I've had several soundbars and a surround sound package but it was only when I purchased an budget AVR and a pair of budget stereo speakers that I realised what I had been missing (stereo imaging, thumping base) besides going down this route one can always add to it overtime! subwoofer, surround speakers you could even get height speakers to get the full 'non-virtual' Dolby Atmos experience. Nowadays AVRs are so simple to setup, they even walk you through the process! "Remember movies are made up of 50% visuals and 50% audio and there are occasions when the audio out does the visuals"
@@EnterTheSoundscape Sure ill be happy to help! But to give you the best possible recommendation, I'm going to need your viewing/listening habits... is the AVR going to be more towards movie watching or 2 channel stereo music plus are you a gamer and if so do you need the latest hdmi 2.1 (4k @ 120fps) movie watching % ? 2-channel music % ? playing games % ?
@@EnterTheSoundscape I have an Onkyo TX-SR393 receiver which does either 3.1.2 Atmos or 5.1 surround. It drives my Wharfedale MFM-5's (125wRMS) no problems and no sub is required. I believe these can be had for $400us and found anywhere! It also has DTS Neural which is a forcible alternative to Atmos that produces virtual speaker placement using software, ARC HDMI video passthrough with 4k upscale and HDR which means direct audio from source to receiver, CEC control so tv remote used for volume and so much more!
with type of content i feel this is a bit different for everyone one of my reasons besides hight virtulization to getting a atmos/dtsx soundbar was backwards compatibility so i have support for all dts and dolby audio formats even found the old 2010 realease of dts nerual upmix released with dts hds pc suite for production so i have support for dts/dolbys matrix and descrete surround codecs as dts nerual upmix 2010 had support for decodeing pro logic 1 2 and dolby surround dolbys first audio codec aswell as dts nerual mix and a few others
Never actually heard a sound bar that sounds anywhere near as good as a true home theatre set up, my yamaha system rocks and would never recommend a soundbar to anyone, they are too much of a compromise..
I've went to theaters with Dolby and I could never really hear the Atmos. Sure the audio quality was crisp and realistic, but I couldn't tell you how it sounded any different from Surround Sound. The seats had speakers, which amplified the bass for sure. Really, I was more encapsulated by the Dolby Vision. The HDR really brings out the best in digitally filmed or CGI intensive movies. I guess I just don't have an ear for audio mastering. I've checked with doctors though and my hearing is fine.
@@carldrogo9492 Yes. They played this long clip before the movie started comparing the projector and audio to a standard theatre. The Dolby Vision HDR I could see but not the Atmos. I'd blame my ears more than I'd blame the Atmos.
Hmm dolby atmos experience in theater for me you have to actively listened the audio coming from above and your surround. But i guess if you feel immersed when you're watching the movie that means atmos already have done it's job. Some people also is more keen towards visual and auditory become less important, some are reverse.
At first I thought so...had 2 Vizio's & a Nakamichi 9.2.4..still had wires. Nothing beats actual speakers on high wall. Actual sound coming from present speakers not something virtual or thrown. My Denon X4700h 5.2.4 setup rocks !!!
I have soundbars with Dolby Atmos in 5.1.4. But I have a ceiling fan in the middle of my room and I have short ceilings . So I can’t really tell the difference I think the fan is messing with the audio waves somehow maybe I am wrong. I don’t know.
The Onkyo receiver I have recognizes an Atmos signal from the tv vai ARC HDMI when watching The tomorrow war on Prime video. I know DD+ will not deliver true Atmos and I have the receiver set to 5.1 not 3.1.2 anyway. Just saying an Atmos signal of sorts will work on vanilla ARC!
I've got a Toshiba TV with DTS and Dolby Atmos. The sound isn't great on both settings . I think perhaps I need a soundbar to get decent sound perhaps Dolby Atmos doesn't work without one.
Hey Josh, great video. What's your honest thoughts on the Samsung HW-Q870A? I'm torn between the Samsung HW-Q870A and the Samsung HW-Q950A Massive price difference between the two
Have you had a chance to checkout/review the Dolby atmos performance of two Apple Homepods paired with an AppleTV 4K? It is a surprisingly good alternative for atmos sound without having to use an earc port.
No I haven't. Thanks for the recommendation. I currently use 2 Sonos Ones with an Apple TV in my bedroom. The full size Homepod has been discontiuned last year and theres rumors that a gen 2 of that speaker will be announced this year. If that's the case I might give them a go and make a video. Cheers Bread.
@@archwaytech yeah, I am referring to the old full size HomePod’s. The update for atmos pairing was awesome. Shame that apple killed them right afterwards. The pair I have was my first taste of atmos directional sound.
Yeah that was a weird move by Apple to kill them considering they were doing well and now they don’t have any Sonos One competitor. The HomePod minis are cool but not the same sound quality from a tiny package.
You can still get Atmos via standard ARC if your tv supports it. My 2017 LG B7 OLED can transmit Atmos via ARC to my Sonos Arc. This is with both the internal tv apps as well as the Apple TV.
@@archwaytech Thanks for your response. I know all the older LG TVs that support Atmos can do it 🙂. Not sure about the other brands though. By the way, keep up the great work with your videos 👍 They’ve been helpful with my Sonos purchase!
@@archwaytech you dont know what you are talking about.... ARC can support Dolby Atmos though dolby digital plus netflix has lossy Dolby Atmos infact apple tv has lossy audio support at max and ARC is more than enough for these services, only blue ray players support lossless dolby true hd for Dolby atmos and you dont need earc for that too
Hello Josh nice video. One question, is there any difference between sonos arc and sonos arc sl, apart from no mic on sonos arc sl. I mean is there any noticeable difference in sound quality an performance.
Unfortunately you can’t. Optical only supports up to 7.1 channels but can’t send Dolby Atmos. You have to do that through HDMI. You can use some of those work arounds that I discussed. Cheers
No worries. Glad I could help. The good thing is you can swap out to an HDMI cable and that’ll fix that for you 😊 A good way to test it is play a movie that you know has Atmos and the soundbar should say the audio format it’s receiving on the front screen.
Wrong you can get Atmos from TV internal Apps that only have ARC… Basically any TV that has ARC supports DD+… in fact TV internal apps never use lossless audio so it literally doesn’t even use eARC features.
At the moment i am.using a logitech z906.5.1 surround system ..but i have an nvidia shields pro and understand with one.of this atmos soundbars(Q950A).i can get the dolby atmos.i was confused because my SAMSUNG tv Q8FN doesnt have dolby atmos..or EARC.
My wife wanted a sound bar to get rid of all the speaker wire…my Sonos arc system is awesome.
Great video! Straight to the point and no fuzz, keep up the good work!
I've had several soundbars and a surround sound package but it was only when I purchased an budget AVR and a pair of budget stereo speakers that I realised what I had been missing (stereo imaging, thumping base) besides going down this route one can always add to it overtime! subwoofer, surround speakers you could even get height speakers to get the full 'non-virtual' Dolby Atmos experience. Nowadays AVRs are so simple to setup, they even walk you through the process!
"Remember movies are made up of 50% visuals and 50% audio and there are occasions when the audio out does the visuals"
Can you recommend any cheap AVRs? My stereo speakers already sound incredible and I’m in no way convinced a soundbar is capable of competing.
@@EnterTheSoundscape
Sure ill be happy to help! But to give you the best possible recommendation, I'm going to need your viewing/listening habits... is the AVR going to be more towards movie watching or 2 channel stereo music plus are you a gamer and if so do you need the latest hdmi 2.1 (4k @ 120fps)
movie watching % ?
2-channel music % ?
playing games % ?
@@EnterTheSoundscape
I have an Onkyo TX-SR393 receiver which does either 3.1.2 Atmos or 5.1 surround. It drives my Wharfedale MFM-5's (125wRMS) no problems and no sub is required.
I believe these can be had for $400us and found anywhere!
It also has DTS Neural which is a forcible alternative to Atmos that produces virtual speaker placement using software, ARC HDMI video passthrough with 4k upscale and HDR which means direct audio from source to receiver, CEC control so tv remote used for volume and so much more!
@@totalplonker824 Movie and Games?
What's an AVR?
Great, common sense approach explaining ATMOS and why it is not a big consideration for the type of content I watch most often on ACORN.
with type of content i feel this is a bit different for everyone one of my reasons besides hight virtulization to getting a atmos/dtsx soundbar was backwards compatibility so i have support for all dts and dolby audio formats even found the old 2010 realease of dts nerual upmix released with dts hds pc suite for production so i have support for dts/dolbys matrix and descrete surround codecs as dts nerual upmix 2010 had support for decodeing pro logic 1 2 and dolby surround dolbys first audio codec aswell as dts nerual mix and a few others
Never actually heard a sound bar that sounds anywhere near as good as a true home theatre set up, my yamaha system rocks and would never recommend a soundbar to anyone, they are too much of a compromise..
I've went to theaters with Dolby and I could never really hear the Atmos. Sure the audio quality was crisp and realistic, but I couldn't tell you how it sounded any different from Surround Sound. The seats had speakers, which amplified the bass for sure. Really, I was more encapsulated by the Dolby Vision. The HDR really brings out the best in digitally filmed or CGI intensive movies.
I guess I just don't have an ear for audio mastering. I've checked with doctors though and my hearing is fine.
Did the theater specifically say that the movie had Dolby Atmos surround sound?
@@carldrogo9492 Yes. They played this long clip before the movie started comparing the projector and audio to a standard theatre. The Dolby Vision HDR I could see but not the Atmos. I'd blame my ears more than I'd blame the Atmos.
Hmm dolby atmos experience in theater for me you have to actively listened the audio coming from above and your surround. But i guess if you feel immersed when you're watching the movie that means atmos already have done it's job. Some people also is more keen towards visual and auditory become less important, some are reverse.
At first I thought so...had 2 Vizio's & a Nakamichi 9.2.4..still had wires. Nothing beats actual speakers on high wall. Actual sound coming from present speakers not something virtual or thrown. My Denon X4700h 5.2.4 setup rocks !!!
It’s surprising how many atmos sound bars don’t have up firing speakers on the rears. I wouldn’t consider buying an atmos system if it wasn’t x.x.4.
I have soundbars with Dolby Atmos in 5.1.4. But I have a ceiling fan in the middle of my room and I have short ceilings . So I can’t really tell the difference I think the fan is messing with the audio waves somehow maybe I am wrong. I don’t know.
Ever since the 80s, can anyone tell me than anything Dolby hasn't sucked?
What is the ideal distance for a sound bar to be under a TV? Also as an example would the distance vary if it’s a Sonos Beam or Sonos Arc?
Hi Josh I am eagerly waiting for your comparison on BOSE 900 with Sub 700 and SONOS ARC with SUB GEN3
The Onkyo receiver I have recognizes an Atmos signal from the tv vai ARC HDMI when watching The tomorrow war on Prime video. I know DD+ will not deliver true Atmos and I have the receiver set to 5.1 not 3.1.2 anyway. Just saying an Atmos signal of sorts will work on vanilla ARC!
Do you think that q990b has what it takes for real atmos experience?
I've got a Toshiba TV with DTS and Dolby Atmos. The sound isn't great on both settings . I think perhaps I need a soundbar to get decent sound perhaps Dolby Atmos doesn't work without one.
Hey Josh, great video.
What's your honest thoughts on the Samsung HW-Q870A?
I'm torn between the Samsung HW-Q870A and the Samsung HW-Q950A
Massive price difference between the two
Buy hw-q950a now that prices are down.
No sound bar can compete with a separate receiver and speakers the difference is night and day
@@oppenheimer11 I did and I agree, although it is extremely powerful and sounds really great, it is not even close to a "true" 5.1.4 in my opinion...
