Accompanied by John Williams’s Oscar-nominated score, the titles swoosh up, down, and across the screen, and there was a palpable sense of height as Marlon Brando’s title soared over my head (or at least, so it felt). I also tried the opening titles of Superman, a famously thrilling title sequence that got the Dolby Atmos treatment a few years back. It’s a vertiginous sequence that relies on 3D audio cues for much of its effect, and the Arc the soundtrack of this arresting scene with aplomb. I was impressed by the patter of rain against the windshield and the sudden, frightening “pop” of incoming fire from attackers far below. Next, I spun up the 4K UHD Blu-ray of Blade Runner: 2048 and queued up the scene where K pilots his spinner to the ruined orphanage in the outskirts of San Diego. What makes the scene interesting from an Atmos standpoint isn’t so much the initial mayhem, it’s the sound of the particles of plaster falling from the ceiling, and the Arc delivered the aural experience convincingly. I started with one of our go-to Dolby Atmos demo reels: the scene in X-Men: Apocalypse where a young Scott Summers wreaks havoc in a bathroom stall as he uses his laser-beam eyes for the first time. (To be fair, the Arc’s performance would likely be more exciting when connected to optional wireless surround speakers and a dedicated subwoofer, but that would drive the price of the package way up.) While the Arc’s Atmos performance didn’t blow me away (although in-your-face height cues aren’t ideal, either), I was still impressed with the depth and realism of the Arc’s Atmos-enabled soundstage. The results: quite good, if a tad subtle. Subtle, realistic Dolby Atmos performance
How can i buy a dolby atmos demo disc tv#
That meant I could test the Arc’s Dolby Atmos using both my Sony 4K UHD Blu-ray player and my Apple TV 4K streaming set-top box.
How can i buy a dolby atmos demo disc plus#
So, Mike shipped the Sonos Arc to my Brooklyn apartment, where I have a 2019 LG C9 4K OLED TV that does support eARC, plus a speedy internet connection (about 200Mbps downstream). Mike lives in an area of rural Northern California that lacks high-speed internet the fastest DSL service he can get isn’t quite fast enough to stream Netflix at 4K, which is a requirement for Dolby Atmos sound on that service. Such services transmit Dolby Atmos via Dolby Digital Plus, a lossy format that the original ARC can handle. The other way to enjoy movies and TV shows with Dolby Atmos sound is via streaming video services, such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple iTunes, or Netflix. ( You can read more about ARC and eARC here.)
![how can i buy a dolby atmos demo disc how can i buy a dolby atmos demo disc](https://images.playerm.com/dolby-atmos-demonstration-demo-disc-august-2014.jpg)
Because the Dolby Atmos metadata on a Blu-ray disc resides on the disc’s lossless Dolby TrueHD track, Mike wasn’t able to test Atmos on the Arc-which has just one HDMI port-using his 4K UHD Blu-ray player.
![how can i buy a dolby atmos demo disc how can i buy a dolby atmos demo disc](https://www.bigpicturebigsound.com/artman2/uploads/5/P1020485-auro-demo.jpg)
For starters, the 2017 Samsung Q7-series 4K QLED TV he used during his review doesn’t support eARC, a newer HDMI feature that can handle (among other things) the transmission of lossless audio from a TV to a soundbar. Mike faced a couple of key obstacles on that score.