[Jacobh]

If you are feeding it a two channel source it's just up-mixing and applying its hrtf to the upmix.

If you recorded these binaurally (with microphones in each of your ears) then the recording wouldn't need a hrtf since it has already captured your specific hrtf. Adding additional hrtf could not make it more accurate.

The upmixing is probably just exaggaeratting the effect a bit which you may like and may seem more realistic. However, if it's your own binaural recording adding. More processing can't technically make it more accurate.

I have some of my own binaural recordings so I'll give it a try if I have any time left on my demo.

As far as I can tell there is now way to use this with actual multichannel source material using an external spiff DAC so I'm not going to purchase it now.

 

[tbritton]

If you are feeding it a two channel source it's just up-mixing and applying its hrtf to the upmix.

If you recorded these binaurally (with microphones in each of your ears) then the recording wouldn't need a hrtf since it has already captured your specific hrtf. Adding additional hrtf could not make it more accurate.

The upmixing is probably just exaggaeratting the effect a bit which you may like and may seem more realistic. However, if it's your own binaural recording adding. More processing can't technically make it more accurate.

I have some of my own binaural recordings so I'll give it a try if I have any time left on my demo.

As far as I can tell there is now way to use this with actual multichannel source material using an external spiff DAC so I'm not going to purchase it now.

 
I'd like to see a reference that it is "applying its hrtf to the upmix" -- so you are saying it takes panning info and synthesizes HRTF from that, I take it. Not sure about that - methinks it is enhancing the phase relationships of the stereo pan input, however, I am definitely underscoring, "not sure about that" on my end!
 
There are many ways to enhance the reproduction of phase and absorption information - see the comments about SOFA made by immersifi at the other thread. 
 
This is a fascinating discussion! I'll provide documentation as I discover it on both threads.
 
Terry

 

[tbritton]

Here is the link to the Dolby Atmos Creators Update page.
 
Interesting statement here:

And with the native support of Dolby Atmos on Windows 10, the Creators Update makes Microsoft Edge the first browser to support Dolby Atmos encoded content in HTML 5–based websites,
 

Terry

 

[tbritton]

Here is Microsoft's "Spatial Sound" page.
 
Terry

 

[Jacobh]

   
I'd like to see a reference that it is "applying its hrtf to the upmix" -- so you are saying it takes panning info and synthesizes HRTF from that, I take it. Not sure about that - methinks it is enhancing the phase relationships of the stereo pan input, however, I am definitely underscoring, "not sure about that" on my end!
 
There are many ways to enhance the reproduction of phase and absorption information - see the comments about SOFA made by immersifi at the other thread. 
 
This is a fascinating discussion! I'll provide documentation as I discover it on both threads.
 
Terry

 
I do not know for sure.  I am basing my assumption off of the marketing material for Dolby Headphone (their older headphone technology).  The marketing material for that claims it uses Dolby Pro Logic II: https://www.dolby.com/us/en/technologies/dolby-headphone.html.  Dolby Pro Logic II will up mix a  standard stereo source to 5.1: https://www.dolby.com/us/en/technologies/dolby-pro-logic-ii.html even if it's not a pro logic encoded source.  
 
The marketing material is not completely clear, so it is possible there is no upmix involved.  It's also possible Atmos works differently. 
 
Either way, I think we both agree this could only make a binaural recording less accurate.  That doesn't mean it would sound worse to everyone.  I didn't find whatever Atmos for headphones is doing all that compelling on stereo content.  I couldn't get it to work with any of the 5.1 content where Dolby Headphone does a decent job. 

 

[Jacobh]

Here is Microsoft's "Spatial Sound" page.

Terry

That's just documentation on the API which lets a program create a 5.1 source. The good news is that this should make it easier for games / apps to support 5.1 sound without having to license any Dolby technologies directly.

 

[Clovis559]

   
I do not know for sure.  I am basing my assumption off of the marketing material for Dolby Headphone (their older headphone technology).  The marketing material for that claims it uses Dolby Pro Logic II: https://www.dolby.com/us/en/technologies/dolby-headphone.html.  Dolby Pro Logic II will up mix a  standard stereo source to 5.1: https://www.dolby.com/us/en/technologies/dolby-pro-logic-ii.html even if it's not a pro logic encoded source.  
 
The marketing material is not completely clear, so it is possible there is no upmix involved.  It's also possible Atmos works differently. 
 
Either way, I think we both agree this could only make a binaural recording less accurate.  That doesn't mean it would sound worse to everyone.  I didn't find whatever Atmos for headphones is doing all that compelling on stereo content.  I couldn't get it to work with any of the 5.1 content where Dolby Headphone does a decent job. 

 
That's not upmixing from stereo.
 
Quoted from the link you posted: "Dolby Headphone works with the full range of 5.1-channel content, including movies, TV shows, and games. It offers a convenient way to enjoy surround sound even if you don't have a 5.1-channel setup at home."
 
The content was already 5.1.

 

[Jacobh]

That's not upmixing from stereo.

Quoted from the link you posted: "[COLOR=666666]Dolby Headphone works with the full range of 5.1-channel content, including movies, TV shows, and games. It offers a convenient way to enjoy surround sound even if you don't have a 5.1-channel setup at home."[/COLOR]

The content was already 5.1.

Read the next bullet point on the page:

From Stereo into Surround

"When combined with Dolby Pro Logic® II, Dolby Headphone can transform content from a two-channel (stereo) source into surround sound for a richer listening experience.

