I was excited about Atmos music at first but quickly cooled. I would like music mixes for 5 or 7 channels arrayed across the front, not surround sound. I don't care about height channels. They can throw those in if they want. The Atmos mixes I've heard were kind of nice in some ways but they're not doing what I'd really like. The potential is there but it's not going to happen just to suit my tastes. They often don't even use the center channel for center panned vocals or instruments, or if they do, they mix it in weakly, using the left and right front channel to create a traditional phantom center image, maybe slightly augmented by the center. I know some people like that better but I say what's the point? If I'm stuck with a phantom center image again I'll just as soon go back to 2 speakers for simplicity and practically the same sound. I'm not concerned about bit perfect. I've tested myself and found that digital volume control and other DSP like oversampling or converting bit depth and sample rate work just fine for me. Whatever they degrade isn't what I'm listening for. I hear inter aural cross talk problems much louder than any issue with digital. Maybe some day AI tech will allow spectacular sounding on-the-fly up-mixes of 2 channel recordings to suit my tastes.
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My point in the comparison was not that they were similar technically, or even that they achieved similar goals, so of course MQA and Atmos are not comparable in those ways. It was in the dimension of marketing innovation that these two brands look similar to me. To my mind, both MQA and Atmos music create an answer for a problem that doesn’t exist. They are furhter similar in that at a very high level both these brands interjecting new technology in an old reproduction chain. Atmos music may be profoundly different in technology than that was available 10 years ago, but it’s driving over old roads first attemtped by Yamaha and others which never went far. Will Atmos music succeed anymore than music DVD or Bluray? I have a poor track record of making predictions but it will surprise me. |
create an answer for a problem that doesn’t exist. It doesn’t exist for you because you took 30 years and $$$ to build a SOA system, simple. You are extremely happy, NP. The problem for me was I didn’t want to spend that much for 2 channel music only. I wanted one system for everything. Now the problem for the industry, how do you get gen x and z to upgrade from their ear buds? I use an x-box as my atmos source and guess who else does: Following the onset of Covid-19, activity on digital campfire platforms exploded, especially among Gen Z audiences, roughly defined as those born after 1997 or between the ages of nine and 24 today. In fact, the biggest cultural moments to capture the attention of young audiences in 2020 happened on digital campfire platforms, not traditional social ones:
It’s no accident that many digital campfires are either games or platforms that began as gathering places for gamers. Gaming has spilled over into the broader culture in recent years. Today, “gaming” is not just for “gamers” — it represents a new paradigm for interacting online.
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I don’t see why the bee got in your bonnet on this one. OK, you made your point, you don’t think Atmos will succeed with the general public. Most of the general public is happy with earbuds and sound bars. You win. |
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