Dolby Atmos support in Roon (ROCK)? - Now that Tidal now extends its support (not only for Android)

Roon Software Discussion
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Tidal covers the 3 magic words for Atmos (music) access.
Equipment is another story but Sonos (see What Hifi review below) and many other, offers Atmos bars which is not good enough in this forum (and for me) but it opens up for volumes to late adopters.
We’ll see… I at least hold my thumbs since streaming access to multichannel music is sweet honey (if the bit rate/resolution is high enough) as a complement to 2-channel listening :slightly_smiling_face:

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Because movie viewers will want it and audiophiles can ride on their back

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Spot on Joachim_Strobel

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I don’t know many people that put 7 or 8 speakers around them to watch movies in proper Atmos resolution.

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… but what about two Echo Studios?

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Are your serious or is this meant to be a joke? :rofl: :rofl:

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Serious for the movie watcher so he enjoys Atmos and enjoys the media, wanting more…

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A glimmer of hope then! :grin:

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Quit being an audio snob @bbrip! You’re welcome to your opinion, but don’t belittle mine!!!

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I know many more people who have 7 speakers than I do people who have high end DACs and other audiophile gear. Granted, it’s used primarily for movie watching, but the infrastructure is there.

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@Edward_Lee You are of course entitled to your opinion and can do what you want, as I said above. :innocent:

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Thanks to audioholics for sharing more tech info on Tidal Atmos.
Unfortunately it’s DD+ (as on the Netflix/Amazon streaming services) and NOT Dolby TrueHD Atmos (as on Blu-rays) so the bitrate is not the highest possible.
So we’re still waiting for response from Roon developers on what’s the plans on implementing Tidal Atmos into the Roon/ROCK engine!

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And I assume, that this DD+ core is stereo only.

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DD+ Atmos supports 2, 5.1, 7.1 channels and Atmos as meta data (spatial positioning). DD+ and TrueHD differs on compression:

  • Stereo audio in Dolby Digital Plus is typically encoded at bitrates between 96-128 kbps.

  • 5.1-ch audio in Dolby Digital Plus is typically encoded at bitrates between 192-256 kbps

  • Dolby Atmos audio in Dolby Digital Plus is typically encoded at bitrates between 384 and 768 kbps.

  • Dolby TrueHD is lossless/non-compressed (and includes Atmos positioning data if used).

https://developer.dolby.com/technology/dolby-audio/dolby-digital-plus/

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So, if the Tidal Atmos stream would contain Stereo only, to be confirmed, then it would be 384kbs?

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…as stated “typically encoded between xx-yy kbps”, meaning it depends on source coding (Spotify is selectable between low, 128 kbps, normal, 160 kbps, and high, 320 kbps).
But I guess minimum 384 kbps for DD+ Atmos 2-channel. If there are any reason for, or even available, 2-channel audio with Atmos?!
By it’s nature Atmos should be used with 5.1/7.1 channel sources (for positioning/ambient reflections), otherwise Atmos is useless if only 2 channels …I guess :sunglasses:

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Now, if I look at these compression rates, I ask mySelf why a highend platform like Roon should support these for Audio streaming!?

There are already plenty of lossy formats: MP3, AAC, MQA to name just three.

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Well…5.1 @ 768 kbps including Atmos meta data (and well done music multichannel source mixing like Opus3/2L/Pink Floyd etc.) could at least be my cup of tea for a starter. And this comes from a guy listening to Pink Floyd DSD64 5.1 where whole record is 4-6 Gb :sunglasses:

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That sounds more like the real thing :sunglasses:

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Wow. You make it sound like you’re the arbiter of art and only artists that play music in front of 2 mics mimicking a live experience is the only thing that is real. Everything else is “some artificial computer generated pumped up illusion.” What a crock.

Artist have been producing music for decades that take advantage of spacial positioning in the sound stage in a recording that is not like a live performance. And they are the arbiter of what they consider art not you. You may chose not to listen, buy or attend performances from artists you don’t like, which of course is your choice, but you don’t get to classify what is real music and what is not.

75% of households in the US already have 5.1 systems and ATMOS adoption is accelerating. It is being pulled into the house by ever decreasing prices and rapidly increasing ATMOS video content and covid is accelerating this adoption. Some artists will chose to take advantage of it and produce music that takes advantage of the unbelievable sound stage ATMOS offers. Some will not. Some will produce great music in this format, some will not. It is as it has always been.

I for one, welcome the ability to listen to some music that replicates a live performance, but also really want to see artists create recorded music that pushes the boundary of what’s possible with today’s systems and formats. Both are art. For too long, music has stayed stagnant in format and approach while other art forms like tv, movies and video games have taken advantage of the capability of today’s systems and formats to create art that is unbelievable when compared to that a decade ago. I welcome innovation, creativity and new approaches. Music needs it. I hope Roon will evolve and support. it.

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