The Dolby Atmos, DTS-X, and Auro-3D Discussion Thread

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Just watched Atomic Blonde in dtsx . It was weird. It has an exemplary soundtrack, but it’s neutered at 35hz(almost as bad as first man). Like a Lamborghini with snow tires. Wtf...

I need to finish watching this movie.

How was the overhead sound? Significant amount or just a few spots here and there to say that it had some?

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

I need to finish watching this movie.

How was the overhead sound? Significant amount or just a few spots here and there to say that it had some?

I would say none of the overhead stuff was just to say it was there. The entire soundtrack is very creative and interesting. There’s a lot of stuff that’s overhead that’s tied to the bed layer. For example, early on there’s a truck that drives over the camera. It’s not necessarily like a helicopter hovering overhead, but a really convincing overhead pan from back to front that goes through most of the speakers. Just a lot of stuff like that.

Despicable me 3 was well represented by DTS-X(yep, I have 2, 11yo), with a lot of music overhead, and a lot of sounds in general. Pretty cool.

Skyscraper in Atmos for me, was not super amazing. Some overhead, and some immersion but I was let down. Might have had something to do with the movie basically robbing my brain for 2hrs. Don’t bring your brain to this movie and you’ll probably be ok. Lol. I like good mindless fun but this was pretty bad.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I finally re-watched “Atomic Blinde” in DTSX.

The reason it took me this long was because I saw it at the movie theater originally and I didn’t enjoy it all that much.

But thanks to those of you who said the DTSX sound is great for this movie, I had to re-watch it.

My impression of the DTSX overhead sound of this movie is that it is Reference Quality. I give it thumbs up. There are plenty of great overhead sounds here.

I find myself enjoying this movie significantly more. This is definitely due to the great overhead sound and other sounds overall - the bed surround sound effects is fantastic and the bass is fantastic. A lot of bass.

So there are at least 2 DTSX movies with Charlize Theron I love - Atomic Blonde and Snow White.

As we’ve said many times, there are some pathetic examples of Atmos and DTSX that will give doubters ammunition. But there are also some Reference Quality Atmos and DTSX movies that make us feel so glad we invested in Atmos and DTSX.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I am watching an episode of The Blacklist S06. DTS NeuralX does an amazing job with the sound.

During a rain scene, it sounds like the rain is pouring down from the ceiling.

During the Marriage of Figaro opera scene, there is sound from the ceiling when they are underneath the stage.

Another great one with NeuralX is The OA S02. Love the voices, trees, and other sounds overhead.

NeuralX is the real hit of the show.

 

[VonMagnum]

I just watched Hunter Killer in Dolby Atmos. Pretty good flick. Overheads were quite effective, I thought. Lots of ocean noises, helicopters, gun shots, etc. and quite varied where even the lower surround sounds would appear at times, often moving slightly into weird corners of the room instead of sitting still. The only thing that really bothered me was the sound would often "flick" from one area of the room to another without any change in the picture. It was kind of odd. There was one point where the guy walked off to the right of the sub talking and his voice was on the left...very strange. Most of the time it was well done, however.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

I finally re-watched “Atomic Blinde” in DTSX.

The reason it took me this long was because I saw it at the movie theater originally and I didn’t enjoy it all that much.

But thanks to those of you who said the DTSX sound is great for this movie, I had to re-watch it.

My impression of the DTSX overhead sound of this movie is that it is Reference Quality. I give it thumbs up. There are plenty of great overhead sounds here.

I find myself enjoying this movie significantly more. This is definitely due to the great overhead sound and other sounds overall - the bed surround sound effects is fantastic and the bass is fantastic. A lot of bass.

So there are at least 2 DTSX movies with Charlize Theron I love - Atomic Blonde and Snow White.

As we’ve said many times, there are some pathetic examples of Atmos and DTSX that will give doubters ammunition. But there are also some Reference Quality Atmos and DTSX movies that make us feel so glad we invested in Atmos and DTSX.

