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

R

Rajith

Enthusiast
I need to watch Blade Runner in 4K/Atmos. Von says it's awesome, I think even more awesome than BR-2049, which I think is one of the best already.

I thought Aquaman 2K/Atmos was decent, but it didn't make my Atmos list. I'll have to rewatch Aquaman in 4K/Atmos this time.

But Everything else on your Atmos list is on my Atmos list too.

1. Pacific Rim 2013 Atmos
2. Blade Runner 2049 2017 4K Atmos
3. Cloverfield Paradox 2018 Atmos
4. The Equalizer 2014 Atmos
5. The Great Wall 2016 Atmos
6. Hunter Killer 2018 Atmos
7. The Matrix Trilogy 1999, 2003, 2003 4K Atmos
8. Oblivion 2013 Atmos
9. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies 2016 Atmos
10. Salt 2010 Atmos
11. Sully 2016 Atmos
12. Twilight 2008 Atmos
13. Underworld 2003 Atmos
14. Underworld Blood Wars 2016 Atmos
15. Atomic Blonde 2017 DTSX
16. Harry Potter franchise (8 movies) 2001-2011 4K DTSX
17. Black Hawk Down 2001 4K Atmos
18. 13 Hours 2016 4K Atmos
19. Gravity 2013 Atmos
20. Ready Player One 2018 Atmos
21. Robin Hood 2018 Atmos
22. Jurassic World 4K DTSX
23. Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom 4K DTSX
24. Terminator Genisys 4K Atmos
well yes ..I have not yet watched some of the above titles .Aquaman is great for its tremendous LFE.

Some more movies in my prefrence are as follows.

  1. Fantastic Beasts and where to find Them (Fanatstic mix ,great utilisation of Atmos for some scenes)
  2. Kong Skull Island.
  3. Jumanji :Welcome to the Jungle.
  4. Transformers 4 & 5 .
  5. Bumblebee.
  6. Alien Covenant ( Dts HDMA 7.1 upmixed to Auro 3d was fantastic)
  7. Mad max:Fury Road
 
VonMagnum

VonMagnum

Audioholic Chief
well yes ..I have not yet watched some of the above titles .Aquaman is great for its tremendous LFE.

Some more movies in my prefrence are as follows.

Jumanji :Welcome to the Jungle
I liked the second movie better overall (it was funnier and Karen Gillan is very attractive, IMO), but for Atmos sound the original 4K re-issue is amazing sounding. The only major overhead sound I recall in the sequel was when they died that "respawn" sound was up there. The mosquito attack in the original was great (buzzing above your head). If you haven't tried that one in Atmos, you might give it a try some time.
 
panteragstk

panteragstk

Audioholic Warlord
I'm having issues now with KODI freezing up since I upgraded my Mac Mini server to Mojave after putting in a 2TB SSD drive. First it was the "put hard drives to sleep when possible" button, which never interfered before seemed to try to shut down my external media drives every 20 minutes like clockwork. I thought maybe it was an issue with Apple's SMB 3 so I rescanned my library to NFS (what a PITA) and it didn't fix it. Once, I found the sleep thing, next it was Apple doesn't recognize NFS as a sleep token to not sleep the entire system so it shut down after 3 hours (sleep setting when nothing is going on). My program "caffeine" that kept it awake no matter what doesn't work with Mojave so I found a new one that does called amphetamine. Then one of my movies (Super Mario Brothers) wouldn't play no matter what on my Nvidia Shield but played fine on my FireTV 4K upstairs. I eventually figured out it was the "change refresh on monitor to match movie" setting that I had enabled downstairs but no upstairs. If I turned it of, it played fine then. I even tried re-encoding the movie with Handbrake. No difference. No idea why. Now I've been watching Harry Potter movies and it still freezes randomly (last time after 54 minutes of playback) as if the server isn't sending it the data for some unknown reason. I tried turning off the refresh sync and now I'm trying it with no hardware decoding on the NVidia Shield (which is powerful enough to play back 2K without hardware decoding), but I don't hold much hope out....

What a PITA. I hate to go back to the old operating system (still have it on my backup drive) as Mojave uses a different file system for SSDs so I'd have to prep it again, etc. and who knows how long the 3-year old OS will be supported in the future, but it SUCKS to have the movie freeze up at all when you're watching it.... even for a few seconds. It RARELY acted up before so I can't help but suspect it's the new OS somehow.... I've tried posting to Mac and even KODI forums. ZERO replies. My vacation is over after today so it's nice to see I screwed up my home theater in my time off instead of improving it (didn't get a damn thing done I planned to do except this computer upgrade which isn't turning out to be much of an upgrade). Had other problems to deal with like the air conditioning breaking, lawn mower breaking, fridge breaking and now this. Life is fun....
Howdy. May want to check this out. Part of your issue is your server, but it could also be your Shield. I have the issue with certain movies stopping near the end. VERY frustrating. That is using a PC with Kodi too. Shield firmware update supposedly fixes that.
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
It’s not a definitive comparison, but it seems like 99% of the so-called Atmos contents from Netflix seems “fake” because I can’t hear much OH sounds at all.

I’ve seen 2 Atmos streaming contents from Amazon Prime. 1st one was Aquaman. Today I saw “Alita Battle Angel”. And I thought the OH sound was pretty great for Alita.

I will watch Alita again when it comes out on 4K/Atmos BluRay July 23. But even now with just streaming Atmos, I would still put Alita on my Atmos list.

1. Pacific Rim 2013 Atmos
2. Blade Runner 2049 2017 4K Atmos
3. Cloverfield Paradox 2018 Atmos
4. The Equalizer 2014 Atmos
5. The Great Wall 2016 Atmos
6. Hunter Killer 2018 Atmos
7. The Matrix Trilogy 1999, 2003, 2003 4K Atmos
8. Oblivion 2013 Atmos
9. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies 2016 Atmos
10. Salt 2010 Atmos
11. Sully 2016 Atmos
12. Twilight 2008 Atmos
13. Underworld 2003 Atmos
14. Underworld Blood Wars 2016 Atmos
15. Atomic Blonde 2017 DTSX
16. Harry Potter franchise (8 movies) 2001-2011 4K DTSX
17. Black Hawk Down 2001 4K Atmos
18. 13 Hours 2016 4K Atmos
19. Gravity 2013 Atmos
20. Ready Player One 2018 Atmos
21. Robin Hood 2018 Atmos
22. Jurassic World 4K DTSX
23. Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom 4K DTSX
24. Terminator Genisys 4K Atmos
25. Alita Battle Angel Atmos
 
Bookmark

Bookmark

Full Audioholic
Here is something that maybe of some interest, although it maybe of old news to many.

Like many of us, we have perhaps noticed the variable benefits of certain Atmos/Dts:X soundtracks. We have lists of content we consider good, average or bad and sometimes those lists differ between setups. Any number of factors can be involved, different processors/Avrs, speakers, positioning, room treatments, EQ, etc, all will have some bearing. This is just something else which I noticed recently, messing about in settings.

To be clear I am changing nothing physically, but the speaker layout setting in the Yamaha 5100. The processor has two layout presets and I copied my Layout 1 setting to 2, keeping the Distance, Levels, EQ, Cut offs the same. I then altered the 2nd preset to have 4 Overheads, the 1st preset remained the same as before with 4 Heights. The effect is being noted at the same volume level and the only thing being changed is the current layout setting between runs. All content was tested on both settings

I have long believed that Dts:X and Neural X bleeds more base layer content into the Height speakers than Atmos or DSU. Also that ADGT has been more often disappointed in Dts:X content than Atmos.

