[hseldon]

Apple music is about to support Spatial Audio , Dolby Atmos music files. Tidal already has master quality music archive and 360 Reality Audio.

I'm going to use the dac/amp with Senn 598, 600 and Hifiman 400 Planars.

IFI AUDIO HIP-DAC and FiiO Headphone Amplifier DAC Q3 DSD are popular nowadays. But do they have support for Dolby Atmos and 360 Reality Audio? I'm not even sure if hardware support is even needed tough.

Which one of these two would you choose? Do you have a better alternative?

 

[PurpleAngel]

Headphone (and most headsets) are 2-channel stereo audio.
DAC for headphones are basic, 2.0 (2-channel) in, 2.0 (2-channel) out.
So Spatial Audio, Dolby Atmos, Tidal, are separate issues from whatever headphones or DAC you decide to use.
Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos are processes that take place before the audio signal even gets to the DAC.
What sources would you plug the DAC into?

 

[hseldon]

Probably only source I'll plug into DAC will be Samsung S20FE.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Probably only source I'll plug into DAC will be Samsung S20FE.

Ok, so your going to use your Samsung S20FE android smartphone to listen to streaming music and music stored on the S20FE.
So your Samsung is going to feed the same 2-channel digital audio signal out it's USB port, no matter which USB DAC/amp you use.
Feel free to pick any android/smartphone combatable USB DAC/amp you want.
Me, I like FiiO products, but if you like something else better, go for it

 

[iFi audio]

Headphone (and most headsets) are 2-channel stereo audio.
DAC for headphones are basic, 2.0 (2-channel) in, 2.0 (2-channel) out.
So Spatial Audio, Dolby Atmos, Tidal, are separate issues from whatever headphones or DAC you decide to use.
Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos are processes that take place before the audio signal even gets to the DAC.

Was going to write the same, thanks

IFI AUDIO HIP-DAC

If you'd like to know more about it or have any questions, I'm around

 

[Ynot1]

Creative has a $1000 soundbar that converts atmos to sxfi via 3.5mm headphone jack and 2.5 gaming wireless via Sxfi theater headphone. Maybe if we wait long enough someone will make a dac amp with atmos decoder. We have Dolby digital 5.1 and 7.1 already.

 

[hseldon]

Headphone (and most headsets) are 2-channel stereo audio.
DAC for headphones are basic, 2.0 (2-channel) in, 2.0 (2-channel) out.
So Spatial Audio, Dolby Atmos, Tidal, are separate issues from whatever headphones or DAC you decide to use.
Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos are processes that take place before the audio signal even gets to the DAC.
What sources would you plug the DAC into?

I just bought FiiO K3 (new one) , connected it to my desktop computer and I options for spatial audio (both Windows Sonic and Dolby Atmos for headphone) are greyed out.

Is there a way to use these with USB DAC/AMPs like FiiO K3 ?

 

[PurpleAngel]

I just bought FiiO K3 (new one) , connected it to my desktop computer and I options for spatial audio (both Windows Sonic and Dolby Atmos for headphone) are greyed out.
Is there a way to use these with USB DAC/AMPs like FiiO K3 ?

Could be the Windows Sonic and Dolby Atmos use the built in sound card for processing and a USB connection bypasses the sound card functions.
Also check the requirements for Sonic and Atmos, maybe there needs to be something added to get them to function (guessing)?

 

[hseldon]

Could be the Windows Sonic and Dolby Atmos use the built in sound card for processing and a USB connection bypasses the sound card functions.
Also check the requirements for Sonic and Atmos, maybe there needs to be something added to get them to function (guessing)?

I found this discussion.
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...c/9a52fbce-5a80-4597-af1c-9400b68b957e?auth=1

they say, it may be related to the DAC being 24 bit but windows sonic ,dolby atmos supporting only 16bits.
I dunno if tis really the case. but without support for spatial audio this any DAC/Amp is pretty much useless to me.

 

[PurpleAngel]

I found this discussion.
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...c/9a52fbce-5a80-4597-af1c-9400b68b957e?auth=1

they say, it may be related to the DAC being 24 bit but Windows Sonic ,Dolby Atmos supporting only 16bits.
I dunno if tis really the case. but without support for spatial audio this any DAC/Amp is pretty much useless to me.

I'm 99% sure it's not a 24-bit/16-bit problem, any DAC that can handle 24-bit should not have an issue with 16-bit.

 

[Tal00]

Hi fellow Head-fiers

I apologize if this question was already answered. I couldn’t find anything online.

I have a FiiO M11 Plus LTD and I love it!
And I’m wondering if I can use the PCM output feature to output Apple Music spatial audio with Dolby Atmos. As far as I understand coaxial PCM output does not support Atmos encoded Multichannel PCM. The reason I’m asking is that from my understanding iTunes on Windows 10 does not support Atmos (even though Windows does). Which is frustrating. But I’m trying to find a workaround without handing Apple more of my money for an Apple TV 4K (which doesn’t even support High-Res!). Apparently the Apple Music android app supports spatial music on Android devices which support Dolby Atmos. Any suggestions on how I can get proper Dolby Atmos from Apple Music to my Denon AVR?