses me all the audiophiles that completely dismiss an audibly obvious change (may be an improvement depending on the mix) but get all excited about bit perfect lossless/hires etc.

 

[srkbear]

I completely agree, but curse you for waxing about the Era 300's which I'd convinced myself wouldn't be a worthwhile upgrade as rear surrounds (over Sonos Ones). I have a 30% off upgrade credit that expires in a few days . . .

It really amuses me all the audiophiles that completely dismiss an audibly obvious change (may be an improvement depending on the mix) but get all excited about bit perfect lossless/hires etc.

Curse me, you’ll thank me later! If you have an Arc and Sub the ERA 300s are nothing short of transformative—as my endless post suggests I don’t think I understood what Atmos was before I upgraded! Even the ERA 100s would be a huge improvement. Like I said when you complete their system as it’s intended the speakers all vanish and you’re just there.

And I don’t think the naysayers would argue so stridently for their purist ways after they heard Atmos music with a certified system and a source that was mixed the way it should be—when it’s done right you don’t even notice the music sounding different overall. There’s no fireworks going on, it’s just what you’re used to except you’re in the middle of it. It’s surreal. There were plenty of mono purists who hung around for a long time (some are still around)—this will become the new normal and the folks who prefer stereo will still have it.

 

[Beershaun]

Welcome and glad you are enjoying Atmos/spatial audio music. I definitely find whomever mixed them makes a big difference and I am very happy to see a huge selection of new and old music coming out in the format. I think we are past the point of saying "there isn't much content in Atmos" and are now into, "it's worth upgrading your service to get it and experience it.

 

[Brian Hall]

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon 2023 remaster in Dolby Atmos on Amazon Music HD. Listening to it now. I hear things coming from back and height speakers. It all sounds great. Just heard a woman speaking softly by my left ear. Very impressive.

 

[Chr1]

Some interesting new electronic music now available...

Mobilee - Another Dimension Vol. 1

Mobilee is exploring the fields of Dolby Atmos since a while now in partnership with Immersive Lab - Eric Horstmann who is sharing their studio and office space with the label since 2022.

inflyteapp.com

 

[AdamG]

Just read this announcement that Pink Floyd will be releasing the Animals Album mixed in ATOMS. I most certainly will be buying this. I saw them in Concert in Tampa in the mid to late 70’s tour. Animals was their new album and they had these giant blown up Animals floating around the stadium all lit up with glowing colors and people around me were smoking something that smelled kind of unusual and I think I got a contact high. Watching the giant animals float around in the air with the music in the background was the absolute best Concert I ever attended. It was phenomenal.

Pink Floyd announce Animals Dolby Atmos release for May

Pink Floyd's tenth studio album Animals will be released on the Dolby Atmos format for the very first time

www.loudersound.com

 

[shuppatsu]

In terms of setlist and playing ability, I personally think the '77 tour was PF at their peak. Just ripping through their golden age albums + Echoes. Gilmour's guitar on Dogs and Pigs (3DO) was nothing short of apocalyptic.

Unfortunately there has never been a soundboard or high quality audience recording of any of their '77 shows. Tragic.