Play Dolby Atmos tracks in Surreal Sound Pro

[imran]

So juts to be clear: playing Spatial Audio lossless quality from Apple Music via CarPlay doesn’t give u the same quality as Dolby atoms tracks on the name tidal app ?

How does the quality of CarPlay compare with the native apps in general ? I’ve been quite disappointed.

 

[Raddog]

So juts to be clear: playing Spatial Audio lossless quality from Apple Music via CarPlay doesn’t give u the same quality as Dolby atoms tracks on the name tidal app ?

How does the quality of CarPlay compare with the native apps in general ? I’ve been quite disappointed.

For me, the sound quality seemed better playing from my phone’s Bluetooth or Alexa than through wireless CarPlay. Didn’t try CarPlay wired though.

 

[joec]

So juts to be clear: playing Spatial Audio lossless quality from Apple Music via CarPlay doesn’t give u the same quality as Dolby atoms tracks on the name tidal app ?

How does the quality of CarPlay compare with the native apps in general ? I’ve been quite disappointed.

There is no Spatial Audio via CarPlay. The music app may have Spatial Audio listed for a track, but that only applies when you are listening with Apple's AirPods Pro or AirPods Max. Otherwise, you just get the stereo mix, including through CarPlay.

So yes, Tidal Dolby tracks will sound better in our cars.

Wired CarPlay is better than wireless. But neither is quite as clean as tracks on a USB stick.

I do hope Apple offers better output options (including Dolby Atmos) for CarPlay soon. At that point, our cars should be ready for it.

 

[njg-agt]

... To follow the same logic, your free EA charging, which has a pre-determined value, didn’t start the moment you signed the purchase agreement, it started the day you took delivery. So the same should apply with any other value assigned feature of the car.

Nice in concept, but the example doesn't work... as near as I can tell my EA charging (3yr) agreement runs dry based upon the date the car was paid for, which is about 3-4 weeks earlier than the delivery date...

 

[Bunnylebowski]

Nice in concept, but the example doesn't work... as near as I can tell my EA charging (3yr) agreement runs dry based upon the date the car was paid for, which is about 3-4 weeks earlier than the delivery date...

mine started on delivery date.

 

[Neurio]

Nice in concept, but the example doesn't work... as near as I can tell my EA charging (3yr) agreement runs dry based upon the date the car was paid for, which is about 3-4 weeks earlier than the delivery date...

Email CS. They'll push the date back. I had to have them do that when I got my car because my date was weeks before I actually got the car.

 

[njg-agt]

Email CS. They'll push the date back. I had to have them do that when I got my car because my date was weeks before I actually got the car.

Thanks for the hint... imagine my surprise when I checked the app to see the exact date before emailing them and I find that that date has now been updated to the correct anniversary of the delivery date... I suspect it may have been corrected by an automatic process shortly after delivery (but after I had noticed the issue).

 

[Deathlyshiv]

Mike Bell in his interview with Macrumors stated that it's possible to play Dolby Atmos tracks using a USB stick. Anyone know how to source these files? Link to interview (he states it around 20 min in)

 

[joec]

Someone posted a site with a limited catalog a while back. Not sure where it is now. Might be able to find it with a search.

But most of the popular music found on Tidal or Apple’s Spatial Audio are not available for purchase, unfortunately. I’d be buying tracks like a madman if they were.

 

[Deathlyshiv]

Someone posted a site with a limited catalog a while back. Not sure where it is now. Might be able to find it with a search.

But most of the popular music found on Tidal or Apple’s Spatial Audio are not available for purchase, unfortunately. I’d be buying tracks like a madman if they were.

That's unfortunate. Not sure why he would specifically highlight this if it's essentially a dead feature until file availability improves.

 

[joec]

That's unfortunate. Not sure why he would specifically highlight this if it's essentially a dead feature until file availability improves.

