Playback of Atmos

For the center position (me), nothing comes even close :slight_smile:
I have done several adjustments since this picture though.

Of course you haveā€¦:slight_smile: :rofl:

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Main highlight is a new sofa, waiting to be delivered (currently in production):

This one with motor on all 3 seats (both recliner and headrest).

So, with a system that nice, why would you not want to support Atmos music? I just donā€™t buy the notion that ā€œMOSTā€ Atmos mixes are crap. Some? Sure. But ā€œmanyā€ or ā€œmost,ā€ just not my experience.

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But he says he does want it, just that many recordings arenā€™t great.

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I guess from the scowling face and comment that Atmos mixes are crap, I assumed he was being sarcastic and did not really want Atmos. Sorry if I misunderstood!

Of course I want Atmos support. Atmos is the future, with time the industry will start doing good Atmos mixes as the basic rule instead of the exception (just look at the movies with Atmos mixes; started out crap, now most of them are really good - just waiting for DTS:X to follow the same principle).

My point is that synthetic upmix of 2 channel masters to Atmos is not a good thing. Give us the real deal, then Atmos shines.

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I mostly listen to classical music; the ā€œsoundā€ of the venue is of extraordinary importance, so for me Atmos could make a wonderful difference. But I was around when stereo appeared, and 4 channel vinyl, and remember that in the early days of a paradigm shift much was wasted in pursuit of silly effects, like steam trains going from one side to another and left-right ping pong kind of mixes. I dare say the same will happen with Atmos, but hopefully good artists will use it to enhance their art. Of course to capture the sound of real cathedrals and concert halls music will need to be recorded there, rather than in the studio.

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Another vote here also interested in Roon updating on its position

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I cancelled my Tidal subscription and turned off auto renewal on my Roon subscription today (unfortunately, Roon just auto renewed a few weeks ago). Iā€™ll probably keep my Nucleus for a bit just in case.

While Iā€™ll certainly miss some things about Roon, reality is I havenā€™t fired it up in almost 6 months. Lately itā€™s been either Atmos through Apple Music, or concerts/Blu-ray/DVD through my recently acquired used Kaleidescape system.

I Roon+Apple Music+Atmos, and Iā€™m back in a heartbeat. Roon+Tidal+Atmos, and I would be tempted to come back as well.

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Sound and Vision has a new weekly column with the best Atmos tracks from Apple Music. Some of them are rather good.

Iā€™ve changed my expectations about Atmos. Initially I was comparing it (unfavorably) to a concert experience. Now with better recordings I have found that was not a good idea. Listening to even some bad recordings (where the lead singers voice is bouncing all around the ceiling) is an immersive experience. I like the feeling of being literally cocooned in sound, even if instruments and voices are coming from strange places.

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Yeah, quite disappointing that two years after Tidal introduced Atmos support, Roon does not have it.

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And more and more disappointing every day as we still donā€™t know if this is being worked on or has been dismissed as a possibilityā€¦or something else. This is honestly my biggest frustration - the not knowing. Each Sunday when I go to listen to music and check out the latest releases, Iā€™m torn between opening Roon or opening Tidalā€¦and I get that feeling that started me as a yearly Roon customer to begin with. The dream of having an aggregated library of my preferred versions of every album is not being realized currently. And it seems none of us has a clue if it will ever be realized again.

Lots of great Atmos mixes of catalog albums, with all their dynamic range intact, are being released each month, and we have to leave Roon to listen to them. :pensive:

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probably for 98%+ of roon users they only listen in 2ch stereo so its likely to be a rather niche feature to implement.

search for this ā€œatmos #roon:feature-suggestionsā€ and if none suit add a featurerequest and vote

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Ah, but what is the reason for that - maybe a bit of chicken/egg here?

I currently only listen to 2ch stereo music because I only use Roon in house for music playback. Also I am not inclined to buy an apple TV just for tidal atmos music when my TV already has atmos capable TV+ on it and otherwise I donā€™t really have much use for an apple TV even if all my mobile devices are apple.

However the instant that atmos support became available in Roon, I would most definitely be connecting an HDMI cable between a suitable end point and my AV system to take advantage of it.

As for niche - perhaps, but I think that 100% of users I know outside of these forums whos main Roon listening is in their living room also have a full surround sound system in there as well (though less than half atmos I think), some high end AV processors, some high end AVRs, some hybrid like me.Sure, those people are unlikely to be a representative sample, but still, 100% of a dozen or soā€¦

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Iā€™m in the 2% i.e. have a full Atmos 7.1.6 setup but Iā€™m not losing sleep over itā€¦there is much to fix in Roon for stability before we embark on new features

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Many whoā€™ve Iā€™ve talked to in the past year have, like myself, ditched surround and gone to 2.1 for A/V playback.

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Tidal Dolby Atmos Music is distributed via a lossy codec, Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC-3), which brings licensing and/or decoding issues to the table. Not to mention, Dolby Digital Plus output requires HDMI 1.3 or later. It is partially or completely incompatible with S/PDIF and USB transport.

Roonā€™s audio pipeline, meanwhile, is built around PCM and DSD open standards. I do not foresee that changing.

AJ

I merged the Roon ATMOS related posts over to this existing topic.

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Roon can play DTS 5.1 too. There is no need for Roon to decode Atmos. It does not decode DTS 5.1. It will play it from your core over HDMI only. While supporting DTS and Atmos on the Roon protocol would be great, it is not a requirement. Anyone with a full multichannel setup will be using their Processor/Receiver to do the decoding and to apply DSP (levels, delay, EQ, etc).

It maybe that very few people have full multichannel systems, but lots of folks have soundbars that support Atmos. There is a reason that Apple, Tidal, and others are investing in Atmos. Apple does not do anything for only 2% of the market.

I have a Smyth Realiser A16 which decodes Atmos and virtualizes it for headphone listening. Multichannel on headphones is a great option. Apple Music supports headphone virtualization and Sony has a version for its headphones too. (Side note: It would be amazing if Roon licensed this technology and added it to its DSP options. Tidal supports the Sony tech on iOS.)

There are lots of ways to listen to Atmos without owning a full multichannel system. The potential market is much larger than you think. Atmos is clearly becoming a significant part of the music streaming world. Roon will need to support it eventually.

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