DTS:X Promises Features and Flexibility Not Offered with Dolby Atmos

[gene]

Thanks to DTS, this preliminary report is coming to you from Marshall Guthrie at seat 6F on a Boeing 737. 24 hours ago, Marshall was on an outbound flight from Portland to Los Angeles at the invitation of DTS to witness, firsthand, their new object-based audio system, DTS:X. Marshall’s initial impressions: there is real game-changing potential in DTS:X that includes the ability to put your speakers where you want them and still get good sound, open source tools for movie mixing professionals, and really amazing sound for headphone users too. Unlike Dolby Atmos, DTS:X is not tied to a prescribed speaker configuration or a specified number of channels. This opens a lot of flexibility and acceptance for our proposed Universal Speaker Layout for 3D Immersive Surround Formats.

Read: DTS:X Promises Features and Flexibility Not Offered with Dolby Atmos

and watch Marshall's sneak peak video.

much more is coming....

 

[TLS Guy]

Domestically, on first look, that seems far more practical than Dolby Atmos.

 

[Mikebiker]

Based upon the little information available, it seems that DTS:X is a better system for that home listener than the Dolby ATMOS. The Dolby method requires me to put my speakers where Dolby wants them, while the DTS approach would have DTS adjust to my existing speaker placement.
I will not go out and buy a new receiver because of this technology, but when my system does require an upgrade, I'll add the DTX:X (assuming the it proves viable).

 

[Gilbertkoh]

Is DTS X same at DTS Neo X? If it's the same, the Marantz SR7009 already comes pre-installed.

 

[fuzz092888]

Is DTS X same at DTS Neo X? If it's the same, the Marantz SR7009 already comes pre-installed.

Not the same.

 

[afterlife2]

I'd be interested in it for sure. Wonder if Yammy/Marantz is onboard?

 

[Stanton]

I'd be interested in it for sure. Wonder if Yammy/Marantz is onboard?

Yes...they were both mentioned in the (underwhelming) press release. They should also be adding HDCP 2.2 support in their 2015 models, which will be important if you want to support "end-to-end" 4k down the road (like I do).

 

[Cos]

It's actually a good thing, because I can set up my room for Dolby Atmos and then not have to worry about a different configuration for DTS:X because the object bases system will adapt. I much rather bet on both, than one.

I am a little sad that my AV8802 will have to wait until June. It's my understanding that the upgrade is free, I just have to pay for shipping to them. I do not know if they will charge a fee for DTS:X firmware update, but I hope not since it will be included in future models for the same price.

 

[afterlife2]

Yes...they were both mentioned in the (underwhelming) press release. They should also be adding HDCP 2.2 support in their 2015 models, which will be important if you want to support "end-to-end" 4k down the road (like I do).

This will get me to upgrade. Till now there was really nothing to update. PQ should be great as well, no?

 

[wiyosaya]

This sounds like it makes sense for the average consumer and `phile alike. To me, the fixed format of atmos sounds rather pale in comparison. The `phile can have all the speakers in any configuration that they want while the average consumer can have a limited number of speakers placed in not necessarily ideal configurations.

If it lives up to its promise, it is easy to understand why 90% of manufacturers are on-board with this already. Atmos was a tough sell to me; to be honest, there is no way that I would consider it. However, DTS:X is a different story altogether because I can use it with my current speakers. I have no hope of using my current speaker setup with Atmos, and for me at this point, that makes a world of difference.

 

[MrPirate2882]

I thought Atmos allows the same "place speakers anywhere", and movie sound sources are mixed in realtime according to their 3D space coordinates?

 

[gene]

Guys here is our full featured video overview about DTS:X. It covers home theater, headphones and the cinema. Editorial will follow shortly.

 

[andyblackcat]

Nice review Gene, Audioholics, but I'm still not convinced maybe I'm too much of a listener. If I was less of listener I would be saying "take my money".

The frog/fly demo is that is it honestly is that what they only played? What couldn't they take a few iconic Dolby films and show what its like with overheads. Oh and don't forget the Below Surround as well as overheads was fitted at several cinemas down town local to me 37 and 26 years ago. Need a new fresh fragrance of surround ideas, not digging up something that was used for "We Were Soldiers" and I bet Dolby labs, even forgot about the cinemas down town with overheads or maybe that was someone else bright, 37 years ago idea.

I'll keep my money. Just my 1pence. As for content as and when it comes out makes no difference if you have dtsx, its backward compatible. Unless I have something like a "Total Recall, lobotomy" and buy the new AVR.

 

[gene]

Marshall's complete report and demo results are now published.

http://www.audioholics.com/audio-technologies/dts-x-first-listen

 

[gene]

Nice review Gene, Audioholics, but I'm still not convinced maybe I'm too much of a listener. If I was less of listener I would be saying "take my money".

The frog/fly demo is that is it honestly is that what they only played? What couldn't they take a few iconic Dolby films and show what its like with overheads. Oh and don't forget the Below Surround as well as overheads was fitted at several cinemas down town local to me 37 and 26 years ago. Need a new fresh fragrance of surround ideas, not digging up something that was used for "We Were Soldiers" and I bet Dolby labs, even forgot about the cinemas down town with overheads or maybe that was someone else bright, 37 years ago idea.

I'll keep my money. Just my 1pence. As for content as and when it comes out makes no difference if you have dtsx, its backward compatible. Unless I have something like a "Total Recall, lobotomy" and buy the new AVR.

I do wish they would have included below ear level sound. I'd love to put a few JBL ProIII speakers around my seats for wizz bang effects Easy install too.

 

[andyblackcat]

I do wish they would have included below ear level sound. I'd love to put a few JBL ProIII speakers around my seats for wizz bang effects Easy install too.

