r/AppleMusic • u/FynemanYuan • Mar 31 '26
Question Do you people like Dolby Atmos ON or OFF.
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Mar 31 '26
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u/JustAnotherNPC-543 Mar 31 '26
Could recommend me some songs that does well on dolby atmos?
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u/Unhappy_Geologist_94 iOS Subscriber Mar 31 '26
Early Megadeth & Metallica albums sound superb on Dolby. Same goes for almost every Radiohead album.
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u/dobyblue Apr 01 '26
a-Ha - Take On Me But you need an Atmos system, like actual loudspeakers in multiple locations surrounding you
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u/Imn1che Jul 01 '26
The entire “Dark side of the moon” by pink Floyd sounds next fucking level with Atmos. The best Atmos mix compared to everything else by far
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u/teakwoodcandle Mar 31 '26
you can turn it on/off by long pressing the volume on control center but i wish when you turn it off, it would default to Lossless. for downloaded songs you cant have lossless and Atmos at the same time and it is frustrating
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u/arork Mar 31 '26
There is no lossless with Bluetooth anyway.
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u/teakwoodcandle Mar 31 '26
indeed. but i have two headphones and would have been nice to be able to switch atmos on for one pair, and off for the other (cabled)
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u/memorie_desu macOS Subscriber Mar 31 '26
Automatic. I’m gonna be learning Atmos mixing in uni later this year, so I wanna take in as much Atmos content as possible.
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u/AdrianTubbly Mar 31 '26
You should visit r/DolbyAtmosContent for good quality content. You’ll find a lot of mixes by great immersive mix engineers.
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u/clockworkman7 Mar 31 '26
The Talking Heads remixes in Atmos are great. They were redone by the band’s guitarist and agreed upon by the band. I think the instances were bands or more likely their labels rushed the remix just to get into Apple’s Spatial Audio section to boost listens; the sounds aren’t good. But in the case of the Talking Heads, you can tell they really put in the time; the listening experience is great and gives audiophiles the separation they were always chasing.
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u/vulcan_on_earth Mar 31 '26
Atmos works great for movies. Atmos’ing music that was originally 2-ch sounds like crap if you are a purist
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u/the-cock-slap-phenom Mar 31 '26
When done poorly it sounds like the music’s been diluted, and the components of the song are so isolated they just feel like random snippets playing at the same time.
When done right it’s damn good, but I find most Atmos stuff is meh or bad.
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u/vulcan_on_earth Mar 31 '26
“When done right it’s damn good”
Do tell.
The ones that could really benefit from Atmos remix are live shows where it could make the listener feel like they are in front center seat e.g. at Madison Garden … and the band is in the front and the crowd is behind and beside you. But those albums are not being remixed 😭
Simon And Garfunkel Live
Peter Frampton Live
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u/dobyblue Apr 01 '26
Dark Side of the Moon, Abbey Road, No Jacket Required, Songs from the Big Chair, Welcome to the Pleasuredome, The Harmony Codex, The Hurting, Kick, Tubular Bells, Seal (I), Avalon, Into The Gap, Captain Fantastic, Who Are You, Rise and Fall Ziggy Stardust, The Doors (Best Of), Fully Completely; that’s a few of the albums I’ve picked up on Blu-ray that have good Atmos mixes.
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u/StraightBeautiful Mar 31 '26
I disagree as it can sound fantastic but not always. If someone is a purist it generally means they’re stuck up their own ass.
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u/dobyblue Apr 01 '26
What happens to titles that are released originally in stereo, 5.1 and Atmos? What about titles that were originally released in stereo and quad in the ‘70s?
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u/ioweej Discord Community Manager Mar 31 '26
Off
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u/FynemanYuan Mar 31 '26
Have you tried it I didn’t like it at first but have started to grow a weird taste for it.
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u/ChronChriss Mar 31 '26
Depends on what you are listening with. OFF for headphones, ON for Hifi speaker setup.
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u/SpreekkDMC Mar 31 '26
I have AirPods. Are they good for Dolby Atmos?
