Atmos vs Auro Upmixer For Movies

I have been comparing Auro and Atmos upmixing for movies. They are both excellent and have different trade offs. Now my speakers are setup for Auro 3D so this may not be a perfect comparison but I use wide dispersion full range speakers so I think the comparisons are still pretty good.

I used The Hobbit for comparison streaming from Amazon. My sound card let's me switch from Dolby Digital to PCM. For Dolby Surround I used DD and I used the scene where the orcs were chasing Radagast on his sled pulled by rabbits. The thing i liked most about the atmos mix was the addition of rear surrounds with the height channels. As the chase was going on you could hear wolves howling and that sled clanging in the chase scene from behind you, adding to the immersion effect. LFE were good and the height channels sounded good. I compared to traditional dolby digital by toggling the remote and traditional 7.1 sucked in comparison, just flat and not immersive.

Auro 3D codec is MUCH more dynamic. Any smashing, howling, clanging, booming has a quality like you are being struck yourself. I have never heard or felt this typs of dynamics from any other codec. The speakers also tend to disappear more, sound is coming from above you but not localized at all. Atmos also is pretty good at not localizing but Auro is a little better, maybe because I have a proper Auro speaker layout. Because of the huge dynamics I tend not to notice the rear surrounds are missing.

In a nutshell both upmixers are excellent and my thoughts is it would boil down to your choice of speakers as to which would be better for your system. If you have nice full range speakers as height channels I think Auro is a no brainer. You will FEEL those huge dynamics viscerally and it is a VERY engaging experience.
If you are using small satellite speakers not capable of huge dynamics you would probably need the rear surround channels to get really immersed and might like an Atmos setup better.

in this comparison I focused on MOVIES only. For music Auro is hands down better because in music there are no instruments on the ceiling above you and atmos just sounds unnatural on music upmixes.

NorthStar said:

That's what everybody is saying: Auro-3D excels @ music, and Atmos not. Atmos I believe was created with movie sound effects in mind. So for movies a lot of folks like it.

From my extended readings on Auro-3D, Dolby Atmos and DTS:X it seems that the largest issue is to set your system correctly (speaker positioning) to accommodate the three audio codecs when switching from one to another. It's a lot of fun experimenting when we have the time. :b
Nothing's perfect; we live with compromises, we accept them and make the best of it.

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NorthStar said:

I think the choice of speaker you use for height channels has much more impact than where you place it. You don't want any speaker to sound localized, you just want a nice immersive bubble to be there without really noticing it.My height channels are on stands so I can experiment with moving them around a little. 80% of a movie is ambience and the soundtrack playing in the background. In order to create that seemless bubble the first thing is to have a timber match and next as close to matching speakers as possible. I think this is much more important than placement. I think Auro excels in creating a seemless immersive bubble. Yes it is good on music but every movie has a music sound track right? You notice it in movies too. The second thing is dynamics. The Auro dynamics are visceral, like you can feel it in your face, your gut, your body and not just bass either. I do use the VOG channels, a Paradigm Shift A2 active speaker. The other night watching Jungle Book there is a scene where the tiger attacks and that VOG channel panned that roar right over my head and I yelled I was so startled. In a nutshell your choice of height speakers have about 70% impact and choice of codec and placement about 30%. If you have the wrong speaker placing it perfectly won't matter much.

I am going to wait a while before adding DTS-X, the 7702 is SO much cheaper than the 7702mkii or the new 7703.

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NorthStar said:

Timbre matched speakers is the recommendation so I very much agree with you. ...And speaker positioning too because all three audio codecs don't perform equally good with the same speaker's setup, the four (or more) overheads. They all have their own optimal setup; I know so...I spent an incredible amount of time reading the most experienced "immersive addicts" on that matter. :b

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I have my speakers on tall stands so I have experimented. I think in a large theater speaker positioning might be a lot more important but in a living room setup like mine if you have full range wide dispersion speakers i doubt you could tell the diffrence between an atmos layout and an auro layout in a blind test with movies. But if you have narrow dispersing satellite speakers that are easily pinpointed than it may be more important.

NorthStar said:

I was walking in the forest very early this morning; and I could hear the river flowing down below and the hawks flapping their wings above. The gentle breeze in the leaves was all around. Perfect timbre matching perfect positioning of all sounds provenance perfect position of me climbing up the trail. Not one once of discord, all perfectly in unison in a 360° bubble of natural transparent reality. It's a good reference.

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and you don't even have to plug it in, the ultimate "wireless" experience