I may have been wrong about Dolby Atmos Music
What's changed with Atmos Music?
Ever since Apple Music supported Dolby Atmos Music, I’ve wanted to like it more than I have. When listening to Atmos mixes with headphones, I’ve found most to be underwhelming. Vocals sound too distant, and some overdo the spatial effect, bouncing too many objects around.
Recently, however, I’ve had much better experiences with Atmos Music thanks to two things:
The Sonos Era 300 - This is the first speaker I’m aware of that was built from the ground up for spatial audio. Apple’s HomePod can also play Atmos tracks, but, to me, they don’t sound nearly as good as they do on the Era 300.
When Sonos announced the Era 300, Giles Martin, the sound experience leader for the company, explained in an interview with The Verge, that a true Spatial Audio experience needs a dedicated forward firing speaker for the mix to sound right. Speakers that are just omni-directional lack the true positioning needed for a great Atmos experience.
A view of the Sonos Era 300's odd shape.
I thought this was just some great marketing talk to sell the Era 300. But after having one for about a month now, I can vouch for the Era 300’s performance with Atmos Music. Many Atmos tracks I’ve listened to sound incredible on this speaker. Tracks sound more dynamic, with more depth as well as a wider soundstage. Most importantly, that frontward firing center tweeter does a lot to make sure the lead vocals of a track aren’t drowned out by other objects in the Atmos Mix.
This is what Sound Engineers see when mixing Atmos. Unlike stereo, Atmos is object-oriented. Each track in a mix is treated as an object that can be moved around in a 3D virtual space, which give music more depth and is more like how it’s experienced live.
Better Atmos Mixes - The Sonos Era 300 wouldn’t impress me as much as it has without better Atmos mixes. Recent releases from artists like Ed Sheeran, Jonas Brothers, Charlie Puth, and, of course, Taylor Swift all sound great on the Era 300 in Atmos. In fact, I like these recent Atmos tracks better than the stereo versions (a sentence I never thought I’d write). If artists and their sound engineers keep mixing Atmos tracks this way, the future for Atmos Music will remain quite bright.
The only thing still holding back Atmos Music is availability. It's still not supported by Spotify or YouTube Music; there’s currently no way to purchase Atmos Music, and it doesn’t work across Google’s Cast or Apple’s AirPlay 2. To play Atmos mixes on the Era 300, for example, you have to use Sonos’ app or Sonos Voice Control.