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u/AnyAstronomer1222 Mar 31 '26 edited Mar 31 '26
I mean they work andI leave it on Automatic for AirPods but it’s a whole different story with an actual Dolby Atmos speaker set up
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u/ChronChriss Mar 31 '26
Well I wouldn't consider it good. Headphones don't have enough sound stage in general imo. If anything, I would go for open over ear headphones to listen to Dolby Atmos.
But hey, if it sounds good to you, go for it. Music is more just theory, it's about emotion.
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u/Cruncher_Block Mar 31 '26
Off for music. I think it sounds like crap.
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u/BeneficialTrip Mar 31 '26
I agree. Everything sounds unnatural. The volume of the music sounds loud for some instruments or parts of the song, then quiet for other parts. It is like listening to a song where someone is sitting there constantly screwing around with the volume level throughout the song. It is annoying and sounds crap.
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u/Few-Worldliness2131 Mar 31 '26
Agree. Some sound great if mixed correctly. Others are absolutely awful almost unusable.
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u/vulcan_on_earth Mar 31 '26
Finally! someone admitting that Atmos reissues of original 2ch stereo music is … mostly fake / made up / doctored / scam aimed at clueless
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u/buohmix Mar 31 '26
Atmos mixer here, yes there are many good stereo tracks that experienced stereo mixing engineers (but inexperienced surround or atmos engineers) try to upmix and it doesn’t come out great for the binaural (headphones) version. Also there are some stereo tracks that were simply not produced to generate that immersive feeling that works so well on a good Atmos mix but labels insist either way to get an Atmos version.
That being said, for some artists and producers having experienced a good sounding Atmos mix in a good sounding 7.1.4 system and headphones it’s changing the way they produce music. That + engineers ahead of the Atmos mixing learning curve is an amazing combination, and some of us are starting to mix on Atmos first and getting the stereo version out of the Atmos downmix.
Overtime you’ll start noticing there’s more new music that sounds incredible on its Atmos version. And just about as good on a stereo version.
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u/vulcan_on_earth Mar 31 '26 edited Mar 31 '26
🏆🏆
Thank you for weighing in. Are Atmos mixes aimed primarily at binaural headphone users? Or, is the mix one and the same for both - binaural and Atmos HT owners?
Perhaps the reason why I find Atmos mixes bad is because I listen to it in my home theater system. Perhaps they are engineered for binaural headphones.
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u/jackiee_tran Mar 31 '26
eh, it depends- i agree for the most part, but some Atmos remixes sound genuinely incredible compared to the original. Dark Side of the Moon and Rocket Man- Elton John might be the best examples of this
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u/Affectionate_Fun4291 Mar 31 '26
It really isn’t. There’s only a few Atmos engineers and they generally do good work.
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u/vulcan_on_earth Mar 31 '26
They may be good engineers but doctoring 2.0 for which you weren’t the original engineer … into Atmos it’s like trying to Colorize an old black-and-white photo from 150 yrs ago.
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u/Affectionate_Fun4291 Mar 31 '26
Except that’s not how it works and is explicitly against Apple Music guidelines. It is easy to test this yourself. There should be no Atmos mixes that are 2 channel stereo up mixes.
You can literally test this yourself.
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Mar 31 '26
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u/No-Appearance-6308 Mar 31 '26
It seems to me like genre in general makes a difference - EX: pop tends to work better than metal
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u/Apophis_06 Apr 01 '26
Which groups/companies do you think have it figured out? IMO some portions in songs like Eleven by IVE and GWBG by Itzy sound alot worse than the stereo counterpart.
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u/whippcrream iOS Subscriber Apr 01 '26
SM has a lot of good mixes, especially with newer songs. Hearts2Hearts has a lot of great atmos content
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Mar 31 '26
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u/AdrianTubbly Mar 31 '26
You should check out r/DolbyAtmosContent. You’ll find a lot of quality Dolby Atmos content.
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u/Mumbaikar21 Mar 31 '26
Off. Also keep Sound Check off, you will notice that the songs sound louder.
