My editor has insisted that I can not name Atmos in a automotive “Catmos.” So anyway, Catmos is the most recent implementation of Dolby’s object-based encompass know-how. We have talked earlier than about how properly it could add top to film sound in theaters, how most mid- and high-end soundbars have some Atmos performance and the way even some headphones have it inbuilt. However in a automotive?
Effectively, sure truly. Today the automotive is the place most individuals take heed to probably the most music. In some methods it is also an excellent place to convincingly create encompass audio, because the listening positions are fastened, and a system is designed to include and compensate for precisely the place the audio system are positioned. Neither of these issues are potential at dwelling, and even in a theater it isn’t as centered.
One of many greatest points with most automotive audio constancy is ambient noise. One technique to drastically scale back that situation is by eradicating the engine fully. A high-end electrical car makes for a best-case state of affairs in a cell encompass sound system, and to that finish I used to be invited by Rivian and Dolby to listen to their practically 1,000-watt, 18-driver Atmos-enabled system within the R1S SUV at an occasion in Venice, California, conveniently 15 miles from the place I dwell. It is LA, so simply shy of two hours later, I used to be all ears.
Atmos-to-Go
With Atmos (on the appropriate), sound designers can pinpoint precisely the place in a theater, any Atmos theater, they need a sound to “seem.” This consists of overhead, or actually, nearly anywhere in the complete area of the cinema.
Let’s again up a second and speak about Atmos. It is a captivating know-how, and its “object-based” method offers a unique technique to combine films and music. The normal approach of audio mixing, which has been round for many years, was to assign a sound or instrument to one in every of 5 encompass channels or the subwoofer — also referred to as 5.1. Three up entrance, two within the again or sides. Some films had much more channels, with seven channels turning into pretty frequent, permitting for aspect and rear channels.
Atmos modifications all that up with the power to deal with a sound or instrument as an “object.” Within the mixing course of, the sound designer can transfer that object anyplace, and the Atmos encoder would perceive the place in bodily area the sound designer meant. An Atmos decoder, in a theater, say, creates a digital map of the system’s audio system and might translate “door creak in again left nook” so the viewers hears it come from that place. This accuracy was tough, if not not possible, earlier than Atmos. A designer might wish to place a sound in a particular location, however there’d be no technique to alter what that meant in a theater with 5 seats, 50 or 500.
The Rivian R1S SUV.
Due to this extra exact approach of transferring sounds round, top audio system had been far simpler to make use of. Now sounds might extra convincingly go from behind the display screen, up over your head, and “land” someplace behind you. Executed proper, it is extraordinarily immersive. If a theater did not have top audio system on the ceiling, the Atmos would nonetheless work, with the decoder shunting the sounds off to the perimeters. So it could nonetheless whoosh previous you, simply not as convincingly as it could have in a extra elaborate system. The Atmos decoding course of is “sensible,” basically understanding what the audio system and area had been, and adjusting so it might do the perfect it might with what it had.
Constructed on the identical platform and sharing a majority of elements, the R1T is principally the identical because the R1S minus a roof over the rear. It loses 2 audio system within the audio system too.
The double-edged sword on this case is that Atmos can work, at some degree anyway, with far much less elaborate methods. That is why there are single-unit soundbars and even TVs with “Atmos.” They’ve upward-firing audio system at finest — and, extra usually, in depth processing to simulate that top sound with various ranges of success.
Which brings us again to Atmos within the automotive. The listeners are all in identified locations, there may be top audio system, and it is simple to have rear audio system since all trendy automobiles — particularly SUVs — are auditorium-sized anyway.
Rivian Premium Audio with Dolby Atmos
The motive force places within the Rivian R1S. The woofers are positioned within the doorways, the tweeters on the pillars and above. The subwoofer is within the trunk, above and behind the appropriate rear wheel.
The 2025 R1S Gen 2 I noticed boasted a Dolby Atmos system with 18 drivers, which had been powered by 960 watts of amplification. Placement for many of those audio system was pretty typical, with some within the sprint, together with a middle channel within the center, woofers within the doorways and a subwoofer within the trunk.
What’s much less frequent is the tweeters on the roofline, above the doorways however under the glass roof. The R1S is a large car, so that they might be thought-about top audio system for just about everybody, and in case you’re tall sufficient that these are ear degree, you would not be capable of see out the windshield.
Like most electrical automobiles, the R1S has few knobs or dials. Nearly all the things is managed through a touchscreen.
You want Atmos-encoded content material to get an actual Atmos expertise. To that finish, the in-car leisure system has built-in Apple Music, Tidal, Amazon Music and Audible. Throughout my demo, we listened to a number of tracks, together with Ariana Grande’s 7 Rings and As It Was by Harry Types.
The monitor that took full benefit of Atmos was Pink Floyd’s Cash: The long-lasting money register opening distinctly began someplace behind the rear passenger-side door, then progressed to above the dashboard, then working its approach across the inside. The precise devices then crammed the area in a approach that conventional stereo would have struggled with (this Atmos combine was painstakingly accepted by the band). I can not totally choose the sound high quality primarily based on a demo of pre-chosen music, however total the treble was clear and the bass punchy, particularly with the Types monitor.
One of many top audio system, notice its location close to the seize deal with. The “sky” on this picture is actually the sky, as seen by means of the panoramic roof.
Whereas there are points of a automotive which might be good for encompass sound, and others that are not. I discussed above about highway noise. On condition that the R1S is electrical, I assume highway noise is lower than, say, my Miata. The opposite is each a optimistic and a destructive. On one hand, engineers know precisely the place the potential listeners are and, roughly, what number of. The truth that they’re unfold aside, near the “partitions,” and to not point out broadly totally different distances to the audio system, all add a not insignificant problem. The combo within the R1S is biased towards the motive force and entrance passenger, which is not too shocking since you will all the time have a minimum of a kind of. Rear listeners will nonetheless get the impact, there are top audio system again there too, however to a lesser extent. A budget seats, if you’ll.
Drivers within the A-pillar and sprint.
Primarily based on my three-song demo, I can not say the place the Rivian’s system stacks among the many high-end automotive audio methods I’ve heard (which is sort of just a few). Nonetheless, I can say the encompass facet was pronounced and extra natural-sounding than something I’ve heard earlier than. So, maybe unexpectedly for some, it was one of many higher demos of Atmos I’ve heard exterior a theater.
The settings display screen. I did not have an opportunity to mess with the sound throughout my demo.
They hear me rollin’, they curious
Rivian is not the one firm together with in-car leisure with Dolby. There are additionally Atmos methods put in in, or deliberate for, fashions by Cadillac, Lotus, Lucid and Chinese language automaker Li. One apparent pattern amongst all of these is that Dolby Atmos would not come low cost. Rivian’s R1S car is within the “premium SUV” class and might simply value over $100,000 (which is, in equity, what most of those huge electrical vans value). The Premium Audio system is mixed with the glass roof as a part of the $2,500 Sound + Imaginative and prescient package deal. You want a subscription to one of many aforementioned streaming providers and Rivian Join Plus, which prices $15 a month or $150 a yr. This additionally features a knowledge connection and might flip your R1S right into a hotspot, in addition to another options. For such a sophisticated car, it is disappointing that there isn’t any Apple CarPlay or Android Auto.
Again seat (or, technically, center row), listeners can have some management over what the pilot and co-pilot are listening to.
So is it value it? I solely had a short demo, in a stationary automotive. I am additionally too low cost, to not point out being a broke author (purchase my ebook!), to spend round $100K on a car, however $2,500 for some nice sounding audio, to not point out a glass roof I can not think about not having in a truck like this, looks like an affordable add-on for ~2.5% of the entire value. So, most likely?
Will we see Atmos in lower-end automobiles? Maybe. Automotive corporations have been partnering with audio corporations for a very long time, and whereas today it is normally Bose or some taste of Harman, automakers know there is a revenue alternative in higher sound. Will they pay for the additional engineering and tuning to get Atmos working appropriately? And even simply working? The upper-end manufacturers would possibly, but it surely’s extremely unlikely we’ll see an Atmos system with top audio system in one thing like a Nissan Versa.
Then once more, if there is a demand, who is aware of. I am positive there’s some exec on the market who loves Atmos and desires to place it in a extra budget-friendly automotive. Form of a contemporary Pontiac GTO — besides as a substitute of an enormous V8, it has Catmos. [You’re fired. —Ty]
In addition to overlaying audio and show tech, Geoff does picture excursions of cool museums and places world wide, together with nuclear submarines, plane carriers, medieval castles, epic 10,000-mile highway journeys and extra.
Additionally, take a look at Funds Journey for Dummies, his journey ebook, and his bestselling sci-fi novel about city-size submarines. You’ll be able to observe him on Instagram and YouTube.
