Tidal Adds Dolby Atmos Music

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Please don't throw rocks at me. I don't have an Atmos receiver, but I love Surround music and have an extensive collection on disc.
Atmos would just not be practical in my listening room. Plus, all the talk of Apple TV, Firesticks, and all the rest of the technical information here just fries my 70 year old brain.
That being said, I have subscribed to Tidal HI-FI for a couple of years. I've been listening to the Dolby Atmos tracks and in just stereo I think they do sound better than the standard streaming versions. Better fidelity and clarity and it seems to me much less compressed. Am I crazy?
 
Yes you CANNOT daisy chain ATV4k to an Oppo and then to your AVR. Also do not connect ATV4k directly to TV and then daisy chain backwards to the AVR.

ATV4k needs to directly connect to HDMI HDCP 2.2 on your AVR. Also Make sure your Tidal app is updated to May 26, 2020 version otherwise you'll only get 2.0.

Also an optical output would defeat the purpose and you'd only get 2.0 out of optical, Atmos cannot be passed via toslink, due to DRM.
Yes I realise Atmos cannot be passed by Toslink. I was pointing out by example to describe that in Apple TV models 3 and earlier, there was both an HDMI and toslink output allowing you to target video and audio to different devices depending on your setup. Now there is only one HDMI output allowing only one choice. As the Apple TV 4K is primarily a video device, that has to have priority. In all three of my surround setups, connecting the Apple TV 4K to the receiver would result in a poorer video result. The only solution is either two HDMI's or two Apple TV's, which seems overkill. Perhaps an HDMI splitter would work but suspect it would be challenging.
 
Yes I realise Atmos cannot be passed by Toslink. I was pointing out by example to describe that in Apple TV models 3 and earlier, there was both an HDMI and toslink output allowing you to target video and audio to different devices depending on your setup. Now there is only one HDMI output allowing only one choice. As the Apple TV 4K is primarily a video device, that has to have priority. In all three of my surround setups, connecting the Apple TV 4K to the receiver would result in a poorer video result. The only solution is either two HDMI's or two Apple TV's, which seems overkill. Perhaps an HDMI splitter would work but suspect it would be challenging.
I use an HDMI splitter, maybe not the latest HDMI specs though, but it's never given me a bit of trouble.

Edit- strike that, it’s actually a Switcher Sorry!
 
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Noticed an interesting feature today when browsing Tidal from mobile app. They have a separate category for "360 reality audio" with huge list of surround albums with a lot of discs that haven't been released in surround in digital formats. Tried playing those in apple tv but got only stereo sound. In mobile it's playing in 360 sound but that's more distracting than helping. But if all of those albums would be available for proper surround/atmos listening that would be really huge news. Now listening for Aerosmith - Rocks from the list..

Almost all of the albums were from Sony (or RCA/Columbia) catalog unsurprisingly but also a few from other labels as well.
 
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Noticed an interesting feature today when browsing Tidal from mobile app. They have a separate category for "360 reality audio" with huge list of surround albums with a lot of discs that haven't been released in surround in digital formats. Tried playing those in apple tv but got only stereo sound. In mobile it's playing in 360 sound but that's more distracting than helping. But if all of those albums would be available for proper surround/atmos listening that would be really huge news. Now listening for Aerosmith - Rocks from the list..
What is your listening platform? Headphones?
 
I think the main problem with the Fire tv is that they forgot to provide an app update in the app store. I can only download Version 2.25.1 from May 13. I googled a bit and found no indication about a newer app version...

@Krmt , check out the Tidal site about "360 Reality Audio"

Yes this is only an immersive stereo mix. I think it is the same as dolby atmos over headphones. So it would be cool if they provide 360 material as Atmos mixes in the near feature.
The 360 material is only usefull over headphones, because they did the virtualization "at the studios" and it isn't Happening on the phone/player.

@Mesozoic Mike , Dolby Atmos Music in Stereo only makes sense with headphones. My TIDAL tellls me, that i am listening to Master or Hi-Fi if Atmos is not available with my System.

Usefull fact:
For the guys who think atmos over hedasphones is crap: Every ear has his own Head Related Tranfer Funktion (HRTF) (thats the was your head and your ear affect the sound from an soundsourcr next to you.)

The big advantage with atmos is that the signal with its audio objects can be decoded on the cell phone and an HRTF can be put over it. it simulates the situation as if you were sitting in an atmos cinema. the disadvantage with is that only one HRTF is used. hardly fits or not at all. it sounds stupid for personal HRTF. fit them together it sounds great.

Of course, everyone has to decide for his own whether it really sounds better or different.
 
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I've tried with NoxPlayer - an Android emulator for Windows 10 - without success. Connected directly to my AVR HDMI/HDCP2.2... but all I got was a 2.0 output. I'm not going to buy a specific device just to try Atmos on Tidal. Hopefully, they'll fix the Kodi app or they'll extend this capability to the Windows app.
 
So if I had an Atmos compliant receiver but only 5.1 speakers does it play and downsample to 5.1 ?

As far as I know you need at least a 7.1 or a 5.1.2 speaker setup, so that your LS setup is also Atmos compatible, since not only an Atmos compatible AVR is sufficient.

You can easily test this by simply playing a BR with an Atmos track or playing an Atmos trailer and checking the input information on your AVR. If atmos is displayed, it works with 5.1. If only the core audio (DD + or TrueHD) is displayed, Atmos over 5.1 is not possible.

Has anyone got their firestick 4K to work yet?.
No and I think it will only be possible if an app update from 2.25.1 to the next version is available for download ...
 
Listening now with Apple TV 4K. There's a bit of everything in the few time I've got to sample. Riders on the Storm take 10 is amazing, I've never heard it before. There are some discreet and very well done mixes and some other sound like upmixes (lead voice everywhere... will we ever get a good mix for Norah Jones?)
How did you get the information about the song? I can get the information menu on top, but when I click on it nothing happens.
 
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Noticed an interesting feature today when browsing Tidal from mobile app. They have a separate category for "360 reality audio" with huge list of surround albums with a lot of discs that haven't been released in surround in digital formats. Tried playing those in apple tv but got only stereo sound. In mobile it's playing in 360 sound but that's more distracting than helping. But if all of those albums would be available for proper surround/atmos listening that would be really huge news. Now listening for Aerosmith - Rocks from the list..

Almost all of the albums were from Sony (or RCA/Columbia) catalog unsurprisingly but also a few from other labels as well.
That playlist is for headphones only out of certain smartphones like galaxy 10.
 
That playlist is for headphones only out of certain smartphones like galaxy 10.
That explains. I listened these on iPhone and headphones. The list of albums is anyway really nice with a big list of old quad albums, early 2000s Sony sacds and a few recent recordings. Total 170+ surround albums. Again seems like a huge missed opportunity.
 
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