PC Peripherals Getting Dolby Atmos out of PC

greenhorn

greenhorn

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I am interested in getting a Dolby Atmos (5.1.2) setup with a PC source.
I am not interested in buying an HT reciever because they tend to go obsolete rather quickly.
I used to have an audigy 2zs platinum pro with 7.1 analog outs, but it got fried by lightning

I have another creative soundcard with 5.1 out and a whole bunch of usb stereo dacs.

Is there some way i can play an atmos movie and have all channels come from these multiple devices? Ideally DAC for front l/r and creative sound card for the remaining 6 channels.

15 years ago i would have answered this question myself - there were a bunch of audio apps that did this. Not sure what's available in the market right now, and if any of them work with streaming sources.

Damn i feel old. TIA
 
Start with Dolby Atmos app for windows. But I doubt if it can create true Atmos sound for normal speakers. You need a received that can decode dolby atmos stream.

You can take one of these four routes:

1. Use an application and normal speakers, get muddy Atmos that destroys audio quality.
2. Start slowly. I dont think there is any decent soundcard that support Dolby Atmos. You will need a HTPC. Start with HTPC and start investing in solid speakers that provide true dolby atmos experience. This also needs modification to your ceiling as you will need ceiling mounted speakers for proper Atmos experience.
3. Middle ground. Invest in dolby atmos setup from well known brands. New setups come with front speakers that fire upwards so that the sound is reflected from the ceiling to you, creating a somewhat good setup. One such system is Sony's HT-A9 series (have no idea if this is good or not).
4. This is the best route. Stop thinking about Atmos. Invest in very good home theatre setup and enjoy surround audio. You will get extremely good surround system for your entire house for the price of one proper Atmos system for one room.
 
greenhorn said:
Ideally DAC for front l/r and creative sound card for the remaining 6 channels.
Click to expand...

VB-Audio VoiceMeeter Banana

VoiceMeeter Banana, the Advanced Virtual Audio Mixer by V.Burel
vb-audio.com vb-audio.com
You can redirect the channels to multiple physical outputs but you may want to review this and this if chasing behind Atmos.
I simply went with the Sony HT-Z9F plus its 2 wireless Rear speakers (which were free during launch). Simulated Atmos at best but still pretty effective and much better than some of the puny Multiplex Atmos theaters. I have enabled full audio passthrough from my HTPC.
 
DA is object based and not channel based as other formats were. So as far as i'm aware you cannot do something hacky like what you are trying to do. However, don't go to invest in DA if your finances do not permit. I can tell you first hand as a person who wanted to adopt DA from the time it came to home cinema, when I finally did get a 5.1.4 setup in Sep 2020, it was a bit underwhelming. Demo videos sound great but most DA movies are very poorly mixed. Just a few shows and movies have a good DA mix. Don't get me wrong, it's great when done well, but many audiophiles have done studies/analysis and found that DA speakers engage for only a fraction of a movies entire runtime. However, i do see this changing, so if money is not a concern, go ahead, else wait another 12 months, hardware will get cheaper and content will be more and improved.
 
I am sorted on the PC and speaker front. I have an hp elitedesk 705 g4 with a ryzen 3.
I have a z906 and a mix of Chinese and vintage Japanese stereo amps in the 40-60wpc and some decent speakers too (currently using a vintage ar28b, also have pioneer sp bs22 and a vintage b&w 5.1 setup in storage somewhere)
I am not a fan of buying a htib because they'll sound like crap compared to my Speakers, or a reciever because I've got nice amps already. Also don't want to spend too much money hardware tied to the fotm surround format

I'm looking for something like a tonewinner at300 with a soundcard acting as a dumb interface and the PC and some software doing the heavy lifting, so that in a few years when they launch Dolby Atmos pro with 7.2.6, i just need to add some more soundcards and amps and speakers which i already have

Edit:
Never mind. Looks like even though i can create a virtual 7.1 soundcard, there are no software atmos decoders. I have to buy some hardware device.
I'm not playing that game thank you very much. It would have been nice though. I'll stick to Dolby digital for now
 
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greenhorn said:
no software atmos decoders
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Even if you want to use an Atmos software decoder, you will have to jump through a number of hoops to just extract the Atmos audio track. While it is not impossible, it is neither practical nor for the faint-hearted -
audiophilestyle.com

How To Decode and Play Dolby TrueHD Atmos on Windows and macOS

Yes, you read the title correctly. Here is a little background and all the information you'll need to decode and play lossless Dolby TrueHD with Atmos on a Windows or macOS computer, without the need for HDMI output. Housekeeping There are two codecs used with Dolby Atmos content. Lossy - Dolby D...
audiophilestyle.com audiophilestyle.com
This makes use of the $$$$ Dolby Media Encoder to do the processing.
For a free option look at this interesting open source project -
github.com

GitHub - VoidXH/Cavern: Object-based audio engine and codec pack with Dolby Atmos rendering, room correction, HRTF, one-click Unity audio takeover, and much more.