For the testing I used the Dolby Atmos and Dts:X demos. Fantastic Beasts 2 (Atmos), Crimson Peak (Dts:X), Valerien (Atmos), Pitch Perfect 3 (Dts:X), Hunter Killer (Atmos), The Meg (Atmos), Ready Player One (Atmos) and Flatliners 2017 (Dvd Dolby 5.1).

What I noticed is that Atmos soundtracks benefit from the Overhead setting whereas the Dts:X/Neural X tracks improved with the Height setting. All the films sounded fine previously, or so I thought and since the physical layout is not changing, why would there be any difference? What I have seen is a certain clarity between the layouts that was not present before, however the apparent difference is dependent upon the film itself. Ready Player One has always been a standout. There was not a particularly notable difference in the Demos although Shattered seemed better, clearer with the Overheads.

Layout 2 (Overhead setting)
Ready Player One, race scene ~8mins in, improves the coin capture, some crashes and the Kong rear portion. Fantastic Beast 2, always a bit of a disappointment, sound wise compared to the first, this just improves overall as does Hunter Killer. Valerian's opening battle and initial Bowie track yields some interesting spaciousness. The Meg, opening titles and initial rescue are much improved in the overhead department.

What does not improve is the Dts:X content and up mixing with Neural X using the Overhead setting. For these to sound right, to me, then the Height setting is much preferable. Perhaps it is down to the nature of the beast, my compromised layout, or that Dolby tends to spec for Overheads and Dts:X for Heights. Some may have already come to this conclusion and set accordingly. I know of a few who have actual different physical layouts for the content, particularly with Auro 3D, where there is an actual additional physical top layer.

This is as I say, perhaps an option for some who previously have not bothered with specific changes for different content. I know that in the past, my reluctance is entirely down to pure laziness, however it is noticeable enough with some content to do the switch.

As always, YMMV, but it may be something to try with those films which seem a tad underwhelming.
 
S

snakeeyes

Audioholic Ninja
Here is something that maybe of some interest, although it maybe of old news to many.

Like many of us, we have perhaps noticed the variable benefits of certain Atmos/Dts:X soundtracks. We have lists of content we consider good, average or bad and sometimes those lists differ between setups. Any number of factors can be involved, different processors/Avrs, speakers, positioning, room treatments, EQ, etc, all will have some bearing. This is just something else which I noticed recently, messing about in settings.

To be clear I am changing nothing physically, but the speaker layout setting in the Yamaha 5100. The processor has two layout presets and I copied my Layout 1 setting to 2, keeping the Distance, Levels, EQ, Cut offs the same. I then altered the 2nd preset to have 4 Overheads, the 1st preset remained the same as before with 4 Heights. The effect is being noted at the same volume level and the only thing being changed is the current layout setting between runs. All content was tested on both settings

I have long believed that Dts:X and Neural X bleeds more base layer content into the Height speakers than Atmos or DSU. Also that ADGT has been more often disappointed in Dts:X content than Atmos.

For the testing I used the Dolby Atmos and Dts:X demos. Fantastic Beasts 2 (Atmos), Crimson Peak (Dts:X), Valerien (Atmos), Pitch Perfect 3 (Dts:X), Hunter Killer (Atmos), The Meg (Atmos), Ready Player One (Atmos) and Flatliners 2017 (Dvd Dolby 5.1).

What I noticed is that Atmos soundtracks benefit from the Overhead setting whereas the Dts:X/Neural X tracks improved with the Height setting. All the films sounded fine previously, or so I thought and since the physical layout is not changing, why would there be any difference? What I have seen is a certain clarity between the layouts that was not present before, however the apparent difference is dependent upon the film itself. Ready Player One has always been a standout. There was not a particularly notable difference in the Demos although Shattered seemed better, clearer with the Overheads.

Layout 2 (Overhead setting)
Ready Player One, race scene ~8mins in, improves the coin capture, some crashes and the Kong rear portion. Fantastic Beast 2, always a bit of a disappointment, sound wise compared to the first, this just improves overall as does Hunter Killer. Valerian's opening battle and initial Bowie track yields some interesting spaciousness. The Meg, opening titles and initial rescue are much improved in the overhead department.

