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Dolby Atmos on a Laptop - WTF?

MakeMineVinyl

Well-Known Member
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/dolby-atmos-sound-comes-laptops

Some seriously intense marketing mumbo-jumbo here:

The Dolby-designed system combines custom speakers and software to deliver “exceptional audio” from a PC form factor, according to a press release issued by Dolby and Huawei, a Chinese technology company that sells smartphones and other electronics products around the world.

Dolby said it has overcome traditional shortcomings of the laptop form factor by working with partners to vertically integrate the entire audio sub-system into the laptop. The system is described as delivering “a more immersive experience that puts you inside the action.”

According to the press release: “With Dolby Atmos at its core, the Dolby Atmos Sound System creates audio that moves all around you while delivering boosted bass, enhanced volume without distortion on speakers and headphones, and a superior listening experience with a larger range of frequencies for the most natural and lifelike sound.”
 
Yeah, it sure looks like Dolby is becoming the new Bose.

My laptop has Dynaudio-branded speakers that don't play that loud, have no bass and do not sound perceptibly better than the speakers in any other decent laptop. There is a nice logo above the keyboard though. It looks super premium.
 

What am I missing?
The report is from 2012 and focuses on Huawei as a provider of telecom equipment vital to national infrastructure like the switching/routing equipment used in Central Offices and cell towers ... not cell phone handsets. The report's only mention of "code" is in pointing out that certification services for infrastructure level equipment, as of 2012, aren't (weren't) specifically designed to uncover malicious codes.
 
That's an important point. Huawei is one of the most popular mobile phone brands in India, a nation which is EXTREMELY restrictive of who can do business in their nation, mostly for security and nationalist interests. The Indian culture and government consider China the biggest threat to their sovereignty, security, and financial independence, so if there was a threat from a Huawei phone, they would not allow them in the Indian market.
 
My reply about my phone was not something I meant literally. I'm not concerned one way or another about some clandestine foreign or domestic agency spying on my monumentally-boring-as-hell daily activity, and I certainly don't suspect my phone has some evil code hidden within its bowels. :snoring:
 
During MWC and NAB I spent some time visiting with some friends who are CTOs at Dolby and they are on a mission to develop audio coding technology which can use two speakers, multiple speakers, or arrays of speakers to create perceptually immersive audio experiences. What they told me was they spent massive amount time developing the algorithms and perceptual coders and testing them with both trained and golden eared listeners as well as extensive tests with real world listeners and were very proud of how effective their technology can be at creating a 3D experience for listeners using a simple sound bar, pair of headphones or other speaker array. What they were incredibly frustrated with was the consumer use research which showed nearly everyone chose to put systems with their capabilities in standard "stereo mode" and bypass all the Dolby magic-craft, usually because most people just want simple, clear, solid and intelligible audio and don't care about virtual surround, in general.

I felt like they were living in some fantasy world where they had been consuming the their own Kool-Aid for far too long.
 
Could be that most people have the same reaction that I do when I hear systems and recordings which use virtual surround type processing; it sounds phase-y, feels like its "pulling" my ears, and in general is more stessful to listen to than just plain 'ol stereo or mono.
 
My problem thus far with psuedo-surround is that it doesn't seem to work 100% of the time with the same material. If I'm watching a movie and the rear channels work for some sounds but not others it becomes very distracting.
 
Even with 5.1 I have been fooled by a telephone ringing in the back ground and would get up to go answer it. So good sound effects and the luck that I had the phone in the direction of the sound is a rare incident. Now the rooms and home has changed. The next thing is my mother is happy with just the TV sound because it is a bother for her to change. Some people are just Lazy to learn or use the new systems. Why Change ? Some people just want their Horse and buggy.
 
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