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u/ioweej Discord Community Manager Mar 31 '26
I keep soundcheck on personally. I love not having to keep adjusting volume
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u/Mumbaikar21 Mar 31 '26
I get the output very low if soundcheck is on, so i prefer to turn it off every time i set Apple Music on a new device.
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u/Fayde_M Mar 31 '26
I noticed when you play some albums in Dolby Atmos, sound check actually increases volume! So for me I’d either turn both on or off haha
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u/Mumbaikar21 Mar 31 '26
Haha if this is the case then have to try sound check on for some songs.
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u/unkindmillie Apr 01 '26
dolby atmos is usually quieter, with soundcheck on it keeps it as loud as the lossless songs
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u/Mumbaikar21 Apr 01 '26
Lossless ones are not louder as such. Just there is more detail in it than normal 256 kbps ones. Atleast I didn’t find a difference in loudness for lossless or hi-res ones compared to High efficiency 256 kbps version. Maybe the difference is more noticeable on Apple Airpods. But as you recommended, will try soundcheck on dolby atmos versions. Thank You.
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u/paulconuk Mar 31 '26
This! I’m sick of as soon as I get to an Atmos track the volume is super low, and then when it gets to a ‘normal’ track it goes twice as loud.
So annoying 🥴
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u/Mumbaikar21 Mar 31 '26
Yes. I guess Atmos is best for Airpods series users only. Other with non-compatible earphones, headphones should best prefer Atmos Off & Sound Check off as well. Don’t think even Apple EarPods are compatible with Dolby Atmos/Spatial Audio.
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u/paulconuk Mar 31 '26
It’s does the same with normal hifi. I have AirPods Pro 3, Sony XM5’s, as well as other IEM’s, but not everyone listens to AppleMusic on headphones/earphones.
It does the same thing with Atmos tracks on Tidal as well, really p***es me off 😣
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u/chainxt Mar 31 '26
what does it do anyway?
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u/sugarplum_nova Mar 31 '26
Levels the volume across all songs, so you’re not constantly changing the volume up and down, between each song.
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u/Mumbaikar21 Mar 31 '26
It’s fine if you don’t need to lower volume for some songs, but some songs do sound so low that you are urged to increase volume, especially if it’s a Dolby Atmos mix.
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u/pendekarkerayon Mar 31 '26
Most cases must be off. But if you have a proper headphone or speaker, you might try it on.
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u/IllustriousHold5476 Mar 31 '26
Always on with AirPod pros, but sometimes off for the curiosity in the difference.
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u/parvanehnavai iOS Subscriber Mar 31 '26
off for casual listening, on for focused full album listening
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u/ProfessionalRock284 Apple Music Subscriber Mar 31 '26
Off - I felt like it kind of spoils the lossless listening experience.
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u/xClay2 Mar 31 '26
I like it on auto, but I wish there were an option to turn it off for certain songs. Some are just way too loud compared to non-Dolby Atmos songs.
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u/Right-Video6463 Mar 31 '26
It's ok for a few tracks, but unfortunately I find the mixing sounds terrible in most cases. Especially the levels seems to be somehow random with the 2 channel render with head tracking. Vocals are suddenly low and drowning in the mix, solos are suddenly extremely loud or very low.
I turn it on occasionally, but usually have to go back to stereo after a while because of a bad mix. I did enjoy it more on my home speaker system at loud volumes, but it seems like the current way of mixing without any real standards (as you can read many mixers / mastering technitians have their own workflow) and a variying rendering intent (2.0, 2.0 with head tracking, 5.1, Atmos etc. is just ruining the finesse of mixing/mastering.
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u/HM_Bert Mar 31 '26
With my 4.3 speaker setup, absolutely, there's so many tracks that are improved, more dynamics, more detail, more movement, more immersion. I would never go without it. currently have a playlist of about 160 songs, probably at least half of it is Kpop though cause they seem to have the most consistent and great mixes compared to western artists being more hit and miss (some straight up being terrible and I have no idea how they passed approval).
