Ever Played a Dolby Atmos Movie with all but overhead speakers muted?

[sl4y3r]

I had 2 speakers lying around, so on a whim I updated my receiver to Auro 3d. No day and night difference between the two except that for music, DTS heavily uses the center channel but Auro 3d uses the front left / right and front height speakers thus making music sound better.

I have to do a bit more movie watching to see the differences for movies but at the outset, I did not find much difference.

I have heard many people, one even in this thread, mention how much Auro3D enhances music. I must experience it sometime on a system capable of this. I personally love the natively DTS encoded albums from Dire Straits, Elton John, Queen, MJ..

 

[Aquarian09]

Are we testing with original 4K/FullHD Bluray Discs or the rips ?

 

[sl4y3r]

Are we testing with original 4K/FullHD Bluray Discs or the rips ?

Rips that are each 20 GB+

 

[sachin.shiva]

please increase Gain or db of atmos ciling speakers for that wow ceiling effect.

 

[sachin.shiva]

My Pioneer AVR mobile app lets me mute individual channels, so (to test) I often play my 5.1.4 setup with just the .4 active and have noticed how much the non-atmos speakers can trick our ears to perceive overhead effects as coming from the atmos channels. To give you an example, I heard Mad Max to be one of the reference movies for Atmos. However, I found it almost dead when I muted all but Atmos channels. (This also could be my rip). Gravity, albeit better than Mad Max, overhead effects are very frequent. BvS was another one where I felt this same level of disappointment.

Jupiter Ascending is one I found very good in my test. Ready Player One too.. and of course Dolby reference trailers. BladeRunner 2049 is great, but it's a lot of score from the Atmos channels as opposed to effects.

Curious if you guys have ever done this test and found the same. Let me know if i need another copy of Mad Max

please increase Gain or db of atmos ciling speakers for that wow ceiling effect.

 

[sl4y3r]

please increase Gain or db of atmos ciling speakers for that wow ceiling effect.

They already at +3

 

[sachin.shiva]

f

They already at +3

Further increase it to +6 via manual setting

 

[Aquarian09]

Rips that are each 20 GB+

did anyone check with original discs ?

 

[ankitbhargava]

Atmos titles like "Our Planet" and "Mowgli" on Netflix shows how OTT streaming can also do a good job with Atmos channels. Not only score music but also the spatial effects.

 

[liverpool_for_life]

But to you suggestion, I do often toggle the heights on/off to see the impact they are making.

What difference do you hear between when the heights are on vs off?

 

[sl4y3r]

What difference do you hear between when the heights are on vs off?

In Movies like Mad Max (opening scene, post the audio on the blank screen with text), no difference. In something like Doctor Sleep..or Jupiter Ascending..a big difference...I even got a new copy of MadMax..still found no much difference

 

[liverpool_for_life]

In Movies like Mad Max (opening scene, post the audio on the blank screen with text), no difference. In something like Doctor Sleep..or Jupiter Ascending..a big difference...I even got a new copy of MadMax..still found no much difference

Hmm. What angles are your ceiling speakers mounted at?

 

[sl4y3r]

Hmm. What angles are your ceiling speakers mounted at?

Hard to tell you the angle..but the tweeters are pointed towards the listeners ear level

 

[liverpool_for_life]

Hard to tell you the angle..but the tweeters are pointed towards the listeners ear level

Dolby has a fairly wide range of recommended angles for the overheads. Might be worth it to see if you’re within spec.
It’s one thing, IMO, to say that you’re disappointed with how much usage the overheads are getting. Quite another to say it makes no difference to the sound. The latter suggests a setup issue.

 

[sl4y3r]

Dolby has a fairly wide range of recommended angles for the overheads. Might be worth it to see if you’re within spec.
It’s one thing, IMO, to say that you’re disappointed with how much usage the overheads are getting. Quite another to say it makes no difference to the sound. The latter suggests a setup issue.

Thanks, I've looked at the spec sheet before setting up the speakers. The point of this thread was not to say im disappointed with Atmos, but more to say that the Mad Max's of the world are not really that great and the stuff that most people rave about is more likely placebo.

Also, its very likely I have missed a really well mixed sequence of the movie, if someone can point me the timestamp, I am happy to test and reconfirm whether it's placebo, or the possibility that my equipment is not doing its job well. I know Dolby advertised quiet a bit about MM when it released, so the latter is possible too.

 

[Aquarian09]

Good to see great pointers about this topic.
So is it concluded that height channels not make much of a difference and I can save money and stop upgrading to ceiling speakers ?
Cheers

 

[Aquarian09]

Also nobody replied about checking the content with original discs, are we sure about talking this topic without checking with original disc ?
I meant continuing this discussion further.

 

[sl4y3r]

Good to see great pointers about this topic.
So is it concluded that height channels not make much of a difference and I can save money and stop upgrading to ceiling speakers ?
Cheers

If you have a capable AVR.. I'd suggest you upgrade, its nice when the mix supports it. But don't expect the same level of immersion that surrounds bring from ceiling speakers, atleast in majority of current content out there.

W.r.t the original disc vs Rips, I don't think it will matter as as the bitrate has not been altered or any other misses in ripping have taken place. If rips were the problem i'd have a problem with movies like Jupiter Ascending and Doctor sleep too.

 

[RajithKumar]

Good to see great pointers about this topic.
So is it concluded that height channels not make much of a difference and I can save money and stop upgrading to ceiling speakers ?
Cheers

It's definitely worth upgrading to Atmos /dts X .The implementation and content matters the most.

 

[RajithKumar]

Also nobody replied about checking the content with original discs, are we sure about talking this topic without checking with original disc ?
I meant continuing this discussion further.

There is no difference unless the rip is a lossy or compressed versions.