jnelly:

 I would agree with your feelings about Atmos if you listen to Rock, Jazz, Pop etc.  if you listen to orchestral music in Atmos then it’s worth the effort.  I have KEF LS50 WII speakers which sound great and if I’m listening to anything other than orchestral music it’s the KEF.  If it’s orchestral in Atmos it’s the Arc-Sub3-300s.

  Listen to John Williams: A Gathering of Friends on Apple Music or Amazon Music Unlimited if you have either one of those services.  It blew me away.

I have my height on 10 always, and don’t hear a big difference if I take it down to minus 10, lol. I hear you on proper HT, just not in the cards for me - effort wise. Just dialed up my return for the 300s and the stands. We’ll see if I do it. Thanks, Stanley!

I put the 300s back in the HT surround position with the Arc and Sub3. Probably going to keep them and put the OneSLs back, with the sub-mini in the kitchen again. I’m too lazy to pack up the 300s and the Stands (Sanus, adjustable for E300) for Amazon as I don’t have the shipping boxes, lol. 

300s do sound good in the HT!

@Stanley_4,  @Schlumpf or anyone else… -forgive the thread hijack…

Can you recommend how to test my 7.1.4 channels, without having a blueray player? I realize it depends on the mix, but I don’t hear seperate tracks, in the 300s used as surrounds. Just a muffled track on the surround inside, and a much brighter track on the surround outside and atmos channels.

 Every “test” that I do over YouTube, is 5.1.x. Thanks.

Search on the Sonos App (within your music streaming service*) for Dolby Labs, and a couple of those ‘albums’ have 7.1.4 test tracks.

*not Spotify or other services that don’t stream Dolby Atmos/Spacial to Sonos; you’ll need Apple Music or Amazon Music.

To test Atmos 7.1.4 you don't need a Atmos True HD signal. It also can be done with compressed Atmos which is used by most streaming services. Therefore I recommend content on AppleTV+. Also their trailers often are Atmos. But of course a true HD signal would give you the best quality of the same number of channels.

There are some set top boxes that support true hd, but you have to get content on it in true HD quality.

And just remember… imo you will hear a remarkable difference between Atmos (compressed or uncompressed) and DD5.1, but the Era300 is ONE speaker as an all in one rear channel solution. It does a good job, but you can't expect such channel separation as with dedicated speakers for each rear channel (side rear, back rear, back highs).

@Rhonny 

Thanks for the mentioned Dolby Atmos content on Amazon Music… I thought there is only Atmos Music content, but the Dolby Labs albums offer great channel testing.

Apple Music i can't test because of missing subscription and Qobuz as far as I know still doesn't offer Atmos on Sonos. Or are there some news about that?

@Schlumpf - apologies, my error. Qobuz doesn’t yet support Dolby Atmos/spacial (I was thinking of high-res). I’ve edited my original post.

So yes, just Amazon Music and Apple Music for testing the Dolby Labs 7.1.4 tracks.

Actually, forgive me in not being specific, I was mainly referring to movies.

Thank you, @Rhonny; will do.

Ah, excellent education for me @Schlumpf comp. vs uncomp Atmos - thank yo8.

I’m a bit bummed to hear the 300 doesn’t live up to it’s hype on sr, br, bh seperation. I guess that is why I’ve returned 3 pairs of 300s with their damn stands. I’m keeping the fourth, because well, I got a severely discounted price from Sonos and I”m too lazy to go get shipping boxes for the stands (AMZ) and the 300s (Sonos.com)

I’m not looking to test the 7.1.4 with content. I want to test the separation the 300s do, with the Arc, with a formal channel test.

Oh, man this was easy and the 7.1.4 is as expected.

1. Why is the L and R “rear surround” more muffled than the L and R “surround” and
2. the more treble/bright surround channel on the outside of the 300.
3. I’d prefer to have the clearer, more treble surround channel on the inside.
4. I have my 300s facing directly towards the tv, not pivoted in to my listening area.

Man, Atmos mixes must be, generally, kind of sucky with compressed Atmos (if that is what I'm hearing from Netflix, Max et al). I have the height channel, perennially on +10, and yeah, there are some atmospherics, but nothing worth all the Atmos hype.

So, if I’m understanding things.

1. You have to have a disk player, that does Atmos TrueHD/or uncompressed.
2. Otherwise, one has a sucky Atmos source signal
3. Is this a fair statement?

Just to mention, I believe that +10 doesn’t necessarily equate to the greatest perception of height. This perception will also depend on the height of your ceiling and if there are any ceiling lights/fans in the way. Sometimes setting it to +10 could send it up at such an acute angle that it reflects down in front of you instead of where you’re sitting. A lower number could in fact send the sound up at an angle that bounces down right at you, making the perception of height that much better. 

