Lets talk Dolby Atmos & Xbox One X

bizzmeister

2[H]4U
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Anyone have experience with a nice headset on this console yet?

To acquire the Dolby Atmos sound option and use it, you have to pay a one time $14.99 fee to use it for gaming and movies.


If you choose to not use Dolby Atmos, you have Microsofts version called Windows Sonic.


I went ahead and purchased the Dolby Atmos license through the settings/dashboard and now im searching for a nice headset to use it with for my gaming.


Im looking at this:


https://www.amazon.com/Plantronics-...UTF8&qid=1512013694&sr=8-1&keywords=rig+800lx

(btw, that specific headset comes with a voucher pre-paid in box to unlock Dolby Atmos, found out after lol)


From what i understand, all i have to do is plug in the receiver to the xbox with that headset ( wireless transmitter ) set the option for headphones to dolby atmos and thats it. Pretty damn easy.


For the wired ones, all you have to do is plug the 3.5mm jack into the xbox controller and thats all too.



Any suggestions or experience with this guys?
 
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Sounds like a gimmick. (Spoken by someone who has a true DD Atmos 7.1.4 system with all matching speakers powered by a Denon x7200wa — which isn’t a gimmick).
 
Sounds like a gimmick. (Spoken by someone who has a true DD Atmos 7.1.4 system with all matching speakers powered by a Denon x7200wa — which isn’t a gimmick).


Thats obviously an insane true surround setup you got there but from what im seeing (review wise by users on youtube) people are absolutely loving it so far. Just wanted some opinions from the users on here.
 
I’ve tried the different headphone systems Over the years. The only thing I’ve ever heard that truly astonishingly worked well for surround headphones was the Smyth Realizer A16. I could not tell the difference between the Sennheiser 800 headphones sourced by the Realizer A16, and the actuall Yamaha 5.1.4 studio monitor setup in the room (that the Symth A16 was configured to reproduce). The headphones where configured with a gyro that enabled the speakers when you took off the headphones and disabled them when you put them on. They then played Atmos content. You could NOT tell the difference. This test setup was at Axpona last year in Chicago. Absolutely amazing results. Left my jaw on the floor.

But 3 grand to listen in headphones to what I already have in real life is novel, but not at all necessary in my situation.

If you end up loving this thing - report back.


Thats obviously an insane true surround setup you got there but from what im seeing (review wise by users on youtube) people are absolutely loving it so far. Just wanted some opinions from the users on here.
 
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I tried it on a pair of analog stereo headphones (Astro A40) plugged directly into the controller. The demos sound amazing, but I don't think there are any games that support it yet. The spatial awareness was a little improved in Forza and Skyrim, though, but nothing earth shattering. If a game comes out with support and it offers the same positional depth as the demos then it would be totally worth it.
 
I tried it on a pair of analog stereo headphones (Astro A40) plugged directly into the controller. The demos sound amazing, but I don't think there are any games that support it yet. The spatial awareness was a little improved in Forza and Skyrim, though, but nothing earth shattering. If a game comes out with support and it offers the same positional depth as the demos then it would be totally worth it.


I don’t know, maybe I’m blind but the only headset I’m seeing that has Dolby Atmos support is the 800LX listed above.


Are there others?
 
I don’t know, maybe I’m blind but the only headset I’m seeing that has Dolby Atmos support is the 800LX listed above.


Are there others?
The Atmos for headphones on the Xbox One does the audio processing on the console side and then pushes it through the attached headphones. If you have a receiver attached then you use the extra options in the settings to allow the receiver to decode the audio stream. If you have optical headphones attached that support passthrough decoding then there is an option for that, as well. Basically, it's got everything covered.
 
To acquire the Dolby Atmos sound option and use it, you have to pay a one time $14.99 fee to use it for gaming and movies.
Seriously?! WTF Microsoft?!

Plantronics is pretty shitty when it comes to headphones. I would avoid.
 
