Dolby Atmos Music and Terrible Remixing

It’s possible that trueplay could be an issue, so if you have that on, maybe  turn it off.  The other possibility is that your upfiring or side firing ‘channels’ are not hitting the main listening area very well, and the producer chose to send the vocals along that path for whatever reason.

It’s also entirely possible that it’s just a poorly produced atmos track.  I don’t know that musicians have to sign off on the mix, but we do know that there is a lot of pressure to mass update tracks to atmos as quickly as possible.  

Thanks for responding Danny. I don't use Trueplay because it just wants to turn everything to 0. I don't think it's an issue with channels not working or not missing the listening area. I sit directly in front of the Arc Ultimate, about 12 ft back. Take a listen to Dire Straits Money For Norhing (Greatest Hits) or Brothers In Arms and tell me what you hear.

Also check out Strutter by Kiss. Sounds like Paul Stanley is singing in my neighbor's shower.

Since I get the rear 300, I’m listening a playlist which includes “Money for nothing” and it sounds amazing to me. I’ll try again tomorrow, but I don’t remember what you’re describing. 
I’m using Arc, Sub 3 and 2xEra 300. True Play On.

Edit: adding that I’m using Amazon Music

Really can't check anything for you since I don't know which music service / source you are using.

Maybe completely unrelated but on Amazon with the Atmos versions enabled I have found several really poorly mixed tracks, some completely unlistenable. Some have been fixed over the last couple months.

Sorry about that Stanley. I am using Tidal. I come across tracks that sound incredible and then some where the vocals just disappear.

Yea,  I don’t use Tidal, so i can’t replicate your scenario. I have definitely heard some atmos track come off rather poor though. I have 3 different rooms with atmos, and it usually sounds better (slightly) in the rooms where I have a pair of Era 300s, or my Beam+ Era 100s, than the Arc + Sonos Ones.  That can be explain a bit in that the audio is still mostly coming from speakers and/or simiulated, and thus less separation...if that makes sense.  At the same time, when it’s mixed well the Arc Ultra will sound the best.

I’m not saying there isn’t anything wrong with your setup, just that there might not be anything wrong with your setup.

My Amazon tracks sounded bad in my 300/Sub Room and in my Ultra/100/Sub Room.

Is there a contact at Tidal where you can report the bad tracks?

I have come across some truly awful Atmos mixes, streaming and on physical disc. The Prince re-releases being amongst the worst. Compare these to, say, Roger Waters 'This is not a drill' concert Blu-ray and there is absolutely no comparison.

May may not be your setup but there are vast quality differences in the current flood of 'Atmos' mixes becoming available. Especially the re-mixes of older releases.

This week I have upgraded my speakers to an arc ultra and era 300s surrounds and when tracks are played in Dolby atmos they sound awful I cannot listen to them I will try turning off trueplay while playing music But I feel for the huge sum of money I have spent That this should not be an issue especially when we are told that atmos is the very best 

The Atmos mixes from Blueray and Amazon music sounded terrible on my system until I turned off Trueplay.  Then did some changes to front rear channel volume, which made a lot of difference as did the height settings.

There are still some Blueray tracks that no amount of fiddling will resolve.  I blame the mixer of these.

I subscribe to Amazon unlimited I will definitely try turning off Trueplay and I will tweak some of the settings Thank you for your reply It is good to know that I am not alone in having issues with Atmos.

The folks providing tracks to Amazon (however that actuallyworks) have given them some really horrid mixes. Others sound really great.

If you search Amazon for "Dolby Labs" you will find some really handy test tracks that you can  try different tu ings on.

If the center artist or instruments are mixed into a two channel recording out of phase, some listeners feel that the recording is more “spacious” -- the room seems larger.  If these left and right channels are mixed together in order to derive a center channel, the out of phase information cancels. There would be a problem with these tracks if they were played on a mono system.

Hi bockersjv

I’m also not happy with the sound quality of some Blu-ray atmos and 5.1 mixes. No matter what changes I make to the settings I just can’t get the sound right. I hope I’m not being cheeky but can I ask what your settings are for your speakers for music listening. Thanks 

Hi I decided a while ago to switch off the Spacial 3D button I have kept trueplay and have the settings of the arc on plus 4 and pretty much the same on my era 300s and my two subs gen 4s and I am happy now getting all my music in HD and ultra HD I do occasionally put the spacial 3d music button on just in case I hear something exceptional. But it is hit or miss and have been told it depends on the sound studios remixing some are great some are awful But ultra HD music sounds good enough for me. Thanks for getting in touch All the best. 

Thanks for the input. If I’m playing music from a Blu-ray is the spatial audio setting disabled by default ? If it isn’t I’ll try disabling it to see if I find any difference. 

Speakers:

I have an Arc Ultra under the TV and a Sub 2 on that same wall.

The two Era 300s at the rear of the room on Stands and 300mm away from the room corners.

Room settings

Bass +2 Treble +1, Sub +1 -Phase 180, Height Level + 3, 

Surrounds TV Level +4 Music Level +2 Music Playball = Full 

Left and Right Speakers 2-10ft These depend on your seating.

I sit on a sofa between the rear surrounds about 0.5m in front of them. Soft furnishings and carpet also helped make the room less “harsh”.

I have now bought a few Blu-ray ATMOS DVDs and collecting more.  It’s like re-discovering your old albums again.  I’m addicted 🤣

Interesting, thank you. Three things to try there, two of which I haven’t tried before (turning off trueplay and phase 180). If I’m honest I’ve never even looked at “phase” within the sub menu. I don’t have a clue what it even means 😂😂 but if it makes a difference I’ll be over the moon. Thanks again for your help. 

I have found using test tracks really handy in getting things set up, more repeatable than music. Dolby Labs is a good source as are services that stream Dolby Labs tracks unaltered.

Thanks for that advice. To be honest though I tend not to stream music. On the rare occasion that I have Idone I’ve not noticed the same problem. My main concern is when the source is Blu-ray atmos. I’ve even googled the best settings on my Blu-ray player just in case that’s where my problems are originating but, as far as I can tell, the settings are fine. I find it strange that I have no control over the centre speaker on the ultra as I’m concerned that’s where my problem is. 

Speech enhancement may impact that, try it set to off compared to the other levels.

Streaming does get you lower quality sound than Blu-ray but it is cheap and easy.

Downloading and playing locally is an option, haven't looked at quality issues there.

A test Blu-ray disk might be an option? 

https://www.amazon.com/blu-ray-calibration-disc/s?k=blu-ray+calibration+disc

Thanks for your help. I really don’t know if the problem is coming from the Blu-ray player or the arc ultra. It may well be that there isn’t a problem with the hardware at all and the problem is my own expectations. I don’t know. 
Having said that, I’m now suspecting that the problem is that Sonos don’t allow the centre, left and right speakers to be adjusted to personal taste. Only a suspicion. I’m only guessing here but if a calibration disc highlighted a problem originating from the soundbar I’d be powerless to do anything about it. 
I’m not sure if that makes sense or if I’m talking absolute s*****. Probably the latter 😂😂

Moderator Note: Modified in accordance with the Community Code of Conduct.

With a calibration disk in hand and a complaint about sound you at least have ammunition to file a co plaint with support and have it looked at.

Thanks again. Just a thought - as my dissatisfaction is deriving from physical media rather than internet streaming do you think that the supplied eArc cable is up to the task of handling Blu-ray music and mgbs per second. I’m grasping at straws here but who knows 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️