This is just a thought, but I believe that if Roon were to be able one day play Atmos, then it probably would have to be a Atmos container only and the ability of up sampling of a stereo file to Atmos would not be able to exist which means that I would be in the same boat with limited content to play. It would be either be from Tidal or what I have ripped.
Similar to MQA, the container is provided to the online streaming providers just like Atmos is being provided with the overhead object content.
There are different atmos setups, Iām guessing that Room size would dictate which would be best, like a smaller room might be overkill for a 7.1.4 setup. Iāve left multi-channel off my radar until I re-locate to a new home, but, will be curious to see what you do.
I have a Smyth Realiser A16 too and I love it. However, I would hesitate to recommend it because it is very expensive, a lot of users have needed repairs, and the company is on very shaky financial footing. I think it is very likely that other solutions will come along pretty soon. The virtualization in the Apple Air Pod Pro from an Apple TV, which not nearly as good, can still be fairly satisfying. Rumor has it that Apple used the BBC Room from the Smyth.
I spoke too soon. I think a decent Dolby Atmos setup is more money than I want to spend. Iām now debating subscribing to Apple Music to send Atmos from my Apple TV 4K to Apple AirPods Max. Tidal works but not real Atmos.
Verizon offers Apple Music for $11 per month and Apple Music Family for $10 per month. Does anyone know if there are any negatives associated with saving a dollar and subscribing to Family?
EDIT: I subscribed to Apple Music Family for $10 per month. Iāll decide in a month or so if I should drop Apple Music or Tidal. Qobuz gives me the same library and Apple Music gives me more Atmos, so I donāt really need Tidal any longer.
I think my Atmos search is over. I have subscribed to Apple Music Family for $10 and can play Atmos from my 3 Apple devices to my wireless AirPod Max headphones. For higher resolution I have a USB C cable from the iPhone 17 Pro Max to Mojo 2 with wired Sony WH-1000xm3 headphones and Focal Clears.
EDIT: I think Tidalās days are numbered.
EDIT2: Apple Music Atmos on my iPhone works well with my Audio Quest Dragonfly Cobalt also. So, Iām good for walking Lucy with Atmos.
Its cool that Apple provide an atmos binaural ādownmixā through the USB-C port in iPhone and iPad devices. They are more picky about bluetooth headphones. With those, the atmos binaural signal is only available on Apple headphones. Non apple ones get plain stereo.
In my view Tidal has the better binaural renderer than apple, and Tidalās works with any headphones. They are headphone brand agnostic. This is an advantage they have over apple music. However Tidalās catalogue of classical is abysmally small vs. appleās.
The reason for Tidalās better binaural rendition is their use of AC4 and IMS (immersive audio profile). Gemini summarizes the differences as follows:
The core difference is where the 3D processing happens: Apple sends you the ārawā 3D data and lets your device do the math, while Tidal sends you a pre-calculated ābinauralā version.
1. Apple Music: Dolby Digital Plus (with JOC)
Apple uses DD+ JOC (Joint Object Coding). This is the same format used by Netflix and Disney+.
How it works: Itās a 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound ābedā with extra metadata that contains the āobjectsā (like a vocal hovering above your left shoulder).
The Deviceās Job: Because the file contains the 7.1.4 speaker data, your iPhone/iPad has to use its own internal āApple Spatial Rendererā to downmix those speakers into the two channels of your headphones.
The Result: This allows for Dynamic Head Tracking. Because your phone is doing the rendering in real-time, it can shift the audio virtual speakers as you move your head .
2. TIDAL: Dolby AC-4 (IMS)
Tidal primarily uses Dolby AC-4 (specifically the IMS or Immersive Stereo profile) for headphone user s
How it works: This format is āPre-Binauralized.ā Instead of sending 12 channels of speaker data, the file is already encoded as a 2-channel stream that includes the binaural cues (timing and frequency shifts) created by the engineer during the mastering process.
The Deviceās Job: Very little. Your device just decodes the AC-4 stream and plays it. It doesnāt need to ācalculateā where the sounds are; the file already āsoundsā 3D.
The Result: This often sounds more accurate to the artistās original intent because it uses the specific binaural settings the mixing engineer chose, rather than Appleās āone-size-fits-allā spatial algorithm. However, it does not support head tracking on Tidal.
So the difference is ācreated by the engineer during masteringā for Tidal vs. Appleās generic binaural downmixer.
Thanks Claude. My ears prefer Apple vs Tidal. I may drop Tidal since I have Qobuz for Roon. I use both Apple Airpods Max and Sony WH-1000Xm3 headphones with Dragonfly Cobalt. Iāve never tried the head tracking and probably never will.
Actually, they probably sound about the same. I like using Apple Music with my Apple AirPods Max. With my wired Sony headphones, I use both Apple Music and Tidal.
He mentioned an upfront cost, I assumed this would apply to Roon if they were to integrate it. I got curious and tried to find out a bit more about Dolbyās business model / approach. Tldr; itās poison.
Apple are licensed with Atmos and adhere to Dolbyās requirements, enforcing them via their platform:
The confusion comes from the fact that Apple when rendering Atmos uses its own spatial playback method, developed by Apple and not Dolby.
Apple still had to pay upfront licensing to Dolby and they still pay royalties to Dolby. Apple has actually launched an incentive to increase the amount of Dolby licensed music on its platform:
