DigiPete

Oh the joys of a well recorded live session! I accidentally stumbled over my first when I interned in the workshop of the local HiFi store "AudioScan" back in 8th grade. My mentor (also Peter) played music all day, and this recording easily became my favourite, but I never found it in a record store. Many years later, during my masters thesis, I suddenly saw the album in a window. It was the exact same HiFi store, now moved to a different location in town, so I went in to ask if I could buy the album. They looked quite funny at me, as the album was part of the window display and they only sold eqipment. I ended up telling my story from 8th grade, and they were so moved (or stunned) that they agreed to part with their window decoration album. I later learned that "Jazz at the Pawnshop" was a very well know and recognised 'audiophile' live recording. 😄

Genelec goes the extra mile. I should have added another huge benefit: Genelec provides a slew of tools to help you understand and choose the right monitors and also understanding acoustics in general. Be it online recommendation charts, downloadable PDFs or on YouTube. Some are very product specific, others specific to use (Studio, home, home cinema, event spaces) and even some about requirement by Dolby (Atmos) or Auro 3D. Genelec customer support is also legendary, and repair / part are secured for decades. GRADE™ report The latest offering is the GLM GRADE™ report (Genelec Room Acoustic Data Evaluation). Grade offers a full analysis and evaluation of your acoustics based on your calibrations on +40 pages made specifically for you. It goes though your frequency, time and time-frequency domain results for every single monitor & sub. It digs in low frequency room gain and extensions per unit, summing of symmetric monitors, analysis of peaks and notches, early reflections and RT60 . This is how I know my base layer monitors all hit a room mode at 17.9 - 18.1hz . . . ITU-R BS1116 compliance is the final chapter, tying it all together and letting you know how close you are . . Lots of recommendations for how and where to improve. Grade used to be free in the trial period, now i think you get a limited number for free with each GLM adapter. Go visit GLM GRADE, watch the video, download a trial report and marvel at what the PROs provide of service and knowledge to their customers. And NO: I'm not affiliated in any shape or form! But why have measurement/DSP without acoustic recommendations.

@The Computer Audiophile Yes - since 2011. It's a fully integrated, fully controlled, fully digital +80 monitor/sub sytem for sound professionals and high end audio. It's also super cheap compared to other high end systems! TLDR; Genelec SAM systems are the pinnacle of studio monitors, where everything is based on science and makes everything sound as good and natural as your room will allow. It's a lot of money, but very cheap considering the results. Chosen by Morten Lindberg for his immersive studio at 2L. Genelec DSP known as GLM (Genelec Loudspeaker Manager) is the core of all Genelec SAM (Smart Active Monitor) setups. SAM Genelec SAM monitors are fully active studio monitors with balanced digital (AES/EBU) as well as balanced analogue (XLR) inputs. DSP, digital X-overs, amps and DACs all built into each monitor, and most with a co-ax mid/high ensuring perfect imaging. The SAMs are digitally controlled by the GLM Network Adaptor by chaining all SAM monitors and subs with RJ45 cables. The GLM Network Adaptor comes in a kit with a calibrated measurement microphone and also hooks up to a computer (Mac or PC) for setup. GLM GLM ties everything together and provides fast and fool proof calibration for DRC. Calibration results are shown on the computer and recommendations are given for X-overs to subs making for an easy seamless process to get perfect sub integration for each room correction. It controls volume directly inside the monitors, and chooses between multiple room corrections. The system displays current SPL and a max volume can be set for safety. Volume is set on screen, by external volume button or wireless remote. Pros Affordable high end Superb imaging with co-ax Excellent off axis Fully digital, with analogue alternative Fool proof room correction Guided sub integration Expandable/future proof to +80 units 100% lossless cables cost nothing Cable lossless to 100m "Sound profiler" if you don't prefer linear Low depreciation Cons It's a tool, not a toy, so not for tinkers. The DSP is optimised for low latency, so there are systems that can do marginally better. €4000 Entry cost for a full range stereo SAM system (2 x 8330 + 7360 sub + GLM) €6600 Entry cost for a full range stereo co-ax SAM system (2 x 8331 + 7360 sub + GLM) €12500 Entry cost for a full range 7.1.4 Atmos SAM system (11 x 8330 + 7370 sub + GLM) Source is not included. Closed system - don't mix and subs are costly. WAF - utilitarian design based on acoustics.

To add to the confusion, some albums were conceptually created to be multichannel. I'll never forget back when I first heard DSOTM in quad from DVD-A. I realised that I had never really heard the album as it was intended! So how can any album ever be lossless in stereo, if it was intended as a multi channel experience?

Check my: The €200 Atmos system - Headphone with head tracker A price reasonable headphone option if you have an Apple scilicon Mac and Apple Music sub.

Thanks Chris. It took time, but this is finally a stable & affordable entry into surround / Atmos / immersive. I'm sure it'll soon be surpassed by even better SW based solutions. Next: a practical way of making a personal HRTF for any renderer 🫣

I wrote a little description of how to get virtalised rendering of Atmos into your headphones on a shoestring. It's easy to have an opinion if you never experienced Atmos or surround. I bet most will think otherwise once you hear Kind of blue or Jean-Michel Jarre's Oxymore - even through this €200 setup!