What does not improve is the Dts:X content and up mixing with Neural X using the Overhead setting. For these to sound right, to me, then the Height setting is much preferable. Perhaps it is down to the nature of the beast, my compromised layout, or that Dolby tends to spec for Overheads and Dts:X for Heights. Some may have already come to this conclusion and set accordingly. I know of a few who have actual different physical layouts for the content, particularly with Auro 3D, where there is an actual additional physical top layer.

This is as I say, perhaps an option for some who previously have not bothered with specific changes for different content. I know that in the past, my reluctance is entirely down to pure laziness, however it is noticeable enough with some content to do the switch.

As always, YMMV, but it may be something to try with those films which seem a tad underwhelming.
I like the “outside the box” thinking here by changing the AVR settings but I’m unclear from your post where your speakers are actually installed physically. Are they in the ceiling?
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
Here is something that maybe of some interest, although it maybe of old news to many.

Like many of us, we have perhaps noticed the variable benefits of certain Atmos/Dts:X soundtracks. We have lists of content we consider good, average or bad and sometimes those lists differ between setups. Any number of factors can be involved, different processors/Avrs, speakers, positioning, room treatments, EQ, etc, all will have some bearing. This is just something else which I noticed recently, messing about in settings.

To be clear I am changing nothing physically, but the speaker layout setting in the Yamaha 5100. The processor has two layout presets and I copied my Layout 1 setting to 2, keeping the Distance, Levels, EQ, Cut offs the same. I then altered the 2nd preset to have 4 Overheads, the 1st preset remained the same as before with 4 Heights. The effect is being noted at the same volume level and the only thing being changed is the current layout setting between runs. All content was tested on both settings

I have long believed that Dts:X and Neural X bleeds more base layer content into the Height speakers than Atmos or DSU. Also that ADGT has been more often disappointed in Dts:X content than Atmos.

For the testing I used the Dolby Atmos and Dts:X demos. Fantastic Beasts 2 (Atmos),Crimson Peak (Dts:X),Valerien (Atmos),Pitch Perfect 3 (Dts:X),Hunter Killer (Atmos),The Meg (Atmos),Ready Player One (Atmos) and Flatliners 2017 (Dvd Dolby 5.1).

What I noticed is that Atmos soundtracks benefit from the Overhead setting whereas the Dts:X/Neural X tracks improved with the Height setting. All the films sounded fine previously, or so I thought and since the physical layout is not changing, why would there be any difference? What I have seen is a certain clarity between the layouts that was not present before, however the apparent difference is dependent upon the film itself. Ready Player One has always been a standout. There was not a particularly notable difference in the Demos although Shattered seemed better, clearer with the Overheads.

Layout 2 (Overhead setting)
Ready Player One, race scene ~8mins in, improves the coin capture, some crashes and the Kong rear portion. Fantastic Beast 2, always a bit of a disappointment, sound wise compared to the first, this just improves overall as does Hunter Killer. Valerian's opening battle and initial Bowie track yields some interesting spaciousness. The Meg, opening titles and initial rescue are much improved in the overhead department.

What does not improve is the Dts:X content and up mixing with Neural X using the Overhead setting. For these to sound right, to me, then the Height setting is much preferable. Perhaps it is down to the nature of the beast, my compromised layout, or that Dolby tends to spec for Overheads and Dts:X for Heights. Some may have already come to this conclusion and set accordingly. I know of a few who have actual different physical layouts for the content, particularly with Auro 3D, where there is an actual additional physical top layer.

This is as I say, perhaps an option for some who previously have not bothered with specific changes for different content. I know that in the past, my reluctance is entirely down to pure laziness, however it is noticeable enough with some content to do the switch.

As always, YMMV, but it may be something to try with those films which seem a tad underwhelming.
Interesting. So if the DTSX contents lack OH sounds, try changing the setting from OH to Heights (without having to PHYSICALLY change any speakers).
 
Bookmark

Bookmark

Full Audioholic
I like the “outside the box” thinking here by changing the AVR settings but I’m unclear from your post where your speakers are actually installed physically. Are they in the ceiling?
Apologies if I haven't mentioned it before. It is 9.1.4 layout with Heights. The layout is somewhat compromised as the heights are still located a couple of feet below the ceiling in line with the LR and back surrounds. Ceiling height is approx 10' .

It works for me and I have had no real problems in the past with overhead effects, it is just something I noticed. I found the Meg in particular and having watched entirely last night, Fantastic Beast 2 and Hunter Killer definitely improved. From the parts of other film I watched there were some differences but I would not regard them as night and day. So if it works for you now there may not be much to be gained.
 
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Bookmark

Bookmark

Full Audioholic
Interesting. So if the DTSX contents lack OH sounds, try changing the setting from OH to Heights (without having to PHYSICALLY change any speakers).
Yes. I know you have been underwhelmed by the whole Dts:X thing and by ones I have mentioned in the past.

It might be worth a shot it only takes a second or two to switch and it can probably be setup via Scenes for us, if worthwhile. I know your overheads are better/correctly positioned so it may not make much of a difference but it might improve the Dts:X o_O
 
VonMagnum

VonMagnum

Audioholic Chief
I have heights + top middle extracted with pro logic center output and I couldn't hear a difference on any demo except the Atmos helicopter demo where I could hear the height offset between my side height top middles that sit a few inches lower than the front/rear heights due to the steel beam box in the middle of the room with the tops setting. I could not hear the height change when it was set to heights for whatever reason, which I thought was a good thing as there's not supposed to be one there.

I didn't try a bunch of movies, though as that would be hard to remember everything from movie to movie and I don't want to watch the same movie twice on a row. I'd need specific scenes to compare and Marantz doesn't make it easy to switch quickly plus I have no Audyssey setting for tops.

I do wonder if having top middle speakers makes a real difference with heights compared to tops since they're naturally further apart (lower angles),which can make direct overhead sounds much weaker, especially as room size increases. With top middles present, I get a continuous overhead sound field and recent movies I've watched like Fury have panned smoothly across the entire ceiling so I don't think I'm missing anything.

I also wonder about the physical placement of tops starting so far in front of the screen that it might not blend as well for sounds coming straight out of the screen for placement even if sounds are more overhead sounding in the front/back due to the higher angles so it's a bit of a crap shoot in a way. Ideally, it would be great to have both available, but you'd need a Trinnov to do it cleanly. Using two AVRs might give acceptable results that are still better than either alone, however, but not many have tried that. You also need height settings to use Auro-3D (assuming your AVR supports it and that it makes any difference to you given the small number if titles available).

I did a lot of Auro-3D comparison tests with Auro (I have ten Auro-3D movies and the demo disc #2) in different configurations (side height only, rear plus side height copied and to middle extracted with rear height and Atmos reduced to 5.1.4) and concluded the layout and settings had far more impact on where and how things imaged than the soundtracks themselves. Atmos 5.1.4 movies generally sounded almost identical to the Auro-3D ones over Auro 9.1 (probably made from the same master mix anyway). Auro-3D with extracted top middle sounded very similar to Atmos 7.1.4 except for the missing rear beds (i.e. Height content imaged about the same). Auro with heights copied sounded slightly more spacious from the MLP, but much improved in the second and third rows (as did extracted with rears) than pure Auro 9.1.

I concluded Auro doesn't matter for movies. I'm better off with Atmos or X as the use rear beds too. Auro has some great music recordings, though as they are dual quad recorded (holographic sounding like binaural) rather than pan mixed as most Atmos music is. This is why the Auro-3D demos are so impressive as they use almost all dual quad recordings in the demo instead if panned movies.
 