I’m glad you revisited this. I was a little afraid to over sell it, but to me this is a great example of creative mixing. Really enjoy it. I still have a problem with the lack of extension though. I’m solid to at least 16hz and there just wasn’t anything there.(iirc the graph shows like 35-40hz as rolling off).
Still, extremely well done.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

I just watched Hunter Killer in Dolby Atmos. Pretty good flick. Overheads were quite effective, I thought. Lots of ocean noises, helicopters, gun shots, etc. and quite varied where even the lower surround sounds would appear at times, often moving slightly into weird corners of the room instead of sitting still. The only thing that really bothered me was the sound would often "flick" from one area of the room to another without any change in the picture. It was kind of odd. There was one point where the guy walked off to the right of the sub talking and his voice was on the left...very strange. Most of the time it was well done, however.

Curious if maybe all of the matrixing in your room has anything to do with the odd behavior.

I’ve seen people going Gaga over this movie and it’s bass track. My mistake was watching it on Dish network. Pretty sure it suffers from the same thing streaming movies do, as the dynamics and extension just weren’t there. I wasn’t that impressed, and I’m pretty sure the maneuverability of real subs isn’t anything like this film. I was kinda let down.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I’m glad you revisited this. I was a little afraid to over sell it, but to me this is a great example of creative mixing. Really enjoy it. I still have a problem with the lack of extension though. I’m solid to at least 16hz and there just wasn’t anything there.(iirc the graph shows like 35-40hz as rolling off).
Still, extremely well done.

I don’t mind the bass roll-off as long as I HEAR plenty of bass, which I do. I can hear a lot bass in this movie.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

I don’t mind the bass roll-off as long as I HEAR plenty of bass, which I do. I can hear a lot bass in this movie.

I agree, that there is a lot bass throughout, and even creatively done. I just prefer more extension is all.

 

[VonMagnum]

Curious if maybe all of the matrixing in your room has anything to do with the odd behavior.

Matrixing wouldn't cause anything of the sort (it just blends two channels together as a point in the middle). The only thing that could cause jumps (other than the film mixing guy) is the Atmos "feature" known as "snap to". It's an optional feature that when used and the requested speaker isn't available in the system (renderer; it won't see matrixed type channels), it "snaps" the audio to the nearest available speaker instead. So for example, if a sound is supposed to move through the front wide speaker, but it doesn't have that available in the setup, it will play that sound through either the front main or the side surround instead depending on which one is closer.

With the snap-to feature not used, it just phantom pans between them like all non-Atmos soundtracks ever made and DTS:X and Auro-D which don't have such a STUPID "feature" as it's utterly not needed as phantom imaging typically works fine and certainly doesn't sound ODD even if the pan is too far for the room setup.

There is literally only one other film in which I've heard something like this before and that was Gravity. It clearly jumped to the right or left speaker at times from the center instead of a smooth pan in-between and possibly front wides as well. I think it was using mid-screen speakers with snap to turned on and so instead of a pan, it snapped ad the only home system on Earth that offers those speakers to my knowledge is a Trinnov one priced in the tens of thousands for the processor alone.

Here, I suspect front wides, but then sometimes the sound would be at a side surround right location and jump to left main or something strange. Sometimes, this was because the camera view changed, but when it would jump before a change, I suspect "snap to" as that's exactly what Gravity did. It was supposed to be panning to the right, but jumped when a speaker in-between wasn't registered as being there. As I said, it's a horrible unnatural sounding "feature". It should never be used and thankfully it usually isn't (or isn't as noticeable).

I’ve seen people going Gaga over this movie and it’s bass track. My mistake was watching it on Dish network. Pretty sure it suffers from the same thing streaming movies do, as the dynamics and extension just weren’t there. I wasn’t that impressed, and I’m pretty sure the maneuverability of real subs isn’t anything like this film. I was kinda let down.