Click-bait? - No, not really. # Is it a little hacky - sure. Is it SOTA - No, that would use the A16 Smyth Realiser @ € / $ 5-6k All you need is: A Mac Discrete Atmos source Virtual audio driver Head tracker Renderer software A pair of headphones And you are off to the races. # The € / $ 200 assumes that you have Mac and headphones and ignores the Atmos source, but many of us have that already. This Hack is aimed at a headphone System example & options Apple Music = Discrete Atmos source Apple music will supply the discrete channels, but only if it can supply the channels to somewhere. An outboard audio interface with enough channels will do the trick, but so will a virtual audio driver. Black Hole = virtual audio driver BlackHole is a virtual audio loopback driver that allows applications to pass audio to other applications with very low latency. It's donation ware, and suggested donation is $10. Loopback is another option by Rogue Amoeba. It's way more versatile but also way more expensive. Rogue Amoeba makes an entire suite of audio tool for Mac, so check them out if you have those interests. Supperware = Head tracker The Supperware headtracker is a simple wired headtracker that works well will most if not all DAWs and renderes. It's £69 from a very capable ´one man band´company, owner Ben Supper has made a stellar product. The Nx Head Tracker from Waves is another option @ $99. It has Bluetooth, so wireless but probably a little more lag and drift. APL Virtuoso = Renderer software APL Virtuoso is a standalone multi-channel renderer for headphones. It's cheap, versatile, and allows both head tracking and upload of your personal HRTF as a SOFA file. It's in "pre-release" @ $99 + VAT, but stable and supports many channel layouts and simulated room sizes. Ie. it's a professional tool. Supperware actually provides a free renderer as VST3 and AU plug-ins. I haven't tried this, but clearly an option if you are just starting out. DAW's (Digital Audio Workstations) are another way to either get or facilitate rendering. Apples Logic Pro springs to mind @ $200, as it has both a build in rederer as well as all DAW functionality. Dolby's renderer can also be combined with most DAW's, but it's all both very fiddley and also expensive. How to . . . I'll assume you have a Mac, Apple music, any pair of headphone and go with my choices. The softwares can run as trials, but you'll have to het the headtracker. Preparation Buy the Supperware headtracker and download the free Bridgehead SW for configuration, calibration and OSC bridge. Mount the tracker on your chosen headphone Download Black Hole and APL Virtuoso. Switch to Atmos Use "Audio MIDI Setup" to specify Black Hole as the sound output device and channel layout, say 7.1.4 Start Bridgehead. (Profile should be set to Virtuoso) Start Virtuoso. (Input config: set at Atmos 7.1.4, Settings: Headtraching OSC 8000, Options -> audio settings - Input Balck hole, output Headphones, activate 16 channels, samplerate 48kHz) Start Apple music and play something Atmos/spatial, and chech that you get inputs levels in Virtuoso. Virtuoso has a bypass button to check the difference with and without rendering. Done You'll have to use "Audio MIDI Setup" again to reverse sound output from BlackHole to say build in speakers. NB This works with any headphone, but Virtuoso has EQ profiles for a large range of headphones like my Hifiman Sundara. The Vituoso rendere runs on a standard HRTF, so the virtualisation may not be perfect for your particular head. Choose between 4 standard HRTF's or upload your own as a SOFA file if you have one. Max volume may be lower than you expect if you are not using an external DAC / amp. The it's a result of acombination of Dolby Atmos and processing headroom. Headtrackers can drift, but the Supperware has an instant calibration if you double click "the head" and it set up in Head Tracker Settings. While this setup isn't the SOTA or the end all - be all, it still provides a great proof of concept, cheap entry, a great late night listening and over all insane value for the money.

'Riding with the King' comes in a nice punchy mix in 5.1 on DVD-A. I've always enjoyed that album. 😃

Sure Chris, but multi channel has been trying to crash the party for decades with little succes. Crappy mixes are fuel to the fire of nay-sayers and nimby's like Steve. Flat-rate streaming (with atmos included) to the rescue!!! 😉

Steve says one (and only one) thing I can agree with, and (in my words): there have been way too many surround and atmos mixes that simply are crap and makes no sense at all. I can subscribe with that. However, there are so many insanely awesome recordings out there, and now finally the numbers have started sky rocketing with the advent of atmos streaming. Streaming is taking immersive where spinning disks and downloads couldn't. It was just too much work and too many hits and misses and high costs. It amazes me how much street cred Steve is given, as he was clearly never an audiophile. He just likes speakers with personality. Nothing wrong with that choice in it self, just not audiophile. Now, if somebody would just strap Steve to a chair, and play some of Morten Lindbergs immersive recordings through a true audiophile system. Then he might wake up from his 1970's time loop. 😃

Yes, and Genelec offers something similar, just more thorough and expensive. And the Smyth Realiser A16 can do all that they are trying to do from actual 'in room measurements´, but all very quirky and expensive - think €/$+5k. I'm just being impatient . . .

I hope, I beg and pray that I'm utterly wrong, and that general Atmos streaming and decoding in OSX will be available shortly. Just give me Tidal, Netflix and Youtube 😄 Oh, and give me headphone decoding with a neat little Apple headtracker and personalised HRTF 🤘 Man, that would be awesome.

Chris, I'm afraid that Apple has made its "Spacial audio" concept as a loop hole, avoiding to pay Dolby the licensing fee. I assume the licensing fee is Dolby's main income stream. So Spacial audio isn't actually Atmos, but just a competing container of the same type of content. Dolby likely accept this loophole, as they depend on a lot of Atmos content creators running on Apple silicon. This also means that the beautiful, efficient and fast Apple SOC will continue to be locked out of decoding actual Atmos streams. Lawyers and conflicting commercial interest has us locked out at least for the foreseeable future. /Speculative RANT END/

So far I only see 3 ways of getting Atmos decoded (in one form or another) by software on the Mac: 1) Apple Music streaming 2) Apple TV+ streaming 3) Logic Pro - the studio software Logic Pro could be interesting, if they allow playing Atmos into headphones that are not from Apple. My Sundara would love some immersive 😍 I stride on to find ways to NOT be forced to buy an AVR . . . . @mkt - Nice to see another Genelc SAM user 😄