@kota1

Great link, thanks.

I’m already looking forward to a trip to the cinema once something catches my interest.

Object based systems such as Dolby Atmos do seem to be a genuine advance over 2 channel recordings when it comes to a convincing representation of spatial sound.

For many audiophiles, a life-like 3d image has always been major goal.

Perhaps the obvious wire issue could be dealt with by some form of Bluetooth connectivity?

Anyway, it’s high time since we had some advance over the work of Alan Blumlein, one of early audio’s great heroes.

"In 1931, Blumlein invented what he called "binaural sound", now known as stereophonic sound. In early 1931, he and his wife were at the cinema.

The sound reproduction systems of the early talkies only had a single set of speakers – the actor might be on one side of the screen, but the voice could come from the other. Blumlein declared to his wife that he had found a way to make the sound follow the actor."

@sdw , congrats on your new receiver. When installing your height channels there is a universal layout that you can use for both atmos and auro. Have you installed height speakers yet?

I have but two ears. I like to listen as though I was at a live performance. Stereo, with the source filling in the soundstage in front of me.

Who goes to a show a is surrounded by musicians? 

@marshinski15 , absolutely true about stereo. Some music is being mixed in Atmos and the engineer is trying to convey the artists intent. If you read the article I linked to above here is how Giles Martin describes it:

We start off with the stereo. I feel immersive audio should be an expansion of the stereo field, in a way. I like the idea of a vinyl record melting and you’re falling into it. That’s the analogy I like to use. And if you have lots and lots of things all around you all the time, it can get slightly irritating and confusing, depending on what the music is.

and then

With Beatles mixes, because we have, I suppose, the money to do it, and the luxury of time, what I and [engineer] Sam Okell tend to do, opposed to using digital effects, is we’ll place speakers back in Studio Two [the Abbey Road space where the Beatles originally recorded]. And we’ll re-record John’s voice in Studio Two, so what you’re hearing are the reflections of the room he’s singing in. It brings the vocal closer to you.

Now this is for a pre-existing stereo mix that is converted to atmos. For music that is being mastered in atmos you have the artist right there and the engineer asks them about their intent. One atmos mix is backward compatible with the speaker setup of the listener, it could be stereo, 5.1, in your car, headphones, etc.

See:

@marshinski15 Back in the day, Pink Floyd placed speakers all over an arena or stadium, and mixed the music accordingly. Anyone who ever attended one of those shows would know how superior the sound was compared to a straight "soundstage in front of me" experience.