Yeah it doesn't require drilling holes into the floor. Or does it? Well not drilling no holes in the floor here. Simply placement under a seat or behind seat on the floor would suffice.

Then director/mixers should watch image careful and its change/angle in position and match the sound images to everything. I want a dizzy feeling listening experience not one where it all seems predictable. Thou in the real world we expect rain to land on the ground and sound or once it has landed on an object and sounds [pitter patter]. rain is complex sound. I don't want to listen to predictable rain effects, outdoor scenes where its all sounding on the x3 horns across the front and side/back surrounds. I want hear it with bulk of it sounding below well its tricky challenge.

In floor speakers in wooden floors is easy. I can see the horror on one's wife's face. wife: "You are bloody well not drilling holes in our floor, oh no your not."

Well if there was several flush with floor with metal grill over it to protect it but not as easy as you think. The amount of dust/dirt dog/cat hairs human hairs skin and all. It would need daily cleaning. If gets any small dirt particulars falling on the bass mid diver it would buzz or make an annoying sound. A grill with a acoustical cloth that can be easily removed and cleaned in few seconds of very few days might work. The high frequencies easily since the speakers would be (well mine are 38" measured vertically lets call it 1m, I'm not gonna split-hairs over 1").

Side wall left side or my seat 46" slightly diagonally from middle of 8330 to ear. To middle seat its about 58". The below matrix surrounds are closest but levels and all controlled and EQ trimmed to sound as close to rest as possible.

Ceiling ones above approx slightly diagonally 52".

Any how I'm just a bit disappointed dtsx didn't push theirs further to leave the rest of competition then forced to make modifications. I'll wait 3 years and see what transpires from all this.

 

[andyblackcat]

Live 90 piece orchestra and your sat in lower stalls listening to it. All those instruments are spread over a wide area and depth as well. Some instruments are nearer to you some are further away and all have own different frequency tone and range.

So why not record all instruments separately then play them all back on 90 small speakers placed at different positions in front of the room with one speaker slightly higher the other. Then play it back to see if it sounds like it has any dimensional depth. In theory. We all seen concerts and lol where camera goes nearer to part of the orchestra and shouldn't there be a few db increase? If I was walking around and between them all that is what I would hear, no ifs or buts about. But wife would say "I want a divorce" to 90 speakers in the front of the room.

If there is a crowed room and your walking between lots of people you hear some part of conversation for brief seconds then it fades away then you hear the next short but brief conversation. That's 3d sound with no boundaries not speakers placed on walls and further away. But a home cluttered with 500 same size small speakers wife would get the axe out the shed.

 

[shadyJ]

Very nice report Audioholics, it was very informative. It looks like DTS:X is doing what I had hoped Atmos would have done, that is calibrating existing speaker layouts for the surround sound field. After all, in these kind of setups, the speakers are just objects like the individual sounds, so it shouldn't be too hard to do. I wonder if the reason it wasn't implemented in Home Atmos is because of the complexity of the mic? Like the video showed, it seems like you would need a multiple mic setup to triangulate the position of the speakers.

One thing which was interesting to note was DTS's setups was much like you see in a '7.1.4' Atmos layout, that is, the side channels will be at ear height and the overhead speakers positioned much like you see where the 'top' channels in an Atmos setup are proscribed. That tells me that Dolby and DTS have come to the same conclusions about the most optimal layout for surround speakers are. It's interesting that you do not see a diagonally placed speaker in either setup, but at least DTS:X can accommodate that if that is what you already have.

I liked seeing that DTS MDA is going to be free! I looked into Atmos mixing software, but it is a plugin for Protools HD, so that is a fairly expensive software package. Hopefully I can mess around with DTA MDA and have some fun with it. I wonder if encoding DTS X soundtracks will be free too? At the moment, if you want to encode a DTS MA sound track, it will cost you.

DTS X headphone is interesting. Honestly though, I don't see it doing much that a conventional headphone mix can't do with some clever engineering, but it looks to make those tricks easier to accomplish. Hopefully it will put to bed the idiotic gimmick of '5.1' or '7.1' headphones. God those things are dumb!

 

[Javan]

I thought Atmos allows the same "place speakers anywhere", and movie sound sources are mixed in realtime according to their 3D space coordinates?

They do... sorta. I'm not exactly sure what's going on with that on the licensing side of things but I asked one of the Atmos engineers about the ability for AVRs and pre-pros to do that and he was pretty tight lipped about it. As far as I know Trinnov (no surprise there as they've had directional microphones in their calibration process for some time now) and Yamaha are the only two that take into account the actual location of your speakers and adjust accordingly. Yamaha only does it for a few speakers though, not the whole set-up. Trinnov, I'm not sure.

I imagine one of the big differences that's been a topic of discussion ever since the start is that DTS is keeping everything open-source and Dolby is keeping everything proprietary.

 

[Javan]

I'm really excited for all of this. Once again, it looks like Dolby may have gotten there first, but DTS is gonna show em what you can really do with the technology. It was Jurassic Park that made me a sound-nut and I hope they keep on trucking.

Oh, and if you all haven't heard how amazing DTS: Headphone X is, you can experience it with one of the Z+ apps. I've shown it to at least a dozen people and pretty every single person has their mind blown. The look on their faces when the demo starts is fantastic. It's more than just psuedo-"surround" sound, it actually makes the sounds like they are coming from "over there". It's not just left, right, above, no it's the sense of depth that is truly astounding. It doesn't take any special hardware, it's just a special mix. The Mockingjay Pt 1 blu-ray has it on there and it sounds incredible on my phone, just like the demo.

And if you don't get it's so awesome to have that technology in headphones, I guess you aren't too excited about the leaps and bounds we're also going through in the VR world.