Confusion with streaming Dolby Atmos

[mcschan86]

Hello, I'm brand new here and to the higher quality audio territory! I'm actually just catching up with the digital streaming service knowledge from my recent new TV purchase because of its Android TV and Dolby Atmos/Vision tech it markets on. To be honest, I'm now much confused about when I can/cannot/am/am not experiencing Dolby Atmos. Everything does sound quite amusing now because the TV and media content is a big step up from my 12+ year TV.

It opens me up to read into Atmos and expand into Tidal's Atmos, which got me more confused. Can I actually xp Atmos with my setup?

On my laptop,
- Activated Dolby Access' free trial to activate Atmos on the laptop
- Tidal PC App, top level subscription, could access a Atmos playlist but I don't see Dolby logo / Atmos batch on the album cover/next to songs
- Windows does tell me in the little audio taskbar icon that Atmos is activated when I play the songs
- Played on wired headphones: Sony MDR-1R or KEF M500 headphones


On my cell phone,
- Dolby Atmos setting can be activated
- Tidal phone app, could access Atmos playlist with the Dolby logo and batch.
- Played on a HK bluetooth speakers


On the TV w/ Dolby Atmos
- Tidal TV app, could access Atmos playlist with the Dolby logo and batch. I can actually see a lot more Atmos albums here (Why?).
- Played on a at least 12 year old 5.1 speakers setup, only on optical cable from TV to receiver.

Am I actually experiencing the Atmos effect? When I toggled Atmos on and off on the laptop and phone, it does sound more depth with on but the bold text above confused the heck out of me.

If that's not full Atmos effect, could I have xp Atmos effect with my equipment and setup?

 

[bigboss]

You cannot get Atmos on 5.1 speakers, or headphones (unless they're Atmos headphones like JVC XP-EXT1). You need height speakers for Atmos effect. So you'll need, as a minimum, to add a couple of height speakers to your setup for 5.1.2. Also, you'll need an AV receiver that's Atmos enabled. What AV receiver have you got? And what speakers?

Check this: https://www.dolby.com/about/support/guide/dolby-atmos-speaker-setup/

 

[mcschan86]

Thanks for the info. That's what I was referring to about the confusion because Dolby's own site also states that any headphones can have the Atmos effect if the device (laptop/TV) can read Atmos since it is a DSP, afterall.
https://developer.dolby.com/blog/dolby-atmos-for-headphones/

If that's indeed true, then it goes back to my original questions with the bolded text.

Regarding my AV receiver, I actually don't have a receiver. The 5.1 is just a Samsung home theater from 12 years ago. It outputs through its DVD player. The only audio input to the DVD player is the optical cable I used to connect the new TV to the DVD player to output the audio.

 

[bigboss]

Although you can see Atmos label, your output is not Atmos capable. Bandwidth required for Atmos codec is far higher than an optical cable can cope. Stereo headphones outputting Atmos is marketing speak. It is physically impossible to get Atmos from 2 speakers. Yes, it may be able to accept Atmos codec, but I can't see how it can deliver true Atmos sound.

 

[mcschan86]

Makes sense. Thanks for the clarification.