Perhaps you think I’m being too cynical, but you don’t have to have lived on this planet for that long to have seen the rise and fall of numerous ‘ next-generation’, ‘game-changing’ media formats to know how fickle the consumer is. However, that can only last so long before the buying public either gets bored, run out of money, or think, screw this. Of course, the record labels love another chance to release music they already own in a new format, it means that some people will buy music they already own just to hear it in a new format. An app designed to help you find music seems to achieve the exact opposite. I could write an entire book on how Apple managed to make possibly the worst music listening app in the history of music streaming. Especially as Apple actually use the term Dolby Atmos in the settings of their god awful Music app. It’s confusing for the end user who doesn’t spend days on websites like this where we understand the nuanced difference between Dolby Atmos and Spatial Audio. Dolby Atmos is fantastic, it does deliver, but Spatial Audio, no thanks. I'll be frank, how Dolby ever allowed Apple Music to be associated with Atmos amazes me. Whatever it is, I’ll stick to stereo thanks.Įxpert Edgar Rothermich talks in detail about some of the issues in his excellent article Why Your Atmos Mix Will Sound Different On Apple Music Perhaps it was mixed in Atmos at source and sounds great in the studio, if that’s the case then the Apple translation is way out. I’m not sure if this album was mixed in Dolby Atmos at the mixing stage or up-mixed at a later stage. This is no disrespect to those who mixed the track, as I say, in good old-fashioned stereo it sounds great. You would expect it to sound right through the device made by Apple to showcase their own technology. If you are wondering if I was using the right playback device, I was using AirPods Pro. As soon as I turned it off, everything made sense again. I went into settings and saw that Dolby Atmos had been engaged automatically, which meant on my Apple device I was listening to an Apple Spatial Audio downmix. As I started playing the excellent title track and a minute in I thought, what the hell is wrong with this mix? I’ve heard more clarity on tracks played through a PA in an empty stadium. So it’s also inconsistent.įor example, I recently decided to check out the new Tears for Fears album ‘Tipping Point’. Oddly enough at times it does the exact opposite and creates a very tight centre and things just disappear from the sound stage. They smear them and remove focus, especially from things like the main vocal. I’m sure it is, but the results I have heard underwhelm me at best and annoy me at worst.įirst, it does exactly what many of these pseudo spatialisation technologies do to mixes. Hold your horses some of you may be saying, it’s amazing, a technological marvel. However, on Spatial Audio they’ve lost me. If anyone deserves an Apple fanboy T-shirt then it’s me. I’m also an early adopter, investing in Apple products way before others and sometimes before they’ve ironed out the kinks in later models. I use a lot of their applications too including Final Cut. I have their peripherals including a keyboard, mouse, and many other things. I even had the original Motorola Phone that had iTunes built-in. I queued for the first iPhone, the second, and the third. I bought an Apple TV when people said it was a stupid idea. Over the years I have invested tens of thousands of pounds in Apple Mac desktops and laptops. However, Dolby Atmos music tracks can also be accessed through other streaming music subscriptions, like Tidal and Amazon HD.There’s not much that Apple makes that I don’t own. Apple Music has partnered with Dolby Atmos to provide its subscribers with surround sound music. Access to Surround Sound MusicĪpple’s Spatial Audio plays tracks in surround sound format, primarily using Dolby Atmos. Many also indicated that it doesn’t work well with audio tracks that have been heavily processed. Some audiophiles are quick to point out the difference in the quality of sounds between the two technologies, while others happily noted that some tracks played on Spatialize Stereo are even better than Dolby Atmos tracks. On the other hand, Spatial Stereo uses Apple’s software magic to transform regular stereo audio into a better listening experience Tracks available in Spatial Audio use Dolby Atmos, an audio format that requires sophisticated hardware and software to record and mix. Spatial Audio is available for devices running iOS and iPadOS 14.6 or macOS Big Sur, while Spatialize Stereo is only available for devices running on iOS 15. Now, let’s look at some differences between Spatial Audio and Spatialize Stereo.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |