NEWS: Tidal brings Dolby Atmos Music to home cinema setups

Be interested to try this but I'm with Qobuz. Qobuz also aren't on fire TV or Apple TV either I think. Hopefully soon.
 
Sadly this won’t appeal to the masses in the least, who probably think they’re enjoying the full benefits of Atmos through their single smart speaker in the kitchen or through their laptop that has a DolbyAtmos sticker on it.

However, for those on this forum at least, it’s a very interesting prospect. The multichannel music I have is awesome, so the possibility of there being much more content available sounds great. One or two caveats and questions though.

I have a pre-Atmos AV receiver, so when I encounter Blurays for example that are encoded in Dolby Atmos, I can still listen to them due to the 7.1 ‘layer’ on the disc. I don‘t have to select the non-HD Dolby Digital option on the disc just to get a sound out of it. OK I don’t get height channels, but then I don’t have height speakers, and I still get to enjoy full-fat HD 7.1.

But discs have a far greater bitrate capacity than streaming typically does, so my first question would be whether I would hear anything at all through my 7.1 AV receiver or whether Atmos streaming has the same 7.1 layer underneath as a disc?

My other main observation is that to enjoy multichannel Atmos Music on Tidal (as opposed to he headphone variety), you seem to need a display turned on to operate it. That’s a shame, I would have liked to have streamed Atmos music without having my projector switched on; simply operating it on my iPad app through a streamer. But counteracting that, there aren’t many (or any?) music only streamers that have a multichannel HDMI audio only output, so I guess with current hardware options, that’s the only way they could do it. Although I know with my Roku I can operate it using an app, so technically I don’t need to switch on my display to navigate my way around it. Would that apply to Apple TV and Fire Stick?

Would love to hear comments from those who are enjoying it through compatible hardware and what their impressions are. As with all music, much will depend on the mastering and mixing.

One of my favourite genres of music is Original Motion Picture Soundtracks. It’s struck me for years that it’s been a shame that listening to the soundtrack, purely from the audio point of view, that I could never get close to the DTS-HD 7.1 experience that I heard the same movie on.

Wouldn’t it be great to hear the Original Motion Picture Soundtracks like Inception, Interstellar, First Man, The Martian, The Village, 1917, LaLa Land, Star Wars etc etc in the 7.1 they must have been mixed in for the film, but just without the dialogue and Jar Jar Binks getting in the way!
 
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Your point about single speaker Atmos labels is well made. Dolby are treading a fine line between Atmos brand recognition and brand debasement by allowing it nearly everywhere. I've got a Denon X-2300w in 5.1.2 with the 2 being upfiring so I'd love to try this. I think automatic for the people was reissued in Atmos so I'd like to hear that in particular.

I use the upmixer on my Beatles 1+ blu ray and it sounds terrific as an example. No reason streaming can't sound good too.
 
@dmk1198 I wonder is it still so expensive! Still if it's something I really like I don't mind paying. I had Tidal but switched to qobuz as it's straightforward hi Res without MQA and its limitations.

I stream from a Lindemann Limetree network streamer and convert the Hi Res to DSD256 on the fly and to me it sounds like vinyl but that's only my opinion and perhaps for another day.

Good luck to the Tidal subscribers, I hope it'll be enjoyable listening for you.
 
I've never subscribed to Tidal, but would be interested in this, providing it will work with my Atmos receiver ?? I do not have the TV's listed....or anything that's listed actually.
I have two physical Atmos discs, Hans Zimmer, which is excellent & INXS disc, which is not so good....i've always collected multi channel SACD / DVD-A which for me is the way to listen to music, all music should have been produced in this format, but as so often, new formats don't always take off with the wider population.
 
I am struggling to get this to work at the moment annoyingly. I have a version 2 Firestick plugged into my LG B7 Oled which is connected to my AVR via ARC. The Tidal app seems to show the Dolby signature for the relevant tunes but when I try and play a song it just says ‘playing in stereo - this device is not capable of playing Dolby Atmos content’
 
Arc won't pass on the signal plug firestick direct into amp
 
@dmk1198 I wonder is it still so expensive! Still if it's something I really like I don't mind paying. I had Tidal but switched to qobuz as it's straightforward hi Res without MQA and its limitations.

I stream from a Lindemann Limetree network streamer and convert the Hi Res to DSD256 on the fly and to me it sounds like vinyl but that's only my opinion and perhaps for another day.

Good luck to the Tidal subscribers, I hope it'll be enjoyable listening for you.
Yes I've been very impressed with quboz
Lots of cd flac as well as hi Res thou
Similar to tidal in that respect but sounds better to me, I'm using roon on my Mac and going thru oppo 203 controlled by my phone
 
Nice set up. I believe Qobuz has reduced in price in other countries due to certain agreements reached with record companies so hopefully that'll happen in this part of the world also.

However, it's still good value in my opinion. My set up makes a good fist of the 16/.44.1 stuff too. Jazz is also very well served by Qobuz which also swayed me to it.
 
sods law I just disconnected my arcam av amp to go 2 channel during lockdown lol enjoying my music with my naim sx2
 
Haha typical! I occasionally use upnp to play Qobuz out through my Denon but mostly it's through the limetree connected to my stereo Yamaha RN301. If Atmos music takes off and it sounds good at least I've the option to try it. Today of course is new release day on Qobuz 😊
 
Arc won't pass on the signal plug firestick direct into amp
Arc does pass the Dolby Atmos signal from built in apps (Netflix etc) so I would have thought that would work. Has anyone got this working with a Firestick?
 
@Stevie25b I presume your amp and speaker setup support Atmos? If so perhaps you'd need a firestick 4k for the job.
Yes, I have an Atmos AVR and a 5.1.2 speaker system. Works well for movies and Netflix etc but I really like the idea of Atmos Music. I was surprised when the guidance said that this would work using a v2 Firestick but it does say it should be compatible.
By the way, I also have Nvidia Shield (the older version) and a Bluesound Node 2i which I would have thought would be the ideal way to stream this but neither are compatible nor are LG TVs for the moment. Perhaps I need to wait or buy the 4K stock as you suggest.
 
Yeah you've got great equipment there. If it is the firestick that's the issue at least the 4k one is cheap and is fairly regularly on sale. Fair play to Tidal for getting in to this and for having an app for the firestick etc.
 
Been using Tidal for more than a year. Quality is first rate. Sadly don't have an audio gear and still hunting for a good soundbar that ticks my boxes so that I can enjoy Atmos sound.

Anyone who has Hans Zimmer Live In Prague Blu-ray will know what I am talking about.
 
Got this working via my Apple TV connected to my Denon Amp which is Atmos compatible. The sound is really low so have to turn the volume up a lot to hear it properly but some of the tracks sound excellent.
Be good to not have to have the tv on while playing a track as I have an LG oled and dont want static screens on if I can help it.
Also be great to have soundtracks available in this format so looking forward to more support of this format.
 
Got this working via my Apple TV connected to my Denon Amp which is Atmos compatible. The sound is really low so have to turn the volume up a lot to hear it properly but some of the tracks sound excellent.
Be good to not have to have the tv on while playing a track as I have an LG oled and dont want static screens on if I can help it.
Also be great to have soundtracks available in this format so looking forward to more support of this format.
Like you I have an Apple TV 4k and an Oled so I'd have the same concerns as you. I checked the app store yesterday for Qobuz but alas still no app!

Great to know the concept itself is a good one. Enjoy!
 
Got this working via my Apple TV connected to my Denon Amp which is Atmos compatible. The sound is really low so have to turn the volume up a lot to hear it properly but some of the tracks sound excellent.
Be good to not have to have the tv on while playing a track as I have an LG oled and dont want static screens on if I can help it.
Also be great to have soundtracks available in this format so looking forward to more support of this format.
Yeah definitely this.... Had to turn my amp up quite a bit. There seems to be quite a lot of atmos playlist etc....not had chance to listen yet. I'll report back when I've had a listen.
 
Yeah got it working on my atv 4k , no sign of any Atmos content on the TV app or firestick 4k app.
 
Yeah got it working on my atv 4k , no sign of any Atmos content on the TV app or firestick 4k app.
Just reached the end of my 5 month promotion from Tidal for £5, i have been unlucky with testing Dolby Atmos Music during that time. First my Android Phone died the same day the promotion started. Dolby Atmos Music was not supported on My Apple Phone, and I could not get to work on AppleTV 4K, Nvidia Shield 2017, And FireStick 4K. I tried all those devices today before the subscription stopped and non of them worked. I am glad you got it working. i will try and find another promotion and try again.
 

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