I don't know about gaga, but I had to tighten my Conan sword down as the wall shaking was causing a rattle out of it that no movie since I put it up ever caused. The most impressive bass I've heard from an Atmos (or Auro-3D since its version did the same thing) is Blade Runner 2049. Everything in the room shakes unless I turn it down at the very start.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Matrixing wouldn't cause anything of the sort (it just blends two channels together as a point in the middle). The only thing that could cause jumps (other than the film mixing guy) is the Atmos "feature" known as "snap to". It's an optional feature that when used and the requested speaker isn't available in the system (renderer; it won't see matrixed type channels), it "snaps" the audio to the nearest available speaker instead. So for example, if a sound is supposed to move through the front wide speaker, but it doesn't have that available in the setup, it will play that sound through either the front main or the side surround instead depending on which one is closer.

With the snap-to feature not used, it just phantom pans between them like all non-Atmos soundtracks ever made and DTS:X and Auro-D which don't have such a STUPID "feature" as it's utterly not needed as phantom imaging typically works fine and certainly doesn't sound ODD even if the pan is too far for the room setup.

There is literally only one other film in which I've heard something like this before and that was Gravity. It clearly jumped to the right or left speaker at times from the center instead of a smooth pan in-between and possibly front wides as well. I think it was using mid-screen speakers with snap to turned on and so instead of a pan, it snapped ad the only home system on Earth that offers those speakers to my knowledge is a Trinnov one priced in the tens of thousands for the processor alone.

Here, I suspect front wides, but then sometimes the sound would be at a side surround right location and jump to left main or something strange. Sometimes, this was because the camera view changed, but when it would jump before a change, I suspect "snap to" as that's exactly what Gravity did. It was supposed to be panning to the right, but jumped when a speaker in-between wasn't registered as being there. As I said, it's a horrible unnatural sounding "feature". It should never be used and thankfully it usually isn't (or isn't as noticeable).




I don't know about gaga, but I had to tighten my Conan sword down as the wall shaking was causing a rattle out of it that no movie since I put it up ever caused. The most impressive bass I've heard from an Atmos (or Auro-3D since its version did the same thing) is Blade Runner 2049. Everything in the room shakes unless I turn it down at the very start.

Funny, I was actually gonna ask you if possibly snap to could be at play.(bad idea btw). Also funny, I just watched Gravity(non diamond luxe version so it was DtsU), last night(again) and found panning to be smooth, with the occasional voice in a different location, but only after a camera location change.

BR2049 is on my list too, as I’ve heard nothing but rave reviews. Unfortunately 3 kids, a wife, and being self employed means movie time is quite selective.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

My mistake was watching it on Dish network. Pretty sure it suffers from the same thing streaming movies do...

Yeah, I will second that the streaming Atmos quality sucks compared to some BluRay versions. One example is Aquaman.

When I saw Aquaman Atmos Streaming, I thought, “Another lame duck for Atmos”.

Then I saw the BluRay Atmos version, and it was so much better - more overhead and better sound overall.

However, streaming Amazon Prime in DD+ and upmix with NeuralX can still be great. Examples include The OA and The Blacklist and I think many other shows.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

The most impressive bass I've heard from an Atmos (or Auro-3D since its version did the same thing) is Blade Runner 2049. Everything in the room shakes unless I turn it down at the very start.

I think BR2049 gets the unanimous vote for Best overall Atmos sound effects - overhead, bed surround, bass.

I think the only other film I would up there is “Pacific Rim” (not the stupid sequel).

 

[VonMagnum]

What type of Atmos streaming are you guys talking about? Vudu? AppleTV? Netflix?