Well, I think he was more trying to make the point they can add features as folks request them. It was more of a "look what we can do" than an actual pitch for listening to Dolby tracks via USB.

To be honest, I'm not sure why there isn't a push for making Atmos tracks available for purchase. Unless the streaming services are giving the labels incentives to keep the format unavailable outside their platform.

But even indie artists, who are dying to sell you vinyl, are not jumping at the chance to sell you Atmos files at double the price. There's got to be a reason for it, but I can't figure out what it is.

 

[joec]

That's unfortunate. Not sure why he would specifically highlight this if it's essentially a dead feature until file availability improves.

Also, even non-Atmos tracks, which are readily available, sound excellent in the Air. Grab some FLAC or AIFF or WAV files from your favorite artist, toss them on a stick, and that will beat just about anything except Tidal in Atmos for sound. So I wouldn't call it a "dead feature."

 

[Deathlyshiv]

Also, even non-Atmos tracks, which are readily available, sound excellent in the Air. Grab some FLAC or AIFF or WAV files from your favorite artist, toss them on a stick, and that will beat just about anything except Tidal in Atmos for sound. So I wouldn't call it a "dead feature."

Yeah I already do this and have a USB drive loaded with flac files without any issues. I was more referring to how Mike was specifically calling out playing Atmos through USB as a dead feature.

 

[stratus]

Also, even non-Atmos tracks, which are readily available, sound excellent in the Air. Grab some FLAC or AIFF or WAV files from your favorite artist, toss them on a stick, and that will beat just about anything except Tidal in Atmos for sound. So I wouldn't call it a "dead feature."

In your opinion, what is the main reason they sound better on USB? Clarity, bass, volume?

I really need to get my lazy ass in gear and do this.

 

[joec]

In your opinion, what is the main reason they sound better on USB? Clarity, bass, volume?

I really need to get my lazy ass in gear and do this.

A high-quality file sitting on the hard drive of the media computer is always going to sound better than one streamed over a streaming service.

All wireless tech has bandwidth limitations for smooth playback. Even when you choose the highest quality for streaming, you aren't always going to get the quality of uncompressed WAV or AIFF. Or even FLAC, which is compressed but in a much better way.

How I'd describe the difference is detail. There's just more detail. More clarity. More information in the file that translates into more information hitting your ears.

I suppose wired CarPlay is technically capable of sounding as good. But I'm not 100% sure there isn't something lost in translation between Apple Music's app and the converter in Lucid's media unit.

 

[stratus]

A high-quality file sitting on the hard drive of the media computer is always going to sound better than one streamed over a streaming service.

All wireless tech has bandwidth limitations for smooth playback. Even when you choose the highest quality for streaming, you aren't always going to get the quality of uncompressed WAV or AIFF. Or even FLAC, which is compressed but in a much better way.

How I'd describe the difference is detail. There's just more detail. More clarity. More information in the file that translates into more information hitting your ears.

I suppose wired CarPlay is technically capable of sounding as good. But I'm not 100% sure there isn't something lost in translation between Apple Music's app and the converter in Lucid's media unit.

Wired Carplay sounds great to me, but I cannot detect much difference from Tidal streaming .

Will download FLACS on USB and check it out.

 

[Volund]

Wired Carplay sounds great to me, but I cannot detect much difference from Tidal streaming .

Will download FLACS on USB and check it out.

Tidal is streaming these high quality music directly to the car and playing it.

The quality is lost when you use your phone to transmit the audio stream from phone to car via Bluetooth. It's during that process that the quality is compressed and lost.

So that's why Tidal sounds so good.

 

[julianevjourney]

Anyone have good symphonic or instrumental Dolby ATMOS tracks to recommend?

This is a playlist I created of Dolby Atmos film soundtracks. Many of them are orchestral and most of them are instrumental. I constantly maintain it.

https://tidal.com/playlist/cc0e5254-1f77-4a85-8906-e188e95c9f46