Immersive vs Sound Stage Referencing Music

Hi ​@AjTrek1 

Things can get a bit confusing when the wrong terms are used! I think, though, that this might be one of the less confusing mix-ups - the intended meaning can be easily substituted.

When I listen to classical orchestral Dolby Atmos music I do not feel like I am surrounded by the music as though I’m in the middle of the orchestra.  What happens, at least in my system, is the stage becomes larger almost imitating the venue where the orchestra was recorded.  Other genres such as rock, pop, jazz etc. can be somewhat gimmicky at times.  Ambient & Electronic should surround you.  So Atmos works well for those genres.

Most of my Atmos listening is done on Paired 300s and whatever you decide to call it the music seems to fill the room side to side better and have more depth (front to back) than a similar HD track.

Also interesting is that when I stand almost directly under one of my kitchen 300s (mounted on the top of my cabinets) Atmos music still provides noticeable sound from the other 300, HD seems to provide a lot less with the close 300's channel dominating. 

Is "Atmos image" a thing?

Found this select songs from the title drop-down, switch Atmos and stereo by sliding the Atmos/ Stereo slider up or down.

https://www.dolby.com/atmos-visualizer-music/

Good reading:

https://www.dolby.com/experience/home-entertainment/improve-your-setup/

I get that with stereo sound too. The traditional listening “hot spot” is definitely eliminated. 

Thinking on this a bit more, I tried comparing stereo listening with my high mounted 300s and ear-level mounted 100s. To even things out I sat while listening to the 100s making the above-ear height about the same. Ceiling distance on the 300s is a few inches, the 100s about six feet, can't alter that easily. Listening in stereo the 300s do a lot better job at filling the room evenly than the 100s do when off the traditional sweet spot.

Might be the side-firring drivers providing that unless the 300s are tweaking the stereo track data.

Just an FYI…

Using the terms Immersive and Sound Stage to describe what you want in music in the same sentence is technically not a thing. Take a look at the differences as described below.

 

What a bizarre take. Saying it’s 'technically not a thing' to use soundstage and immersive in the same sentence makes no sense—the two concepts are completely complementary.

Soundstage describes the spatial layout of the audio (however it’s delivered) while immersion describes the feeling of being inside that space. The random Reddit snippet completely contradicts itself too. It defines soundstage using 'width, depth, and height,' which are pretty much what you want in an ‘immersive’ experience?

Soundstage is absolutely not reserved for stereo. Whether you are using psychoacoustics to trick the brain with two speakers, or ‘placing’ sounds in a room with a 5.1, 7.1, or Dolby Atmos setup, you are still creating a soundstage. A live concert or a jazz club is the ultimate real-world soundstage, and when done right, it is completely immersive - and definitely not ‘stereo’.

Sit in the sweet spot and listen to a masterclass mix like Dark Side of the Moon in stereo. The soundstage is massive, and the experience is entirely immersive. The two terms belong together.

Even in the context of ‘Immersive Audio’ (the marketing term for 5.1, Atmos etc.), it’s just a different delivery method that uses a 3D soundstage.