With my 2K projector, I can't get Vudu or Prime in Atmos (without buying a Vertex anyway to fool it), but Netflix and Apple work in Atmos on my Apple TV 4K unit. The few Atmos titles I've compared directly have sounded the same to my ears, even Auro-3D on Flatliners and Inferno compared to Atmos on Apple sounded nearly the same (certainly not different in bass content). I'm flat to 20Hz here but haven't dragged out a spectrum analyzer to check how low a movie goes. I can't hear 20Hz really well; its more the walls shaking and room pressure change than the tone since it's approaching the limits of human hearing. Vudu and/or Netflix may have worse sound than Apple for all I know since I can't currently compare.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I agree, that there is a lot bass throughout, and even creatively done. I just prefer more extension is all.

Since most adults can’t really HEAR anything below 25Hz, much less below 20Hz, you’re talking about FEELING the bass extension in your bones?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

What type of Atmos streaming are you guys talking about? Vudu? AppleTV? Netflix?

Netflix and Prime.

 

[VonMagnum]

The funny thing (or not so funny depending on how you look at it) is that these Atmos "lite" locked/pinned 7.1.4 soundtracks will consistently play perfectly on my extracted/matrixed setup with all speakers used whereas a true setup would be screwed. Ironically, "real" full Atmos soundtracks can get screwed up on my setup due to that "snap to speaker" option, leaving me in a bind in the future whether to upgrade to "true" 11.1.6 because it may improve some soundtracks while hosing others. It's a bad situation that should never have occurred, but corner cutting always causes problems.

The ideal solution for me would be an option in the AVR to disable the snap function in the renderer. I see no useful function in a home environment for it. It just causes weird behaviors.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Yeah, I will second that the streaming Atmos quality sucks compared to some BluRay versions. One example is Aquaman.

When I saw Aquaman Atmos Streaming, I thought, “Another lame duck for Atmos”.

Then I saw the BluRay Atmos version, and it was so much better - more overhead and better sound overall.

That’s exactly what I’ve seen wrt aquaman on BD vs streaming. I’ve given up on using any streaming source as critical listening. I will say I’ve seen pretty good reports on using Apple TV . It’s on my list of future purchases but not in a big hurry.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

What type of Atmos streaming are you guys talking about? Vudu? AppleTV? Netflix?

With my 2K projector, I can't get Vudu or Prime in Atmos (without buying a Vertex anyway to fool it), but Netflix and Apple work in Atmos on my Apple TV 4K unit. The few Atmos titles I've compared directly have sounded the same to my ears, even Auro-3D on Flatliners and Inferno compared to Atmos on Apple sounded nearly the same (certainly not different in bass content). I'm flat to 20Hz here but haven't dragged out a spectrum analyzer to check how low a movie goes. I can't hear 20Hz really well; its more the walls shaking and room pressure change than the tone since it's approaching the limits of human hearing. Vudu and/or Netflix may have worse sound than Apple for all I know since I can't currently compare.

Mostly Netflix here. I do rent from dish once in awhile but I don’t know if they’re sending it to me via my internet connection or the satellite. What I haven’t researched is the compression schemes for each one. Ime here, Netflix seems to have a more squashed flat presentation compared to dish, but neither can compare to a real lossless BD.
I do have an interest in Atv because of good reports either subjectively or graphed.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Since most adults can’t really HEAR anything below 25Hz, much less below 20Hz, you’re talking about FEELING the bass extension in your bones?

Basically yes. And my couch.
I have used rew for a number of years, and also have a tone generator in my phone and have spent a lot of time experimenting. Ime, I am able to hear all the way down to about 20 with straight tones. Now if you add in some higher level harmonics like say, the amaze demo, where it’s says “bass you can feel”, and there’s a big thunder roll, it’s probably centered higher, like 30 but the lower under current of bass is what gives is the weight. Much like Master and commander chapter 4(NOT bd version, 30hz filter), dvd version, some of the cannon blasts are deep, like 9hz iirc. That’s a gut punch that feels much more realistic than a 30hz explosion from say, the avengers.

To me, filtered movies are a little like watching with headphones. No matter how much bass you can “hear”, it doesn’t transfer to your body.