Object-based audio engine and codec pack with Dolby Atmos rendering, room correction, HRTF, one-click Unity audio takeover, and much more. - VoidXH/Cavern
github.com github.com
Best to just passthrough the Atmos via HDMI to an Atmos enabled receiver/soundbar/speaker unit and enjoy Mad Max Fury Road.
 

TO Get Dolby Atmos out of PC you need​

1.PC with nvdia gpu that can bitstream dolby atmos or nvidia shield or any device that can bitstream atmos audio
2. an AV receiver that can decode Dolby atmos
3.two over head speakers (basic config for atmos) along with 5.1 speaker
 
I don't want to bitstream audio out - I am looking for discrete analog outputs. My old audigy 2ZS supported every 6.1 Format available at the time. Looking for something similar
 
i think it will not be possible as of my knowledge
atmos is not about channels its processed as individual objects
i also used creative sound card a decade ago but now
i have nvidia gpu yamaha avr that does 7.1.4 atmos dedicated room
atmos is definitely a good audio tech
 
anpl said:
i think it will not be possible as of my knowledge
atmos is not about channels its processed as individual objects
i also used creative sound card a decade ago but now
i have nvidia gpu yamaha avr that does 7.1.4 atmos dedicated room
atmos is definitely a good audio tech
Click to expand...
When it comes to Atmos at home, it really is down to the additional height channels since the Atmos receiver will map to the limited number of speakers unlike the speaker arrays in a movie theater -
www.audioholics.com

Dolby Atmos for Home Cinema How is it Different?

This article briefly discusses how Dolby Atmos is different than conventional 5.1 and 7.1 surround decoding schemes. How will it be adopted to the home market? Read on.
www.audioholics.com www.audioholics.com
 
ibose said:
When it comes to Atmos at home, it really is down to the additional height channels since the Atmos receiver will map to the limited number of speakers unlike the speaker arrays in a movie theater -
www.audioholics.com

Dolby Atmos for Home Cinema How is it Different?

This article briefly discusses how Dolby Atmos is different than conventional 5.1 and 7.1 surround decoding schemes. How will it be adopted to the home market? Read on.
www.audioholics.com www.audioholics.com
Click to expand...
this was written way before mass availability of atmos for consumers at the bottom the article he wrote
(("But who knows, if Dolby Atmos really will be introduced in consumer audio, the trend (at least on the high end side) could be go up again. The future will be exciting as always!"))
i also thought the audio is rendered as channels when i had 2 ceiling speakers but when i switched to 4 ceiling speaker the story is entirely different the sound will envelop you from all directions it really is object based audio and the experience is breathtaking
 
anpl said:
this was written way before mass availability of atmos for consumers at the bottom the article he wrote
(("But who knows, if Dolby Atmos really will be introduced in consumer audio, the trend (at least on the high end side) could be go up again. The future will be exciting as always!"))
i also thought the audio is rendered as channels when i had 2 ceiling speakers but when i switched to 4 ceiling speaker the story is entirely different the sound will envelop you from all directions it really is object based audio and the experience is breathtaking
Click to expand...
The fundamentals of how Atmos is rendered remains unchanged. The bed channels remain as is but the audio track contains additional information on positioning of the sound on top of DTS only which is used by the receiver to map to each of the speakers independently. The more speakers you add to the setup the better object based sound you get. For HT you can go upto 8 overhead speakers.
 
What I have understood you cannot get Atmos without a Receiver as you can simply get 5.1 from directly connecting Logitech speaker in 3.5 mm jacks and assigning them as front, rear and center subwoofer from Realtek HD audio manager. Correct me if I am wrong. For 90% of time 5.1 is not used, for 80% of times 2.1 is not used, for 60% of times only center and subwoofer are used. It brings smile when full 5.1 is used but sadly it is not much used in movies and TV shows as you will found in sample videos. Atmos is very costly affair as compared to 5.1 because I got Logitech Z506 for 5000 in amazon sale and it gives me 5.1 but for just extra 2 overhead speakers I have to spend 70000 which will be used for one or two minutes in movies.
 
