Podcast #53: “Move over, Denafrips” + more on Dolby Atmos™

In this episode of the Darko.Audio podcast, Srajan unearths a DAC that ‘competes with DACs selling for two or three times the price’. That isn’t the sound of hot air, our man from 6moons hiding behind a generalisation. Srajan qualifies his finding by explicitly naming those more expensive units. Elsewhere, I explain why I think Plexamp’s arrival to the Audiolab 9000N is a watershed moment for streaming at home (and away) and I outline why a PMC-based Dolby Atmos system, fronted by Steven Wilson, will be one of the most well-attended exhibits at this year’s High-End in Munich.

That brings me to a minor niggle. In my first video about Dolby Atmos, I stated quite clearly that my concerns about the technology have nothing to do with sound quality. Listen for yourself at the 17min 40sec mark. That’s twelve minutes after I’d said how much I enjoyed hearing Steven Wilson’s Atmos mixes of Suede and ABC at a fully-treated Atmos studio in Berlin. Ditto Peter Gabriel’s i/o. And yet numerous YouTube commenters responded with “But John, Atmos sounds great!”.

Maybe those commenters straight-up missed my listening experience observations. Maybe they chose to ignore them. Maybe my remarks later in the video were too oblique for some viewers. I can’t reliably speak to a shortfall in viewer comprehension but I can repeat myself in a follow-up episode to make my enthusiasm for the sound of Dolby Atmos-mixed music more plain.

It’s why, in this podcast episode, I make it crystal clear at the 1hr 36min mark that I find the sound of Atmos-mixed music heard via a loudspeaker array – complete with ceiling speakers – to be downright superb. It’s also why Srajan’s thought experiment vacation takes place in Fiji and not Fulham.

However, we kick-off this latest podcast episode with a chat about how hugely popular Record Store Day has become.

🎥 Camera 1: John Darko
🎥 Camera 2: Srajan Ebaen
🎬 Editor: John Darko
🕺🏻 Motion GFX: John Darko
💰 Ad segment: Jana Dagdagan

If you’d prefer to listen to an audio-only version of this podcast, find it now on SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, TuneIn or use the embedded player below: