ATMOS?

[BillHATX]

I'm a big fan of the emerging ATMOS music released daily on Amazon HD. Hoping WiiM Pro will find a way to accomodate this.

 

[happywiimer]

It is complex.

When you play Atmos on an iPad for example - this is the binaural mix made for headphones.

When you play Atmos on Fire TV - it is obviously the speaker mix.

Trust me - you don't want to hear the binaural headphones mix on speakers... it is not how it is intended.

So then you might ask WiiM to allow us to choose ? Well there is no streamer on the planet allowing such.

Hence why it is more complex than it looks.

All the above is identical for Apple Music ATMOS playback by the way... and ATMOS on TIDAL also.

So it is better for @WiiM Team to NOT play Atmos through WiiM Mini/Pro at the moment - to avoid people playing binaural mix on stereo speakers, because this is completely wrong and not what the mixing engineer intended.

 

[BillHATX]

I've been chatting with many people on the topic of ATMOS throughput. It is, apparently, the receiving device that governs. The throughput into a device such as my Sony ES AV amplifier via an HDMI from my ROKU ULTRA is decoded as ATMOS.

Given that ROKU ULTRA can incorporate HDMI, the scale is similar to the new WiiM Pro, so it's possible.

PS I'm not sure since ROKU doesn't have optical whether this holds true with optical.

 

[onlyoneme]

SPDIF has no bandwidth even for multichannel DD+ content.

 

[BillHATX]

Thus HDMI. And Pro appears to have the scale to accomodate.

 

[happywiimer]

I've been chatting with many people on the topic of ATMOS throughput. It is, apparently, the receiving device that governs. The throughput into a device such as my Sony ES AV amplifier via an HDMI from my ROKU ULTRA is decoded as ATMOS.

An AVR will always be used with speakers...

Roku ultra has only HDMI output. Just like my Apple TV. These are not used with headphones via HDMI output.

I don't know if your sources are aware of binaural mix (headphones etc) or if you understood my post above in detail. Likely they are not otherwise they would mention this.

I repeat again - binaural mix is not made for speakers (even just 2 channel speakers).

Once you understand this and WiiM Mini is not only used with speaker system - but also headphones users - then you will understand the complexity here...

And until this can be correctly solved (IE - the binaural mix for headphones only, normal speaker mix for speakers) then it is better for @WiiM Team to leave out Atmos for now (not forever)

 

[BillHATX]

You are claiming that binaural output is the sole throughput for ATMOS and my sources say that is not correct. Not sure where your information is coming from but one of my sources is with a major music label. My other source is Sony. They are behind 360 the "other ATMOS". So I'm suggesting that these two confirm what I'm saying.

 

[Brantome]

Might all be a bit moot as the devices which support Amazon's Atmos and Spatial 360 tracks are few in number viz.
"Spatial Audio is an immersive audio format included with Amazon Music Unlimited for playback through the iOS or Android Amazon Music app with any headphones. You can also cast from any source to select smart speakers, such as the Echo Studio, Sony SRS-RA3000, and Sony SRS-RA5000."

What Is Spatial Audio? - Amazon Customer Service

Spatial Audio is an immersive audio format included with Amazon Music Unlimited.

www.amazon.co.uk

You'll notice a lack of even other Amazon Echo devices, so I'd be very surprised if the WiiM Mini/Pro which are implemented under Amazon's MRM architecture will fare any better.

EDIT: I admit the above doesn't mean the WiiM devices couldn't pass the Dolby signal thru to a device which does support it, but I don't know if Amazon Music could deliver a Dolby signal in such a case.

 

[cc_rider]

@WiiM Team, please don't add on a bunch of unnecessary protocols. Keep it lean and mean, two channels and mono are perfect. Even adding MQA is going too far already.

 

[happywiimer]

You are claiming that binaural output is the sole throughput for ATMOS

Not at all. This wouldn't make sense otherwise the binaural mix of same Atmos album would be playing on my Denon AVR.

Ask your studio sources how a WiiM Mini streamer can know whether the user has their streamer in a speaker or headphones setup ?

As I already wrote and repeat again:

An iPad playing Atmos only play's binaural mix. If you connect iPad to USB DAC with speakers it is still binaural mix. Which is wrong.

An Apple TV is always used with speakers.

You are expecting WiiM to solve something nobody has yet, not even Apple.

I don't think your sources are understanding the practical issue - they only thinking theoretical

If WiiM lets the user select headphones or speakers, then it may select correct Atmos. But as I already wrote, until then, better to disable Atmos.

You do not want binaural mix playing on your 2 channel speakers

Anyway im having to repeat everything so I'll stop and exit this thread