Great video 🍻
Cheers Bread 😊
Have you had a chance to checkout/review the Dolby atmos performance of two Apple Homepods paired with an AppleTV 4K? It is a surprisingly good alternative for atmos sound without having to use an earc port.
No I haven't. Thanks for the recommendation. I currently use 2 Sonos Ones with an Apple TV in my bedroom. The full size Homepod has been discontiuned last year and theres rumors that a gen 2 of that speaker will be announced this year. If that's the case I might give them a go and make a video. Cheers Bread.
@@archwaytech yeah, I am referring to the old full size HomePod’s. The update for atmos pairing was awesome. Shame that apple killed them right afterwards. The pair I have was my first taste of atmos directional sound.
Yeah that was a weird move by Apple to kill them considering they were doing well and now they don’t have any Sonos One competitor. The HomePod minis are cool but not the same sound quality from a tiny package.
It is worthnoting that streaming services send Atmos in compressed format, not Dolby Digital true HD
not anymore
What about using any Dolby Atmos Soundbar in june 2022 to create my own Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 with Davinci Resolve 18 to accompany my Videos.
What about for video games?
You can still get Atmos via standard ARC if your tv supports it. My 2017 LG B7 OLED can transmit Atmos via ARC to my Sonos Arc. This is with both the internal tv apps as well as the Apple TV.
Yes you can get it through a standard ARC connection via Dolby Digital Plus but it depends on whether your TV and streaming service supports it.
@@archwaytech Thanks for your response. I know all the older LG TVs that support Atmos can do it 🙂. Not sure about the other brands though.
By the way, keep up the great work with your videos 👍 They’ve been helpful with my Sonos purchase!
@@archwaytech you dont know what you are talking about.... ARC can support Dolby Atmos though dolby digital plus netflix has lossy Dolby Atmos infact apple tv has lossy audio support at max and ARC is more than enough for these services, only blue ray players support lossless dolby true hd for Dolby atmos and you dont need earc for that too
Thanks Utkarsh for the correction… I made a mistake with the DTHD being able to go through an ARC connection so have edited my statement. Cheers.
Hello Josh nice video. One question, is there any difference between sonos arc and sonos arc sl, apart from no mic on sonos arc sl. I mean is there any noticeable difference in sound quality an performance.
Thanks man! 😊 The SL versions of the Sonos just mean there is no mic and that’s it. Everything else about it is the same. 😊
@@archwaytech thanks a lot.
Do I need a 2.1 HDMI cable for my Dolby Atmos sound bar to connect it to my TV?
As far as I'm aware ARC/E-ARC HDMI port is important
Wait, so I cant get Dolby atmos thru optic cable? I've got an LG C1 with the new samsung Q960A
Unfortunately you can’t. Optical only supports up to 7.1 channels but can’t send Dolby Atmos. You have to do that through HDMI. You can use some of those work arounds that I discussed. Cheers
@@archwaytech wow, I'd never known if I hadn't watched your video. Appreciate it your response 👍
No worries. Glad I could help. The good thing is you can swap out to an HDMI cable and that’ll fix that for you 😊 A good way to test it is play a movie that you know has Atmos and the soundbar should say the audio format it’s receiving on the front screen.
Wrong you can get Atmos from TV internal Apps that only have ARC… Basically any TV that has ARC supports DD+… in fact TV internal apps never use lossless audio so it literally doesn’t even use eARC features.
At the moment i am.using a logitech z906.5.1 surround system ..but i have an nvidia shields pro and understand with one.of this atmos soundbars(Q950A).i can get the dolby atmos.i was confused because my SAMSUNG tv Q8FN doesnt have dolby atmos..or EARC.
Also enable brains atmos
Hey well soundbar
Is the Samsung HW950a good for dolby atmos?
Yeah it is. The rear speakers also have height channels which is a bonus. The whole sound stage of the q950a is very wide and great to listen too.
@@archwaytech Thx for the quick response :)
You forgot Vudu.