The other thing about Dolby Atmos in TV and movies is you get so used to it that the best and only way to really demonstrate how atmospheric and enveloping it is would be to suddenly not have it, then listen for a minute, and then have it come back. This would show just how amazing it is (with the right content of course). This isn’t really possible in practice though, so there is often a feeling of being underwhelmed because you’ve become attuned to it all, when what you are experiencing is actually pretty incredible. 

I think it isn’t as straight forward as that.

Atmos (not virtual atmos) works with upfiring speakers that reflect off the ceiling or physical height/overhead speakers.

The Atmos effect with upfiring speakers is greatly influenced by ceiling height and type, room area size, seating position vs speaker distances because it relies on sound reflected off the ceiling, so the sweet spot for Atmos effects is more reliant on your room and can be harder to achieve. High or beamed ceilings for example can weaken or interrupt the ceiling reflections. Large areas can be difficult to create a coherent sound “bubble” in.

With physical height/ceiling speakers the sound is projected down and speakers can be positioned and/or aimed to create a larger sweet spot more easily.

Then there is the content itself. Dolby Atmos demos are designed and mixed specifically to product the best effects. Across movies, series, music and games the mixes vary from very good to why did they even bother and that is without getting into compressed vs uncompressed.

Top Gun & Dune on my Apple TV account have good Atmos mixes using my AVR with height speakers. The tannoy announcements across the carrier deck are very definitely above the base level of the planes on the carrier deck shots. Previously when having a system using upfiring Atmos, there was a difference but nothing as clear or with the same sense of space and height.

Similarly when gaming, there is a far bigger difference between having physical height speakers than there was with the upfiring system.

The Dolby demos included in the upfiring system, with the rain and storm effects, were good when sat in the right place, but are far more effective with 2 physical height speakers than with the 4 upfiring speakers.

Oh, ok then. I will now play with backing down the height add, per your logic above, @Rhonny! Thank you!

One more thread hijack, since we have such informed, experienced users here:

1. When playing Apple Music, through S2, is there a way I’m not seeing to, save a favorited track to an Apple Music Playlist or to Apple Music, so I can use that saved song in Apple Music, when away from Sonos?
2. Right now, I can only make said track a “Sonos Favorite”, which limits my use of the save.  This has me ignoring using the streaming service connects in S2, because logically, I’d want to use that build-out everywhere, not just at home with Sonos. 
3. This also applies to other functions, like previously played tracks in Apple Music.
4. And, if I’m understanding streaming quality formats, by not using the Apple Music connect in S2, I’m giving up the ability to play Atmos/Spatial audio on Sonos, because when I AirPlay it to my Sonos Room from my phone or desktop, I don’t see the “...Atmos” label in the trackPlayingDescription?

This seems either, a very poor UI attempt to keep me in the Sonos-ecoSys., poor UX/UI design, or my ignorance in how to use streaming services in S2?

Thanks!

Haven't really noticed a difference with the height at 0, but haven’t done a mindful “test”, either. It’s sitting at 0 now!

Apple does not support Atmos music via Airplay. 
The options you mentioned to manage your content from within Sonos in sync with Apple music app isn‘t supported by the new Sonos app yet as far as I know. And when it is, imo Apple on the other hand also has to support the option via Sonos API. So we will have still to wait for that coming. 

@jnelly 

You can make tracks favourites directly in the Apple Music app and then access those favourites via the Sonos app.

But you can’t impact/add/change your Apple Music playlists using the Sonos app. I’m pretty sure that has never been possible with the Sonos app, which has access to your streaming service but can’t make changes to it. 

@Rhonny 

I think it was possible with the old S2 app for services to use some options directly affecting the service as the Sonos API supports that. The music services were able to use it if they want to. 
E. g. with Deezer I was able to add a song from within Sonos app to one of my Deezer playlists. 
 

Thanks everyone, for the Apple Music answers!

Thank you so much for this tip, i just tried it with my set up and it works perfectly, i experienced no delay and now i can hear clearer the front left and right 

My set up:

1. Beam gen 1/sub mini/ pair one as surround
2. Pair Five/ sub mini as front left and right

so i feel more bass cause there are 2 sub mini in the system. 

 Cool idea!  How does it sound with Atmos music?  If Sonos wasn’t having so many issues with the 80.x app maybe they could program a way to steer the proper channels to the front L-R speakers and just use the soundbar as the center channel.

Quite frankly, it sucks with Atmos, or any other multi-channel source.  The grouped Era 300’s in the front aren’t playing Atmos, they are playing all channels; surrounds, Atmos, fronts, and center, downmixed to stereo and played out of the front facing drivers.  Which means the actual surround and Atmos signals are compromised, ruining any positional/directional queues and screwing up the Atmos effect.  In addition, the soundbar is still playing the front L/C/R, along with the downmix in the “front” Era 300’s, muddying up the front soundstage that is already messed up because sounds meant for the rear and above are mixed in with the sounds meant to come from the front.

Also, no matter how you adjust it, you are going to have a delay, or lip sync problems.  In short, that video was made by someone who knows nothing about how a proper home cinema is meant to sound.