DOLBY ATMOS

It’s time to give your home cinema system the happy Atmos it deserves

When you upgrade a Dolby 5.1 set-up to a 7.1 system by adding a pair of ‘back’ speakers, you’re rewarded with a more cohesive surround sound. But add another two (or four) ‘height’ speakers and you’ll be listening to the 3D soundscape of Dolby Atmos. With the extra channels placed in the ceiling, or bounced from upwardfiring speakers, Atmos can simulate spookily realistic overhead effects. In fact, it can place 128 independent audio objects around the room in a 5.1.2 or 7.1.4 configuration (where the 2 and the 4 represent your new height speakers).

You’ll find Dolby Atmos soundtracks cropping up on Blu-ray releases like

Sherlock and Gravity, and streaming services like Netflix with increasing frequency, while AV manufacturers are all keen to get the Atmos badge onto hardware. As for Ultra HD Blu-ray, you can expect Atmos to be the new sound standard.

But sometimes, having seven speakers just isn’t practical, which is why you can also find Dolby Atmos decoding built into soundbars like the excellent Samsung HW-K950. It uses multiple drive units in a single speaker to give you a similar 3D sound effect.