Dolby Atmos for automobiles hands-on: Immersive spatial audio hits the highway | Engadget

Dolby Atmos for automobiles was first introduced for the Lucid Air and choose Mercedes fashions in 2021. But with the immersive audio making it to luxurious cars within the US final month, the corporate is exhibiting off the setup right here at CES 2023 with in-car demos. We received our first listening session within the backseat of a Mercedes-Maybach S 580. 

First, let me clarify a bit in regards to the automobile. This Maybach is supplied with a Burmester 4D sound system with 30 whole audio system, six of that are within the ceiling. Think of these as enjoying the position of upfiring drivers in your Atmos soundbar. Amplifiers ship 1,750 watts of energy and each front- and trunk-mounted subs deal with the bass (the trunk sub has its personal 400-watt amp too). It’s a very insane setup put in in a $185,000 automobile.

The immersive sound is so spectacular, it even manages to upstage its lavish setting. It’s nice for pop tunes like The Weeknd, however very similar to an Atmos system in your house, the in-car model actually shines with genres like jazz. When listening to “So What” from Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, it felt like I used to be in a membership. In the backseat, the drums have been to my proper whereas the horns have been up by the motive force and so forth. The sensation was like sitting in the course of all of the musicians whereas they did their factor. As somebody who has examined a number of Atmos residence theater setups, I used to be nonetheless shocked by the outcomes right here. Of course, this can be a loopy sound system in high-end luxurious automobile, seemingly the very best iteration of any such Dolby automotive collab.

Right now, the majority of the content material is audio. Simply hyperlink your streaming service of selection, as long as it gives Dolby Atmos Music spatial audio, and also you’re all set. The infotainment system within the Maybach had all the suitable tunes clearly labeled as to which have been Atmos. Dolby says there are some corporations providing a/v makes use of, so motion pictures and reveals with the immersive audio would sync up with an in-car setup simply positive. The firm’s senior vp of leisure John Couling defined throughout the demo that he anticipated folks would watch motion pictures mapped in Dolby Atmos whereas their EV charged, for instance.

Dolby says Atmos was designed to be scalable from the beginning, so identical to it has for soundbars, the audio platform could be configured for extra run-of-the-mill speaker setups in additional reasonably priced automobiles. We’re speaking four-channel, six-speaker preparations. It wasn’t so way back that Atmos was reserved for less than premium soundbars and now it is obtainable on issues just like the Sonos Beam through virtualization. So although a household automobile or minivan could not have the ceiling-mounted overhead audio system a Mercedes does, immersive audio will not be out of the query. Much prefer it’s attention-grabbing to see how extra budget-friendly audio system deal with Atmos, I’m trying ahead to listening to what a virtualized model seems like in a Honda Civic. 

Dolby Atmos is at present obtainable on the Lucid Air and Mercedes-Maybach S-Class, in addition to the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, EQE, EQE SUV, EQS and EQS SUV. Volvo has already introduced that Atmos will likely be obtainable on the Bowers & Wilkins sound system within the EX90 SUV. The EV would be the first Volvo to have Dolby’s immersive audio inside. The Polestar 3 additionally packs an Atmos-equipped Bowers & Wilkins setup and it is attributable to arrive later this 12 months. The Plus pack particularly features a 25-speaker system for this process. Lotus has additionally introduced a collaboration with Dolby, bringing Atmos to the KEF setup contained in the Eletre EV that is attributable to debut in 2024.