Marketing for all the computer implementations of Dolby Headphone (Asus, Realtek, etc. ) advertise in a similar manner. Is it possible it just takes stereo sourced and tries to place them in a simulated 2.0 speaker configuration and the marketing is misleading? Yes. It may also be that Dolby Headphone does not have to upsample, but most PC implementations utilize it with Pro Logic since they since they think it will sell better.

I brought up Dolby Headphone since it can be used to take a guess about how Dolby Atmos for headphones works. Atmos could work differently and there is very little detail about the Windows plugin that I've found.

 

[tbritton]

I went to the http://developer.dolby.com site and created a free developer's account, which opens up several demos and other resources not available unless you are registered and signed in.
 
There is a downloadable set of samples including an airplane flying overhead audio sample in there, and several video examples to demo Atmos, and it is clearly a binaural recording, but with Dolby Atmos for Headphones turned on the "height" information seems more pronounced, and it does seem to be going overhead. They say that the files are backwards-compatible to non-dolby listening environments because Atmos embeds special information into the stream -- but is not clear from my reading yet what that information is comprised of.
 
They also say that Atmos treats sound not as speaker positions but as "sound objects", which is exactly what the SN3D Ambisonics treatment does in YouTube and Facebook program material encoded in SN3D (their respective players handle the decoding automatically). SN3D and Atmos as well, presumably, is a "speaker position to HRTF" treatment, which does imply - if Atmos works the same way - that material already recorded in HRTF or binaural is being processed again, as pointed out by Jacobh, which may produce an interesting effect, but would be a distortion of that audio (even if that distortion sounds pleasing).
 
BTW - the Edge browser is fully Dolby Digital Plus (e-ac-3) compatible now. No other browser is. Not sure how this works with the Atmos for Headphones.
 
Still researching!
 
Terry

 

[JPB1]

What video playback program are you guys using to maintain the metadata in the audio stream for headphone rendering? Especially for blu-ray playback or its corresponding mkv playback.

 

[xeizo]

I tried it, it distorts with complex music, very high im-distortion. I uninstalled it and will never look back.

 

[HJW702]

I just updated to Creators Update and the Atmos extension/app/whatever is free of charge. Did I miss something?

 

[Malfunkt]

Dolby Atmos for Headphones is a free trial for 30-days, atmos for Speakers is free but would require specially formatted content.

You can view some dedicated Atmos content here but may need a special player such as MPC-HC.

On 5.1 and 7.1 content I find it does a very good job. It's actually pretty enjoyable for music as well and did not get any distortion using a ODAC and HD700. I do think they should give you a bit of control over it, or at least give you some feedback inner app to show you if it is up-mixing or accepting a 5.1 track.

For games, it can help with some, but I find this more of a mixed bag. It sounds great with Battlefield 1, as it appear Battlefield 1 has Atmos processing in it internally (in fact, even with the Atmos for Windows app, you can enable this in Battlefield 1 but for speakers only). So it seems to do a good job here. Other games such as Overwatch, well it has it built-in, so you wouldn't need it there. CS:Go, well it has its own built-in HRTF, and I think running this on top will just mess with it.

With other games, that can output a 5.1 channel, it appears it will take this and create a rendition similar to movies. Still not as good as having a dedicated Atmos, or an HRTF engine that is built-in to CS:Go. For single player games, similar to something like Sennheiser GSX1000 it can bring a bit more atmosphere.

Really, I think ti works very well for 5.1 audio, Netflix, and even just softening up YouTube audio. Nice option, but would have been better to see this as a core implementation of either Windows and/or Mac OS. While yes, everyone's HRTF is unique, for the most part you can approximate it, unless one's head and torso are severely different, generally you should be able to create convincing surround effects. I feel DSP is a better way to go than trying multiple speaker setups like OSSIC, and unless OSSIC is going to do a physical model of your ears and body I think its a losing battle against a DSP software alogrithm.

 

[x7007]

what is the best way to capture the sound from a game using the Asus Strix Raid DLX sound card ?

With what program is the best to capture the multichannel speakers ? I want to record and hear the differences between the Asus Virtual Surround , Atmos , Sonic and post on youtube so we can compare.

For example if I want to capture using the Virtual Surround of the Asus Strix and if it's the same as capturing the windows 10 Atmos or Sonic ?

What program does it the best ?

Msi AfterBurner Video Recording - which should be easiest for me to use at the moment
Open Broadcaster Software
ShadowPlay
Action!
Bandicam
Xsplit
D3DGear
Dxtory
Fraps
Use Windows 10 Game Bar

Can you tell me if you hear surround here ? I tried to video capturing it with Msi AfterBurner with Atmos-Headphones 7.1 enabled.

 

[Malfunkt]

Can you tell me if you hear surround here ? I tried to video capturing it with Msi AfterBurner with Atmos-Headphones 7.1 enabled.

It's a bit hard to tell here. Not sure if Shadow Warrior is the best way to test this. Take a look at the links I posted above to getting an actual Atmos test track. It is easy to here the difference and then if you record your internal audio you should be able to hear if it was recorded. A 'ghetto' way to record the audio is to just capture the sound out of your headphone report to another recording device. Then import the wave back and blend it with your video. On Mac OS X I use a program called Soundflower to route internal audio to recording software, I'm sure there is a Windows equivalent.

Anyhow, it isn't quite clear if Dolby Atmos for headphone will work automatically with games when you switch them to 5.1/7.1 and headphone out. I know it works with Battlefield 1 (has a dedicated Atmos track). Would probably work with BF3 and BF4 (converting their surround sound channels to simulated surround).