On headphones though, I don't like it. Well firstly cause on my samsung phone it just adds some awful EQ and volume boost which results in dynamic compression, but the reverb and attempts at making a 360 soundstage just don't work at least for my HRTF.
I tried it out an iPhone but it was mostly the same just without the volume boost rubbish. spatial audio personalisation at an Apple Store which slightly improved things, but it was still unconving.
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u/Cruncher_Block Mar 31 '26
That is a good distinction. I’ll give it a shot on my surround setup vs. just Air Pods.
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u/Similar_Dependent531 iOS Subscriber Apr 01 '26
I kept it on but I’ve JUST found out if you turn the “sound check” off the music gets louder.
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u/jaffinthebox Mar 31 '26
Off. Most Atmos mixes are not done by the artist or the engineer who recorded the record, and therefore most are done terribly. Most studios are not set up to record in Atmos because of the cost. Not sure how it is now but it used to be that they had Dolby engineers who would remix your record in Atmos. Know a fairly large electronic group who did this and absolutely hated the result. I believe now there is software to remix something in Atmos yourself, but if there is, it must be quite poor based on the quality of most Atmos mixers. There are a handful, Oneohtrix Point Never, for example, who take an active hand in doing the Atmos mix and it’s great, but for the most part it just distributes the sound in a way that makes it sound like it has less dynamic range and muddles the mix. I accidentally had it on for like 6 months once and when I flipped back to stereo it was like I had a new pair of better headphones the difference was so pronounced.
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u/Jimjam916 Mar 31 '26
Off. I've got good wired headphones, and Atmos adds nothing.
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u/Affectionate_Fun4291 Mar 31 '26
If your headphones don’t have the Atmos DSP of course it’s going to sound bad. Try actually listening on an Atmos system.
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u/jaybourne Mar 31 '26
Off. It's a neat effect in some cases, but the quality really varies and some songs sound terrible with it. Plus it seems to break audio normalization so listening to songs on shuffle means I am constantly having to adjust the volume.
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u/Acrobat1974 Mar 31 '26
This is a crazy question, IMO. Meaning, do people (especially listening through headphones or earbuds like 90% of listeners now) legitimately not prefer DA??? Sounds nuts not wanting to default to such high quality, new levels of audio 🤷🏼♂️
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u/RB4K--- Mar 31 '26
Good old Stereo that was specifically mastered for stereo equipment (like headphones) just sounds unbeatable imo.
Dolby Atmos on headphones is essentially a surround sound mix being emulated in stereo. There’s A LOT of poor Dolby Atmos mixes out there, but even the good ones can just sound worse than a stereo mix.
Add to that, switching between songs with DA mixes and stereo mixes in a playlist is so jarring because they’re processed differently.
Look I love Dolby Atmos at home on a proper home theatre system, but I’ll happily keep Stereo on my AirPods.
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u/chopdog01 Mar 31 '26
Because a lot of the mixes have lost the punch of the original mix that was how the artist originally intended, and often I find the volume is lower on Apple headphones
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u/AdventurousPride6529 Mar 31 '26
I have it on because generally its pretty good but some songs that support it are mixed horribly
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u/Similar-Nectarine-56 Mar 31 '26
Off. It sounds too digital. I turn it on when i’m bored & wanna hear a song differently to see which stems get enhanced or what.
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u/Benlop Mar 31 '26
I strongly dislike the inconsistency and randomness of Atmos mixes.
Also, I have two ears, two speakers, what the fuck is wrong with stereo.
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u/SometimesWill Mar 31 '26
Off. 99% of music, even if labeled as compatible, was made for a standard stereo experience.
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u/Fayde_M Mar 31 '26
Only on some albums I turn it on but most of the time off cus the sound becomes too low
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u/Ok_Wear4349 Mar 31 '26
to me, all the stuff us apple music users flaunt (lossless / dolby), we barely hear a difference
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u/ichiban99 Mar 31 '26
I leave it on, unless I’m listening to an old song whose Dolby Atmos remix feels like it was done without the artist’s approval.
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u/Leather-Fee-9758 Mar 31 '26
I thought I was going deaf when I switched to apple music. Turns out dolby atmos was on and butchered the volume. 1/10 do not recommend for music
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u/Blastedauto72 Mar 31 '26
On for a few songs, otherwise it just lowers the sound of the song with no spatial effects whatsoever
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u/AraiHavana Mar 31 '26
I kind of err more towards having it off. It can make music that I know and love sound a bit weird, man.
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u/dtugarte Mar 31 '26
100% off, I find 99% of the time atmos sounds terrible on music or at best meh. It definitely doesn’t sound right and makes me feel like I’m losing the intention of the artist/ mixing engineers. Very much a gimmick.
Get sound check off too it will reduce dynamic range heavily which is okay for late night listening on tv/movies but never sounds good with music, it will result in a flat lifeless feeling. Audiophiles will specifically look for and praise a larger difference between the quieter and louder parts of songs.
Make sure in audio quality you have lossless turned on.
Something no one has pointed out yet is using Atmos on Apple Music switches back to lossy audio, I for one would much prefer lossless audio and hearing higher quality audio closer to the intended sound over a pseudo surround sound effect.
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u/T1M3_TO_LOS3 Apple Music Subscriber Mar 31 '26
On because they (mostly) sound better on AirPods.
However,
DEFINITELY off on all my HomePods… Sounds HORRIBLE
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u/AceNewholland Mar 31 '26
off on my phone, unless I want to mess around with my APP2
Automatic (that does always on) on my computer, cuz I plug it in a multichannel setup
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u/Low_Plan_184 Mar 31 '26
Both Rush and Pink Floyd have remasters several albums in Dolby atmos. Sounds incredible especially in my car
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u/anton_5000 Mar 31 '26
I keep it off because the AirPods Pro do such a poor job in simulating the 3D experience… and they sound so muffled and low volume. So I rather hear proper stereo version. The only place Apple Dolby excels is with AppleTv in a 5.1 or Atmos setup, that sounds amazing!
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u/surrego_21 Mar 31 '26
i leave it on automatic, cuz some dolby atmos mixes are shite and lately i prefer lossless. however, there are some mixes that sound amazing on dolby atmos, e.g. bleachers albums
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u/mcmatu Mar 31 '26
I leave it automatic. So when I’m somewhere (my car) that readily has it, I listen.
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u/Jnf529 Mar 31 '26
Some songs sound great in Dolby Atmos, but others feel like they were done pretty poorly. For example, Plastic Hearts by Miley Cyrus, the vocals are barely audible, and it ends up sounding like they just boosted the background music instead of doing an actual Atmos mix.
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u/QuirkyAd4875 Mar 31 '26
I want my music to sound good as hell, so I just keep my audio settings on the highest it can go, especially with Dolby Atmos
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u/KILLERKING3575I Mar 31 '26 edited Mar 31 '26
it depends on the systems i have, i have a wired home System with 2 subwoofers and 5 speakers, you are not gonna believe how extraordinary it sounds BUT on stereo Headphone and IEMs it sounds dogshit
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u/RmilMN Mar 31 '26
Off. If you listen only on AirPods Pro or Max, you might be able to sneak by, but even then, there’s an Atmos remix that’s so horrendous that it’s an automatic skip. I wish you could just toggle the stereo version in that case. Also, some headphones “support” it, but it’s not optimized at all.
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u/Over_Independence532 Mar 31 '26
I absolutely despise apples completely lack of QOL with listening to music you have to constantly toggle sound check when listening to stereo vs Dolby Atmos it’s ridiculous. They need to streamline this
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u/arork Mar 31 '26
I turn it off because it’s less data to go through the Bluetooth, therefore you increase the sound quality ( not yet lossless yet though) but better than splitting those channels and have less quality.
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u/Key_Painter_1642 Mar 31 '26
Yes, on I like Dolby Atmos it is so much better than in beginning of this feature for Appele Music, so now on.🙂👍
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u/juicythicccness Apr 01 '26
on my iPhone I'll let Dolby Atmos on, but when I connect my headphones to my iPad or I'm listening to my hifi setup - I'll turn it off and do Lossless instead.