Let us know how Dolby Atmos/Headphone compares to Windows Sonic....curious, but not enough to spend $15 to test. :p
 
Oh yeah? I downloaded the app but it just kept wanting me to buy the thing when I tried to use it.
If you're trying it on Windows I don't know how it works. On the Xbox you have to quit the app and restart it after changing the system settings for it to work. You have to select Dolby Atmos (Headphones) from the system audio settings.
 
If you're trying it on Windows I don't know how it works. On the Xbox you have to quit the app and restart it after changing the system settings for it to work. You have to select Dolby Atmos (Headphones) from the system audio settings.

Ah yeah, sorry, I guess I was talking about Windows as I don't have an Xbox. But I imagine the quality comparison should be the same between the two.
 
Ah yeah, sorry, I guess I was talking about Windows as I don't have an Xbox. But I imagine the quality comparison should be the same between the two.
I can try them out with a movie sometime and try to portray if I hear a difference and what that difference is. I really have no motivation to try it on PC as I'm already getting pretty good sound with my soundcard through my headphones, but I can check if I can get it working.
 
Wait.... Are we talking about the Dolby App costing money? I didn't have to pay $14.99 and Atmos works fine in movies and games. I tested it with Gears 4...

Or do you mean an app for your headphones in particular?
 
Wait.... Are we talking about the Dolby App costing money? I didn't have to pay $14.99 and Atmos works fine in movies and games. I tested it with Gears 4...

Or do you mean an app for your headphones in particular?

Could be wrong, but I think this is for Windows/Xbox to decode and play Atmos audio directly. Are you using an external receiver that decodes Atmos?
 
Sounds like a gimmick. (Spoken by someone who has a true DD Atmos 7.1.4 system with all matching speakers powered by a Denon x7200wa — which isn’t a gimmick).

Dolby Atmos for headphones is an HRTF implementation aka Creative's CMSS-3D, SBX Surround, Dolby Headphones, etc. When done well they make a difference with positional audio when using headphones, and now apparently the "object-based" functions of Atmos are implemented here as well.

I'm sure there is some fallback for normal 5.1/7.1 audio to be converted to virtual surround when using Atmos for Headphones but I can't comment on that specifically.

I've got the Plantronics 800LX headphones now w/ the free Atmos code. It does a good job overall with positional audio, but I think I still like Creative's implementations just a tad bit better (for non-specific reasons... this is subjective :)). I only tried it in Overwatch as that is the only Atmos game I have.

I would say try Windows Sonic first to see if it does the job for you.
 
Seriously?! WTF Microsoft?!

Plantronics is pretty shitty when it comes to headphones. I would avoid.

Dolby wants money. Is this not obvious? Do you expect MS to pay for this for everyone upfront? Seriously?

I also disagree on your Plantronics comment after owning the 800 LX and Backbeat Fit headphones. Those are my only data points though :)
 
I currently use Creative's Surround option for headphones since I have a SBZ sound card - I have tried Dolby Headphone and CMSS in the past, they all really seem to kill the dynamic range of the sound. But they are totally required for accurate positional audio using headphones, otherwise front vs back just sounds the same.
 
Wait.... Are we talking about the Dolby App costing money? I didn't have to pay $14.99 and Atmos works fine in movies and games. I tested it with Gears 4...

Or do you mean an app for your headphones in particular?

Dolby Atmos for headphones costs $14.99. The version for normal speakers is free I believe.
 
Dolby wants money. Is this not obvious? Do you expect MS to pay for this for everyone upfront? Seriously?
Yes, yes I do for the amount they are charging for their consoles and the amount THEY would pay for the license.
 
Yes, yes I do for the amount they are charging for their consoles and the amount THEY would pay for the license.

How much are they paying for the license and how big of an impact is it on their net revenue per console? Please provide some insight here if you can.

What do you think they get per console sold? $100? $50?

It was $28 when the console first came out; the Xbox One X looks to make $0 in profit per console:

https://www.cnet.com/news/microsoft-squeezes-little-profit-out-of-each-xbox-one/

https://www.extremetech.com/gaming/251038-theres-no-profit-margin-microsoft-xbox-one-x

When you make $30/console in profit $3/seat is a lot to ask for when ~half your base won't ever use it.
 
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