raman.bhadu said:
What I have understood you cannot get Atmos without a Receiver as you can simply get 5.1 from directly connecting Logitech speaker in 3.5 mm jacks and assigning them as front, rear and center subwoofer from Realtek HD audio manager. Correct me if I am wrong. For 90% of time 5.1 is not used, for 80% of times 2.1 is not used, for 60% of times only center and subwoofer are used. It brings smile when full 5.1 is used but sadly it is not much used in movies and TV shows as you will found in sample videos. Atmos is very costly affair as compared to 5.1 because I got Logitech Z506 for 5000 in amazon sale and it gives me 5.1 but for just extra 2 overhead speakers I have to spend 70000 which will be used for one or two minutes in movies.
Click to expand...
most movies relased in ott are 5.1 you definitely can get 5.1 out of movie try using power dvd or mpc-hc or potplayer
even for 2 ch you can get 5.1 when you use above softwares
atmos is a different league but its worth you will be in midst of the action
sound will even pass through you that brings a wow experience
 
anpl said:
most movies relased in ott are 5.1 you definitely can get 5.1 out of movie try using power dvd or mpc-hc or potplayer
even for 2 ch you can get 5.1 when you use above softwares
atmos is a different league but its worth you will be in midst of the action
sound will even pass through you that brings a wow experience
Click to expand...
Yes the atmos is very nice to have is 15 times costly effect in comparison to 5.1
 
Dolby Atmos object oriented but altimately signal has to go to speakers through 2 wires or wireless. Hence once a decoder developed that can decode dolby atmos into say 5.1.2 and send it to 8 channels of sound card, now from the sound card 7 speakers plus one subwoofer can be connected (all sprakers with built in amplifier). Further if the above decoder has features to provide /compensate to work like a sound bar like 3.1.2 with adjustable distance / locations etc , height speakers can be really at height or top firing. If it is PC based , it will be more flexible, long lasting and open, instead of proprietary hardware inside some AV Receiver or soundbar.
Such PC based decoder with GUI is opportunity to sound card manufacturers to develop but licencing to be affordable.
Dolby Reference Player bundled with Dolby Media Encoder is capable of decoding Dolby Atmos on PC.
At present the best can be done without so many speakers is Dolby Atmos Headphone app available as Dolby Access for PC (any headphone will work). All premium phones are having this as built-in. It can be most accurate , better than n no speakers (5.1.2, 7.1.4 etc) , since both the ears covered with two speakers of headphone approx designed distance, but max 2 people may able to listen simultaneously with Bluetooth 5.0 or higher.
 
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knreddy said:
Dolby Atmos object oriented but altimately signal goes speakers through 2 wires or wireless. Hence once a decoder developed that can decode say 5.1.2 send it to 8 channels of sound card. Now from sound card 7 speakers plus one subwoofer connected (all with built in amplifier). Further if above decoder have features to provide /compensate, it can work like a sound bar like 3.1.2 with adjustable distance / locations , height speakers can be really at height or top firing. If it is PC based , it will be more flexible, long lasting and open instead of proprietary hardware inside some AV Receiver or soundbar.
Succh PC based decoder with GUI is opportunity to develop by sound card manufacturers.
At present the best can be done without so many speakers , Dolby Atmos Headphone app available as Dolby Access (any headphone will work) and all premium phones are having this as built-in. It can be most accurate , better than n no speakers (5.1.2, 7.1.4 etc) , since both the ears covered with two speakers of headphone approx designed distance, but Max 2 people may able to listen simultaneously with Bluetooth 5.0 or higher.
Dolby Atmos object oriented but altimately signal has to go to speakers through 2 wires or wireless. Hence once a decoder developed that can decode dolby atmos into say 5.1.2 and send it to 8 channels of sound card, now from the sound card 7 speakers plus one subwoofer can be connected (all sprakers with built in amplifier). Further if the above decoder has features to provide /compensate to work like a sound bar like 3.1.2 with adjustable distance / locations etc , height speakers can be really at height or top firing. If it is PC based , it will be more flexible, long lasting and open, instead of proprietary hardware inside some AV Receiver or soundbar.
Such PC based decoder with GUI is opportunity to sound card manufacturers to develop but licencing to be affordable.
Dolby Reference Player bundled with Dolby Media Encoder is capable of decoding Dolby Atmos on PC.
At present the best can be done without so many speakers is Dolby Atmos Headphone app available as Dolby Access for PC (any headphone will work). All premium phones are having this as built-in. It can be most accurate , better than n no speakers (5.1.2, 7.1.4 etc) , since both the ears covered with two speakers of headphone approx designed distance, but max 2 people may able to listen simultaneously with Bluetooth 5.0 or higher.
Click to expand...
Is this output from Chatgpt or something similar? I can't understand what's written here. Not normal human talk.
 
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