I have received my first Audio only Blu Ray disc from DGG. This is one of the very few truly Atmos discs and not one up mixed from stereo which practically all are.
This is the disc on the DGG label.
This evaluation was done in my AV room which is a very well set up 7.2.4 Atmos system with all speakers excellent, so this is a perfect room for this evaluation.
The disc contains really beautiful, superbly played and recorded music. The box contains a CD and the BD audio only disc. This latter disc has options for 2.0 24 bit/96kHz, 5.1 DTS-HD MA 24 bit 96kHz and Dolby Atmos. On my Panasonic player I had to use the TV screen to make the selections and keep track of what was playing.
The BD is almost 90 minutes long, and the CD 78 minutes. Two selections have been omitted on the CD.
The selections are the J.S. Bach Toccata and Fugue in D minor, which you will all know I'm sure. There is good evidence that Bach actually wrote this to test organs, which he was often asked to do.
There is a superb performance of one of my favorite works for organ. It is Sir Edward Elgar's organ sonata in G major. It receives I think the best performance I have ever heard, this may be because the sound is so magnificent. The slow movement is beautifully played, and the final movement which is variations on a really catchy tune.
Then follows Three Pieces by Sigfrid Karg-Elert. The first is Sunset, the second Star light. This could latter could easily be background for a Ski-Fi scene.
Then a work I did not know, Balero de Concert. This in some ways does resemble the famous Ravel Bolero, but the composer Louis Lefebure-Wely lived 1817-1869, well before Ravel.
Finally we have three fun organ transcriptions from Star Wars and Return of the Jedi. The Star wars main theme, Parade of the Ewoks, Ben Kenobi's death and The Fighter Attack.
I have one major beef, and that is there are no notes or a booklet with the discs, and there is not much information on line. This is derelict in the extreme.
Now to the Sound. I evaluated the 2.0 DTS and Atmos versions. The 2.0 version sounded excellent as did the CD. The DTS was the worst, as it seemed to have a nasty edge to it, and was markedly inferior to the others.
The Atmos version was a revelation and absolutely superb. The realism was truly astonishing. It was an amazing journey right to the venue. The organ was well focused beyond the end of the room. The reverberations were in correct and believable balance from front sides and roof. What was incredibly good and a surprise to me, is how good the bass was. It was deep and natural. To be honest, I was astonished at how good it sounded. Well done to all.
I then evaluated the Dolby upmixer on my Marantz pre/pro and compared the 2.0 up mixed with the true bill. I have to say that the upmixer is actually very effective indeed, and the results quite similar. However the bass was more realistic and deeper on the Atmos recording. I think that is likely because there is a dedicated sub channel. In addition the perspective was better and more natural with the true Atmos recording.
Now, I downloaded the Dolby Access to my HTPC. I made sure that I selected the version for AV and not the Dolby access headphone app. After download the AV version would not highlight, only the headphone. I got a tip from the Net to reboot the computer. After that, I cold select the AV version.
I then signed up for Apple Music, and the selected the above disc from Apple Music in Atmos. The AVP showed it was receiving Atmos. I am afraid I have to report, that the sound was frankly awful and nothing like the Blu Ray disc. It was thin and devoid of ambience. The bass output was far lower than the disc, and frankly the result was not really listenable in my view.
I am not sure the cause of this. I should state that the result is somewhat similar to the BPO upmixed Dolby Atmos streams, but worse. So the sound of Apple Music at least on this disc is poor.
This is unfortunate as the majors, like DGG are only issuing their Atmos versions for streaming and the disc I have evaluated seems highly unusual.
I have a hunch that this is because these streams are actually already premixed for headphones and not home theater. Dolby Atmos for AV and Atmos headphones are very different animals.
This poor result from Apple Music is very disappointing.
I suppose there are far more headphone users than AV users, to say nothing of stupid devices like Atmos sound bars, and Atmos Alexa speakers. I suspect there are actually very few really good high quality Atmos AV rooms, at present. Given the expense, and architectural limitations posed by most homes, I doubt there ever will be. I suspect it does really require a room and system designed in tandem to really make this technology work properly. In addition I really doubt any of the speakers can be "lesser" speakers.
I think it is very fortunate that the Dolby Upmixer works as well as it does. At least on this rig it compared very favorably indeed with the real deal, which is something to be thankful for.
Lastly I DO NOT use center spread, that is not an improvement, but a downgrade. I know Gene disagrees, but on my experience he is wrong about center spread.