I Listened to Dolby Atmos in a Rivian SUV: Is It the Way forward for Automative Audio?

My editor has insisted that I am unable to name Atmos in a automotive “Catmos.” So anyway, Catmos is the newest implementation of Dolby’s object-based encompass know-how. We have talked earlier than about how effectively it will probably add peak 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? 

Properly, sure truly. Nowadays the automotive is the place most individuals hearken to essentially the most music. In some methods it is also an amazing 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 doable at house, and even in a theater it isn’t as targeted. 

One of many largest points with most automotive audio constancy is ambient noise. One approach to drastically cut back that challenge is by eradicating the engine utterly. A high-end electrical car makes for a best-case state of affairs in a cellular encompass sound system, and to that finish I used to be invited by Rivian and Dolby to listen to their almost 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 stay. It is LA, so simply shy of two hours later, I used to be all ears.

Atmos-to-Go

Let’s again up a second and speak about Atmos. It is an enchanting know-how, and its “object-based” strategy offers a distinct approach to combine motion pictures and music. The standard approach of audio mixing, which has been round for many years, was to assign a sound or instrument to certainly one of 5 encompass channels or the subwoofer — also called 5.1. Three up entrance, two within the again or sides. Some motion pictures had much more channels, with seven channels turning into pretty frequent, permitting for aspect and rear channels. 

Atmos adjustments 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 wherever, and the Atmos encoder would perceive the place in bodily area the sound designer supposed. An Atmos decoder, in a theater, say, creates a digital map of the system’s audio system and may 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 may need to place a sound in a particular location, however there’d be no approach to alter what that meant in a theater with 5 seats, 50 or 500.

Because of this extra exact approach of transferring sounds round, peak audio system have been far simpler to make use of. Now sounds may extra convincingly go from behind the display screen, up over your head, and “land” someplace behind you. Carried out proper, it is extraordinarily immersive. If a theater did not have peak audio system on the ceiling, the Atmos would nonetheless work, with the decoder shunting the sounds off to the perimeters. So it will nonetheless whoosh previous you, simply not as convincingly as it will have in a extra elaborate system. The Atmos decoding course of is “good,” basically understanding what the audio system and area have been, and adjusting so it may do one of the best it may with what it had.

The double-edged sword on this case is that Atmos can work, at some degree anyway, with far much less elaborate techniques. That is why there are single-unit soundbars and even TVs with “Atmos.” They’ve upward-firing audio system at greatest — and, extra typically, intensive processing to simulate that peak sound with various ranges of success.

Which brings us again to Atmos within the automotive. The listeners are all in recognized locations, there might be peak 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 2025 R1S Gen 2 I noticed boasted a Dolby Atmos system with 18 drivers, which have 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, in order that they might be thought-about peak audio system for just about everybody, and in case you’re tall sufficient that these are ear degree, you would not have the ability to see out the windshield.

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 authorized by the band). I am unable to absolutely decide the sound high quality based mostly on a demo of pre-chosen music, however total the treble was clear and the bass punchy, particularly with the Types monitor.

Whereas there are elements 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 extensively totally different distances to the audio system, all add a not insignificant problem. The combo within the R1S is biased towards the driving force and entrance passenger, which is not too stunning since you may all the time have at the least a type of. Rear listeners will nonetheless get the impact, there are peak audio system again there too, however to a lesser extent. A budget seats, if you’ll. 

Based mostly on my three-song demo, I am unable to say the place the Rivian’s system stacks among the many high-end automotive audio techniques I’ve heard (which is kind of just a few). Nonetheless, I can say the encompass side 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 outdoors a theater.

They hear me rollin’, they curious

Rivian is not the one firm together with in-car leisure with Dolby. There are additionally Atmos techniques put in in, or deliberate for, fashions by Cadillac, Lotus, Lucid and Chinese language automaker Li. One apparent development amongst all of these is that Dolby Atmos would not come low-cost. Rivian’s R1S car is within the “premium SUV” class and may simply price over $100,000 (which is, in equity, what most of those massive electrical vehicles price). 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 12 months. This additionally features a information connection and may flip your R1S right into a hotspot, in addition to another options. For such a sophisticated car, it is disappointing that there is no Apple CarPlay or Android Auto.

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 e-book!), to spend round $100K on a car, however $2,500 for some nice sounding audio, to not point out a glass roof I am unable to think about not having in a truck like this, looks like an inexpensive add-on for ~2.5% of the full worth. So, most likely?

Will we see Atmos in lower-end autos? Maybe. Automobile corporations have been partnering with audio corporations for a very long time, and whereas as of late 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 accurately? And even simply working? The upper-end manufacturers may, but it surely’s extremely unlikely we’ll see an Atmos system with peak 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. Kind of a contemporary Pontiac GTO — besides as an alternative of an enormous V8, it has Catmos. [You’re fired. —Ty]

In addition to masking audio and show tech, Geoff does picture excursions of cool museums and places around the globe, together with nuclear submarines, plane carriers, medieval castles, epic 10,000-mile highway journeys and extra.

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