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VonMagnum

VonMagnum

Audioholic Chief
Interesting. So if the DTSX contents lack OH sounds, try changing the setting from OH to Heights (without having to PHYSICALLY change any speakers).
I would think the renderer would think the speakers are very close together with tops (60/120 degrees) and so if anything, I'd expect more directly overhead sound and less spread out across the entire ceiling due to it not expecting there to be any coverage in those locations.

Atmos would be the reverse with heights, starting sooner/lower with more sounds blending with beds where there's more separation with tops which might make them stand out more even with just the setting as they are playing less things in common.

The thing is Atmos tops are 45-60 and heights are 30-45. With DTS:X, it's supposedly 45 for heights and 60 for tops, but that's the reference setup. DTS makes no such claims as that would limit their appeal. But it could explain the optimal rendering differences. Personally, I think heights + top middle sounds great and covers the entire ceiling, not just parts of it, but I would complain too many soundtracks are gun shy with the overhead use. There are enough that aren't that I know it's the soundtracks, not my setup, but that doesn't make it any more palatable when they suck.
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
I just watched Blade Runner in 4K/Atmos.

Wow, I agree with Von. It is among the best Atmos/overhead sound effects to date. Someone had a lot of fun remixing the Atmos track on this movie. Definitely will put on my list.


1. Pacific Rim 2013 Atmos
2. Blade Runner 2049 2017 4K Atmos
3. Cloverfield Paradox 2018 Atmos
4. The Equalizer 2014 Atmos
5. The Great Wall 2016 Atmos
6. Hunter Killer 2018 Atmos
7. The Matrix Trilogy 1999, 2003, 2003 4K Atmos
8. Oblivion 2013 Atmos
9. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies 2016 Atmos
10. Salt 2010 Atmos
11. Sully 2016 Atmos
12. Twilight 2008 Atmos
13. Underworld 2003 Atmos
14. Underworld Blood Wars 2016 Atmos
15. Atomic Blonde 2017 DTSX
16. Harry Potter franchise (8 movies) 2001-2011 4K DTSX
17. Black Hawk Down 2001 4K Atmos
18. 13 Hours 2016 4K Atmos
19. Gravity 2013 Atmos
20. Ready Player One 2018 Atmos
21. Robin Hood 2018 Atmos
22. Jurassic World 4K DTSX
23. Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom 4K DTSX
24. Terminator Genisys 4K Atmos
25. Alita Battle Angel Atmos
26. Blade Runner 4K Atmos
27. Waterworld 4K DTSX
 
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VonMagnum

VonMagnum

Audioholic Chief
Got an ear infection in my left ear apparently... hearing impaired. I guess I won't be evaluating movies again for a few days, at least. :(
 
VonMagnum

VonMagnum

Audioholic Chief
I've got Kodi 18.3 setup now around the house. So far it seems much improved with SMB3 support working in both OS X and Windows 10 (can boot either one and Kodi doesn't know the difference) and no glitches so far, but I've mostly tested TV shows with my ear still a bit clogged (seems a little better today). I've improved the interface using a new skin and customized it.

The Zidoo X9S can't run Kodi 18.3. It crashes with an unexplained error every time. I had to put 17.6 back on it, but it's just a backup anyway. I normally only use it for 3D playback.

Meanwhile, DTS:X Pro launches soon (two shows coming up to demonstrate it, one in Asia, the other in the UK, both with Trinnov, whom I was surprised to read is the ONLY company so far to license it after over six months to sign up.

I guess all those Denon 8500 users are going to be bitterly disappointed for a long long time to come as Denon appears to have no interest in it. They bet on Auro-3D and lost. It's a free upgrade to to Trinnov Altitude owners.
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
DTS:X Pro launches soon (two shows coming up to demonstrate it, one in Asia, the other in the UK, both with Trinnov, whom I was surprised to read is the ONLY company so far to license it after over six months to sign up.