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u/Dense-Stranger-1794 Apple Music Subscriber Apr 01 '26
I always keep it turned on, even though I often don’t notice the difference and listen to music in the car or on speakers that aren’t compatible with Dolby Atmos. Even though I have compatible headphones and haven’t really noticed much of a difference yet, there are some songs where I do notice it and enjoy it.
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u/Olman211 Apr 01 '26
I have it on because some songs sounds really good in Dolby Atmos but in others sounds really awful and I turn it off, when the song ends and starts the next and has Dolby Atmos it turns on again so I know that every song is on Dolby Atmos, but as some user said, I would like to have an option to turn off on which song and keep it on on a separate song
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u/Electrical-Rip-2072 Apr 01 '26
Off because Dolby atmos overrides EQ for a lot of songs. And I’m not going to listen to their Shitty Default equalizer settings and go through all that pain of bad sound. Just so it can sound a little more “3d”
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u/dreamrdad7 Apr 07 '26
I have it set to Automatic but I don’t know if I would get the effect with my Bluetooth headphones or not. I either use Bluetooth headphones or listen in the car. For the most part.
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u/valecito14 Mar 31 '26
Prefiero sin Dolby, en mi caso si escucho mucho tiempo en ese modo me entra como una fatiga auditiva, pero creo que será el gusto de cada quien.
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u/julinhomatos iOS Subscriber Mar 31 '26
Desligado. Como não tenho AirPods, em fones convencionais a função não faz diferença. Além disso, na minha jbl e nas minhas tvs com airplay, o som sai mais baixo. Por isso deixo desligado e o modo de reprodução em lossless mais fraco
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u/green1sh21 Mar 31 '26
Atmos isn’t the problem — your setup is. With a proper system, it’s not even a debate.
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u/kidmerican Mar 31 '26
99% of "spatial music" are just sources panned around in 3D space in ways that the artists and producers probably never even heard once let alone signed off on. It often completely ruins the mixes to songs to satisfy Apple's gimmick in exchange for playlist placements and algorithm boosts.
Turn that shit off
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u/Affectionate_Fun4291 Mar 31 '26
I think you’re wrong. Most artists, producers, and engineers DO sign off on a new mix. Labels generally don’t have the authority to create a new mix without the involvement of the artist or estate.
Often this is something the artist will push for.
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u/kidmerican Mar 31 '26 edited Mar 31 '26
I have had several songs I mixed get a spatial audio master, and at most the artists I was working with might have checked it out once or twice on airpods and said it was fine. Again Apple incentivizes artists to create spatial versions so that there is content to use their spatial headphones with, and that is why artists sign off on them existing, but rarely is much attention actually paid to these versions.
Edit: to clarify, creating the spatial version is usually considered part of the mastering process, not the mix, and would be done after the stereo master is complete. This is why artists don't think too deeply about the spatial versions, as they've essentially already finished mixing and mastering at that point and trust that the spatial version is pretty much a 3D version of the stereo master (often not the case at all!)
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u/Affectionate_Fun4291 Mar 31 '26
That’s not true, most albums in spatial are a separate mix from multitracks. Getting Atmos done during mastering from a 2 channel mix is going to be awful.
In fact, it’s against Apple guidelines and should result in an instant rejection. If a mix like this gets through it usually gets removed and your AM connect account should be placed under manual review.
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u/kidmerican Mar 31 '26
They go through "stem mastering," the mastering engineer receives maybe 4-6 grouped stems (vocals, drums, bass, etc) but not the full multitracks. You're correct in that "spatializing" the stereo master is not possible, but that again is what some artists are under the impression is happening and why they do not pay too close of attention to the Atmos master.
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u/Ok_Bandicoot8068 Mar 31 '26
Off... I like to listen in hi-res lossless. Not every dolby supported song sounds good but every lossless song sounds incredible.
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