Dolby Atmos-based soundbars can make a huge difference to the sound system, regardless of whether you’re playing games or watching movies. It’s understandable why the technology is widely adopted by some of the biggest audio companies like JBL, Samsung, Sonos, Sony and Sennheiser.
1. Even the top-of-the-line TV may not satisfy audiophiles.
Object Tracking Sound from Samsung and Acoustic Surface Audio from Sony are both excellent technologies to explore. However, most flat-screen TVs have small speakers, and these speakers can’t match the sheer thump of a decent sound woofer.
2. Dolby Atmos movies and music are now everywhere.
Wherever you get your movies and TV shows from, chances are it’s also available in Atmos. You’ll find Atmos on Netflix, on Disney+, on Amazon Prime Video, on Apple TV+, on Sky… you get the idea. Today, most 4K Blu-rays are now Atmos compatible, and many Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X games are Atmos compatible.
The use of Dolby Atmos’ technology has now also spread into the music scenes and streaming services such as Tidal and Spotify have an increasingly large number of audio tracks that are mixed in Dolby Atmos for their subscribers to enjoy.
3. Atmos in soundbars is as good as it sounds.
A combination of clever processing and tons of speakers, including wireless ones, makes Atmos soundbars much better than you might expect. Taking the T3 Award-winning Samsung HW-Q990B as an example, it comes with a remarkably powerful soundbar, a subwoofer, and two rear speakers, and it uses upward-firing drivers in the main soundbar to deliver that all-important Dolby Atmos height.
4. Soundbars with Atmos don’t have to cost a fortune.
The average price of an Atmos soundbar is approx. $1100 in the US or £1000 in the UK. Even so, this is still a considerable amount to spend on a decent-performing Atmos soundbar.
However, be mindful of the cheaper crop of soundbars that ‘only’ support the Dolby Atmos Height Virtualization technology (such as the JBL Bar 5.0 MultiBeam).
5. There’s no need to use an atmospheric sound source if you don’t want to.
In much the same way that a high-quality TV can do a great job of up sampling video from HD or even SD to 4K, many Dolby Atmos soundbars will allow you to do the same with audio – so it doesn’t matter if your content isn’t made for Atmos, you can still get a superior surround sound experience. Though some users have commented that video up sampling may have different results and suggested using it sparingly, a quick fix can be done with some small adjustments.
Cover Image Credit: Sony.