I guess all those Denon 8500 users are going to be bitterly disappointed for a long long time to come as Denon appears to have no interest in it. They bet on Auro-3D and lost. It's a free upgrade to to Trinnov Altitude owners.
DTSX Pro for home cinema is up to 32CH, whereas DTSX is up to 11Ch (7.1.4)?

How does this impact owners of the Denon x8500 and Auro3D?
 
VonMagnum

VonMagnum

Audioholic Chief
DTSX Pro for home cinema is up to 32CH, whereas DTSX is up to 11Ch (7.1.4)?

How does this impact owners of the Denon x8500 and Auro3D?
It doesn't (for now at least) other than make them jealous of Trinnov owners, I suppose. There's probably no technical reason the 8500 couldn't support 13 channels of DTS:X Pro, but I have no idea what the licensing costs are. Maybe they think it's not worth it for just two extra channels or maybe they're waiting for something or possibly they can't get the code written any time soon. Who knows.

It must suck to own a 13-channel unit that can only use 13-channels with Atmos as it is (unless you do the weird CS/TS channels nothing else uses...well DTS 'could' use them if it had more channels available, but then you'd have to choose between them and top middle or front wides even.

Ironically, it's easier and cheaper to just go Scatmos or even matrixed to add more speakers that get around these limitations (e.g. I can use top middle and front wides with Auro and them plus surround #2 with Atmos, DSU, DTS:X and Neural X without issue and partial surround #2 with Auro). You could easily add CS and TS (aka VOG) the same way as well. It just takes up some shelf space and needs more amps, etc. It's still cheaper than a Trinnov by a solid 10 miles.
 
E

Erod

Audioholic
DTSX Pro for home cinema is up to 32CH, whereas DTSX is up to 11Ch (7.1.4)?

How does this impact owners of the Denon x8500 and Auro3D?
Problem is, very few people want to mess with Trinnov software and lack of OSD, and like Gene says, with too many speakers, you lose the separation of immersive sound unless you have a gigantic room.

There's no content for this and likely never will be. DTS may have lost the battle just like Aura 3D. Atmos is winning clearly, and even its future seems iffy.
 
VonMagnum

VonMagnum

Audioholic Chief
Problem is, very few people want to mess with Trinnov software and lack of OSD, and like Gene says, with too many speakers, you lose the separation of immersive sound unless you have a gigantic room.
OK, that makes zero sense. More speakers = more immersion, not less. There's not even an argument to be made here, IMO. The whole reason Atmos supports so many potential speakers is that more means better imaging with a more solid sound stage for all chairs. You can argue when it starts to become overkill, but overkill doesn't mean worse, but harder to hear a difference. Honestly, I find it hard to believe anyone would say that, let alone Gene. Phantom images are always inferior to real sources unless something is wrong with the setup.

There's no content for this and likely never will be. DTS may have lost the battle just like Aura 3D. Atmos is winning clearly, and even its future seems iffy.
ALL DTS:X content works with it. It creates channels between channels the same way Pro Logic creates a solid center channel between the left and right mains. Neural X does this already. DTS:X Pro merely removes the 11-channel limitation.

While Atmos may have a slight advantage in purity of separation, there's otherwise no real fundamental difference as all Atmos channels are also midway between each other. The renderer simply handles the object panning instead of steered logic. The net result is almost identical for the same layout. DTS has the added advantage of working with all X soundtracks whereas Atmos is easily hamstrung by locked objects like Disney uses, preventing more than 11-channels from functioning. DTS also has more locations it can utilize (the Auro 3D ones).

It's pretty early to write off DTS. 1/3 of my immersive Blu-rays are DTS:X already. Pro and movies in Imax Enhanced haven't even been officially released yet or the streaming version scheduled to be released by Fandango later this year. Meanwhile Atmos is getting bad press because of Disney sabotaging the format, creating locked 7.1.4 only soundtracks with poor dynamics and low average volume levels that can prevent some systems from reaching desired levels.
 

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