New sound immersion processes

All HT is really kind of a mess. The vast majority of buyers of TV’s and music still want zero more speakers or 2. The number of speakers required, extra hardware, wiring, etc. makes it a very unappealing add-in for most homeowners.

I mean, yeah, I have a HT receiver and an integrated in my living room, but of my neighbors 100% of the rest of them have just a TV with TV speakers built in and some portable Bluetooth speakers.

We’ve been through this before with Dolby Pro Logic. There was a rush to convert brands from stereo to 100% HT which ended up being the wrong way to go.  It also became prohibitively expensive, I suspect due to the HDMI licensing and copy protection issues, though HDMI came after HT.  It seems to have paralyzed Theta Digital for a few years.

Don’t get me wrong, I love HT and it’s technology for movies but in terms of 5.1 or more speakers it is an absolutely niche market compared to 2 channel music systems.

@erik_squires 

Atmos sounds fine through two speakers, I don't see why you can't have both? I have a very nice DAC for streaming stereo, I can upmix to Dolby Surround if I want.

I have a very nice processor for Atmos, I can play Atmos mix through two speakers if I want.

BTW, the most immersive system I ever had was a 5.1 and what made it sound like you were absolutely engulfed in the sound field wasn't more speakers but ceiling treatment.

+1 on ceiling treatment, look at the pics in my virtual system, I have absorbers in the front. a combo diffuser/bass trap above the MLP, and an acoustic "cloud" near the back.

I think the adoption of immersive audio formats is tightly linked to the effect of critical mass. Critical mass of records. Critical mass of gear.

Indeed, listening to a well-mixed Dolby Atmos record through an audio system built to Dolby specs is very pleasant, and in some ways superior to stereo experience on any system imaginable. Like Sergeant Pepper's I once heard at Dolby headquarters.

Still, even though I have a decent Dolby Atmos system at home, most of records I like listening to are still in stereo, and most of those are not likely to ever be remixed.

I tend to think that online audio suppressed the timely adoption of physical multi-channel audio media, such as SACD. Just when SACD hobby were becoming interesting, the ability to listen to almost any stereo-recorded music mankind ever produced, for a reasonable fee, overrode the enjoyment derived from a limited selection of SACD records.