Apple Music Spatial Audio Engine Update

[PurpleMoustache]

Allegedly, Apple has re-written their Atmos Render engine, both on iOS and, somehow, on tvOS (Apple TV). No official word from Apple, but my understanding is this twitter account is someone familiar with pulling apart firmware updates to find what’s new. I personally am noticing slightly better clarity and positioning on headphones playing one of Jennifer Athena Galatia’s demo albums (the Hubble Deep Field one). Can’t say I have noticed too much of a change on the Apple TV side however.

 

[marcb]

Allegedly, Apple has re-written their Atmos Render engine, both on iOS and, somehow, on tvOS (Apple TV). No official word from Apple, but my understanding is this twitter account is someone familiar with pulling apart firmware updates to find what’s new. I personally am noticing slightly better clarity and positioning on headphones playing one of Jennifer Athena Galatia’s demo albums (the Hubble Deep Field one). Can’t say I have noticed too much of a change on the Apple TV side however.

Doesn't that renderer only affect their headphones spatial audio?

 

[JediJoker]

Doesn't that renderer only affect their headphones spatial audio?

I think there's a terminology mismatch here. The "renderer" would indeed be for binaural headphone listening. I think what was meant was "decoder," since by default, the Apple TV decodes the DD+JOC stream internally and outputs uncompressed audio over HDMI.

 

[marcb]

I think there's a terminology mismatch here. The "renderer" would indeed be for binaural headphone listening. I think what was meant was "decoder," since by default, the Apple TV decodes the DD+JOC stream internally and outputs uncompressed audio over HDMI.

Or it isn't and it means exactly what it says. Which would means the placebo effect might be on full display with non-headphones listeners. I personally haven't had a chance to listen to Atmos with the new update - and won't for a week or so.

 

[humprof]

The renderer affects all modes/all configurations, but I believe the (somewhat vague and ambiguous) language of the newest update implied that it was the headphone renderer that most benefited from this latest round of improvements.

That said: I also want to say that streaming Atmos now sounds sharper on my living room ATV4K/5.1.4 system than it did before, but I've got no objective proof. As @marcb says, it may just be placebo effect or expectation bias.

https://professional.dolby.com/product/dolby-atmos-content-creation/dolby-atmos-renderer/

 

[PurpleMoustache]

Re: Apple updating the Atmos renderer, I just put on Max Richter’s Sleep, an otherwise great mix marred by how Apple handles gapless playback in Atmos.
Jumped to the track Path 3 (7676), as that section is split into many short sections and was marred by pauses and short clicks… from track 1-4 of that section I’ve noticed none of that. Now totally seamless.

 

[marcb]

Re: Apple updating the Atmos renderer, I just put on Max Richter’s Sleep, an otherwise great mix marred by how Apple handles gapless playback in Atmos.
Jumped to the track Path 3 (7676), as that section is split into many short sections and was marred by pauses and short clicks… from track 1-4 of that section I’ve noticed none of that. Now totally seamless.

I don’t believe that would have anything to do with an Atmos renderer (or update to it). The renderer is basically a mixing tool.

 

[Misterbee]

I don’t believe that would have anything to do with an Atmos renderer (or update to it). The renderer is basically a mixing tool.

I try not to pick nits, but something about this statement struck me as off. A little digging led me to this lengthy treatise on mixing for Atmos:

https://www.pro-tools-expert.com/pr...atmos-mix-will-sound-different-on-apple-music
While the writer does take Apple to task over "Spatial Audio", this graph appears to indicate that the Apple Renderer is used for playback, as opposed to mixing:

And while he has plenty to say about how Apple *alters* an Atmos mix, he does include this intriguing caveat:

• The only exception is when playing back Apple Music content on the AppleTV through the HDMI output connected to a Dolby Atmos capable AV receiver or soundbar. In that case, you are listening to the Dolby Renderer and not the Apple Renderer.

YMMV, don't shoot the messenger, etc.