xo705cf Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 Just a thought but I was wondering if Atmos is for real or simply just adding height speakers and being marketed as Atmos instead of simply Height channels? If so what is the difference in simply adding Heights speakers and Atmos sound wise? I’m thinking about getting a receiver that does Atmos but I wanna make sure it’s not just a bunch of snake oil... Explanations as to the difference and opinions will be well received.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inMotionGraphics Posted October 12, 2019 Share Posted October 12, 2019 Yeah, Atmos is definitely for real! And I'm referring to the real Atmos layout with in-ceiling speakers, not the reflective Atmos modules (which I haven't tried, and I think have their limitations). For me, I think the Atmos upgrade has been the single biggest improvement to my home theater in a long time, and I only added two Atmos channels, not the recommended 4). Just yesterday my girlfriend and I were watching Mission: Impossible 6 - Fallout, and we were both smiling from ear to ear... we both agreed that Atmos really takes things to another level! In those helicopter scenes (of which there are a lot), you hear the helicopters above you. There are of course many other examples of overhead sounds effects and "atmospherics". For that I recommend you watch the Dolby Atmos demo disk on a good Atmos system. I'm confident you'll be sold on it right out the gate. Now there are a lot of movies that have disappointingly little content in the Atmos channels, and there's a lot of debate and complaining about this online, but it goes beyond just overhead sound effects and atmosphere... I firmly believe the Dolby Atmos upmixer is vastly better than any upmixer we've had before... from upmixing 5.1 and 7.1 discrete audio to upmixing 2 channel stereo, the surround and height channels are way more active than with the previous upmixers, and exponentially more enjoyable... at least on my system. Lastly, the Dolby Atmos upmixer also does an excellent job with stereo music if you like listening to multi channel music like I do... So no, there's no snake oil for sale here, that much I can guarantee you! Whether you'll enjoy it as much as I do and many others do, that will depend on your tastes and preferences I'm sure, but you are definitely going to notice the difference, and I'm confident it will be worth the investment for you. But again, if you aren't sure, go and listen to a demo and decide for yourself. 5 hours ago, xo705cf said: or simply just adding height speakers and being marketed as Atmos instead of simply Height channels? The guys in Europe are doing it like this so that their systems are primarily configured for Auro-3D, which is a competing system to Dolby Atmos but hasn't received widespread adoption yet. They swear it is better than Dolby Atmos, but I haven't tried it, and there isn't any content available for it where I live. So if you're setting up primarily for Atmos and DTS-X then go with Dolby Atmos's layout recommendations (in-ceiling), but if you're going for Auro-3D, then go with their layout, as Dolby Atmos will work fine with the height speakers in an Auro-3D layout. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TasDom Posted October 12, 2019 Share Posted October 12, 2019 This is a pretty cool demo @Youthman did using just specific channels to see what was coming thru the Atmos set up. Maybe he'll chime in with his thoughts so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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