Sounds good to me...

Twelve ears are better than two

I did not think I was an audiophile. I was pretty happy trundling along with my regular stereo sound that had been pumping into my ears since I got my first walkman back in nineteen eighty something (Think it was a Sanyo that Dad brought back from Korea along with a suspected bootleg Billy Joel cassette, a seal skin wallet and my first Rolex).

I don’t think mine cost £4995

Not much changed until I was given a set of Apple earbuds a couple of years ago which as it happens are equipped to work with something called “Dolby Atmos”.

Ray Dolby, like a lot of good sounding things, comes from Portland Oregon. Long story short he was a bit bored with the way sound was being delivered in movies and on records so he spent the rest of his life making it better. When he died in 2013 he had completely transformed the way we receive music into our brains and much for the better. George Lucas credits him with transforming the movie industry initially through the pioneering work done together on the first Star Wars movies and ever since the music industry adopted his “Dolby B” system in 1968 it has not looked back.

We all remember this? Would have been a bit boring without the Dolbyness.

I won’t try to explain how it works because fundamentally I don’t really get it, (soz Ray) but like most people I’m very glad it does what it does. However for those more sonically enlightened than I, here is a nice diagram I found showing how the first Dolby system went about it. I for one, sort of understand.

Why am I telling you about mr D? Well the latest innovation from Dolby is “Dolby Atmos” which as Dolby laboratories explain:

“Dolby Atmos has reinvented how entertainment is created and experienced, allowing creatives everywhere to place each sound exactly where they want it to go, for a more realistic and immersive audio experience.

Got it?

So basically instead of just left, right and centre channels of sound there are more, 12 more in fact. At this point I could get bogged down in an explanation I don’t really understand myself so I will summarise by saying that it sounds a lot, lot better than Billy Joel did on my Sanyo. I would describe it as being in the middle of the band instead of at the back of the room. I remember when I bought my first stereo, a very 90’s Technics system from a shop on Tooting Broadway circa 1999. The shop was rammed full of all kinds of stereo systems and the song they chose to help you decide which one was the best for your ears was…Lionel Riche’s All night long - try that on Atmos and it’s like you’re in the middle of a joyful conga train and you’ve totally forgotten about the ham string you snapped on the way to finishing runner up in the limbo.

One way to compare is to listen to a song on Spotify, which does not yet support Atmos, and then pick any other streaming platform and listen to the same song. As long as you have a set of Atmos capable headphones on you will notice a huge difference. Funny how Spotify is the most expensive service, pays the least to artists and offers the lowest quality music.

Sounds like it’s going to be expensive right? The good news is where previously in order to enjoy the full experience you would need 12 finely tuned speakers and a processor from a high end studio. Now most new tv’s and sound bars come with some Dolby Atmos capability, headphones start at £30 and almost all streaming services will offer Dolby Atmos versions if the artist has them….

I’ll try again. Why am I telling you about Dolby Atmos?