What is Dolby Atmos?

Author: Chris Hoffman / Source: howtogeek.com

The Apple TV 4K is gaining support for Dolby Atmos surround sound in tvOS 12. Other devices, including the Roku Ultra, Amazon Fire TV with 4K, Xbox One, and even Windows 10 PCs support Dolby Atmos. But what is Atmos?

While other devices support Dolby Atmos sound, the Apple TV 4K will be the only streaming player with support for both Dolby Atmos surround sound and Dolby Vision HDR video.

How Traditional Surround Sound Works

Traditional 7.1 surround sound involves seven speakers plus a subwoofer.

These speakers are placed around your room: front left, front center, front right, subwoofer, left, right, back left, and back right. 5.1 surround sound is similar, but omits the left and right side speakers and just uses front and rear speakers.

When you’re playing a video or any other content source that supports 7.1 surround sound audio, there are actually eight channels of audio being sent to your sound system. These channels are each played through a different speaker. The different sounds coming from different speakers around you produces the surround sound experience.

In other words, 7.1 surround sound content just includes eight separate channels of audio. Each channel is sent to a separate speaker.

What Dolby Atmos Does Differently

Dolby Atmos is a more advanced type of surround sound. Dolby Atmos-enabled audio sources don’t just contain six or eight channels of sound that are sent to your speakers. Instead, sounds are mapped to virtual locations in 3D space. For example, a sound might be mapped above you.

This spatial data is sent to a Dolby Atmos-enabled receiver, which uses specially calibrated speakers to position these sounds in your listening area.

For example, that soudd positioned above your head can be bounced off your ceiling by upwards-facing speakers. Some Dolby Atmos systems may use ceiling-mounted speakers, instead.

In other words, Dolby Atmos sound doesn’t involve just playing several channels of audio. It uses a special receiver with special speakers, and the audio played is positioned in 3D space and carefully calibrated according to your speakers and the acoustics in your room. This results in a more immersive surround sound experience.

This isn’t just for home use. Dolby is also pitching Dolby Atmos in movie theaters for improved surround sound at…

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