May 20, 2024
Person listening to Apple AirPods Max in spatial audio.
Apple

Plenty of people acquired a brand new set of Apple or Beats wi-fi headphones or earbuds for the vacations, solely to find that issues don’t sound pretty much as good as anticipated when listening to Apple Music. If that’s been your expertise too, don’t fear — it’s not possible that your new wi-fi earbuds or headphones are responsible.

The true perpetrator is Apple Music itself. That seems like hooey, particularly in case you’re a longtime Apple Music listener and it’s by no means been an issue for you previously. But when your earlier earbuds or headphones have been made by an organization aside from Apple or Beats, you could not understand that Apple Music treats Apple and Beats merchandise a bit in another way.

The Dolby Atmos default

Beats Studio Pro in sandstone seen with Apple AirPods Max in space grey.
Simon Cohen / Digital Traits

In 2021, Apple added two new codecs to Apple Music: Dolby Atmos Music (aka spatial audio), and lossless audio. Apple Music wasn’t the primary subscription streaming music service to take action (Amazon Music and Tidal already supplied Dolby Atmos and lossless), nevertheless it was the primary service to make Dolby Atmos Music the default choice when listening on an iPhone or iPad by way of Apple or Beats wi-fi headphones outfitted with the Apple H2 chip, just like the Beats Studio Professional or Apple AirPods Professional.

In the event you weren’t utilizing an H2-enabled set of headphones, you may nonetheless hear Dolby Atmos Music (when accessible), however you needed to manually flip it on, and numerous people by no means did. It’s potential you even thought you have been listening to Dolby Atmos — the default Dolby Atmos setting for the Apple Music app is one thing known as “Automated,” which form of seems like one thing you’ll be able to simply depart alone. However probably not.

It seems that Automated is simply automated in case you’re utilizing a type of H2-enabled merchandise I discussed earlier. Apple Music then performs a Dolby Atmos model of a tune if it exists. However another set of headphones will nonetheless get common, two-channel stereo. The one technique to get Dolby Atmos utilizing a third-party set of headphones is to change the setting to At all times On — one other misnomer provided that it nonetheless solely applies when a Dolby Atmos model of a observe is accessible.

To summarize: In the event you’re utilizing Apple or Beats headphones with Apple Music (on an iOS or iPadOS system) for the primary time, you’re going to start out listening to Dolby Atmos Music variations of songs by default.

Why so quiet?

Sound engineer at a studio mixing board.
LightFieldStudios/Getty Photos

Dolby Atmos Music can sound unbelievable — particularly in case you personal a devoted Dolby Atmos sound system like a Sonos Arc, plus a Sonos Sub and two Sonos Period 300 encompass audio system. However even then, some Atmos Music tracks are higher than others. It’s nonetheless a brand new format and it’s clear that not all artists and recording engineers have an ear for it but. Hopefully, that improves over time.

Sadly, this high quality discrepancy turns into magnified when listening with headphones. All too usually, Dolby Atmos Music variations of your favourite songs can sound diminished.

It’s partly the character of Dolby Atmos when rendered as binaural sound. It’s making an attempt to recreate a room filled with audio system, (together with overhead channels, utilizing only one supply of audio for every ear. With a purpose to trick your mind into listening to a wider, deeper, and taller soundstage, some sounds merely should be decreased of their depth. You might discover most with vocals, which may sound a bit distant or hole.

However the larger subject is relative quantity degree. In the event you listened to simply Dolby Atmos Music or simply stereo tracks, there could be some pure variation in quantity ranges from one observe to a different — some tracks are simply mastered at louder ranges. Nevertheless, in case you take heed to a mixture of Atmos and stereo — which might be the case provided that Apple Music is much from possessing Dolby Atmos variations of each observe in its 100 million-plus-song catalog — the relative quantity ranges will be far more noticeable, with Dolby Atmos Music sometimes sounding quieter than stereo.

Since most of us aren’t within the behavior of checking our telephone each time a brand new tune begins to play to see if it’s in stereo or Dolby Atmos Music, all we all know is what we hear — and it sounds form of weak in comparison with stereo.

Two options

So how do you repair this?

In the event you like Dolby Atmos Music and also you merely need it to sound as clear and as loud as stereo tracks, strive enabling Sound Examine within the Apple Music settings (in iOS: Settings > Music). Sound Examine makes an attempt to compensate for the pure loudness variations between codecs (and even between two tracks of the identical format), as a way to merely select your most well-liked listening degree with out consistently adjusting the quantity.

I’ve discovered it to be a very good answer, however not everybody agrees. Furthermore, Sound Examine would possibly produce completely different leads to completely different listening eventualities (e.g., wi-fi headphones versus Apple AirPlay versus Apple CarPlay), so it gained’t at all times be a panacea.

Then there’s the thermonuclear choice: disabling Dolby Atmos fully. You are able to do this by setting Dolby Atmos from Automated or At all times On to Off. You gained’t get to listen to spatial audio tracks from Apple Music even when they exist, and issues will possible sound precisely as you keep in mind them sounding earlier than you switched headphones.

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