Apple Music plays 5.1 instead of Atmos

It's unnerving when we get these type of responses from Apple. I've tried support at Dolby and they are clueless that this is happening and say Apple Music should not be folding down 7.1.4 to 5.1. Then these responses from Apple acting as if we all are listening on airpods is annoying. If Apple is going to push Immersive / Atmos audio, then get it straight when answering questions about it. Those of us who mix Atmos in professional environments and have spent 10s of thousands in Atmos rigs to produce and mix for Apple Music Immersive are getting real tired of this constant 5.1 fold downs. We are trying to showcase to clients songs they are familiar with and what that same track can be in Atmos / Immersive, then we get this semi lame 5.1 surround mix on our 7.1.4 and it's underwhelming and ridiculous that we keep getting answers assuming we are all wearing dumb earbuds.

I found out how to get this to work. If your audio interface has more than 12 outputs, Apple Music and Apple TV will not see it as an ATMOS output device. You need to use something like Rogue Amoeba and create a virtual device with only 12 channels (or use Ginger audio Ground control sphere), which passes audio to your interface.

tl;dr All of the extra outputs of your interface will cause playback to run at 5.1. You need a virtual device with only 12 pass through output channels.

Hi,

I have the same question. I'm a professionnel producer and I made several Dolby Atmos records that are available on Apple Music.

Last year, I was able to playback directly from Apple Music in 7.1.4. but somehow, without making any updates of, it automatically revert to 5.1. We have 2 * M1 and 2 * M2 at my studio, running either Ventura or Monterey, they all plays 5.1...

I tried different manipulations found here and there (like trashing Music app preferences) nothing helps... how can we play 7.1.4 as before !?

bests

So pathetic that we have to discover these kinds of workarounds. Apple needs to acknowledge the bug and monitor these forums for this kind of thing.

I have the same issue. 7.1.4 is set up correctly in audio / midi (and works in pro tools, logic, dolby renderer, etc).

Its not playing true 7.1.4 from Apple Music, only 5.1.

Are there plans to support 7.1.4 natively on OSX so that we don't need to add extraneous outboard hdmi / apple tv / atmos receivers to our recording studio install?

Sphere does work as a workaround, but at $400 it's a bit much as a workaround. Loopback for $99 works as well, but you will notice that sometimes your Top channels in a 7.1.4 mix get grouped into 2 stereo pairs... as in "top front right" will be paired with "top rear right" so effectively making your 7.1.4 a 7.1.2. Still annoying, but just be aware that if you are mixing in Atmos you may get some strange smearing in your panning positions and not know why until you watch the Loopback meters.

the jeffrey,

Thanks so much for this solution with Loopback. I had been looking for this answer for about a year. I did have one hiccup with the speaker setup in Audio Midi Setup. The speaker labels got out of order so I changed the speaker order to fix it and it broke it back to 5.1. So, it is also important that you don't change the speaker order in the speaker setup. It only works if your speakers are 1-12 in numerical order.

Thank you very much for your advice!! I can now play 7.1.2 by making 10ch virtual device using Loopback as you advised.

(The music app somehow start to play 5.1 again after I configure speakers on MIDI setup, so I configured them by changing routing on MOTU Audio control and it worked fine.)

Hi chx.uk,

What you're experiencing may be expected behavior with Apple Music. Here's how you can ensure you're listening to Dolby Atmos on your Mac: About Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos in Apple Music - Apple Support

Choose how to listen to Dolby Atmos on your Mac

1. Update your Mac to the latest version of macOS.

2. Open the Apple Music app.

3. In the menu bar, choose Music > Preferences or Music > Settings.

4. Click the Playback tab. 

5. Choose Automatic, Always On, or Off.

If you choose Automatic, here’s what you need

Supported songs automatically play in Dolby Atmos when you're listening with:

* AirPods Pro, AirPods Max, AirPods (3rd generation), or Beats Fit Pro with Spatial Audio turned on

* AirPods (1st or 2nd generation)

* BeatsX, Beats Solo3 Wireless, Beats Studio3, Powerbeats3 Wireless, Beats Flex, Powerbeats Pro, Beats Solo Pro, or Beats Studio Buds

* The built-in speakers on a MacBook Pro (2018 model or later), MacBook Air (2018 model or later), or iMac (2021 model)

If you choose Always On, here’s what you need

If you want to use other headphones that don’t support automatic playback, choose Always On.

Regards.

Hello chx.uk,

Yes. If you've configured your settings using the steps we've provided, this would be the max setting for your Apple Music. Feel free to provide feedback to Apple here:  Product Feedback - Apple 

Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities, and have a great day!

Well then I’m glad I never updated to 13.5. I’ll be sticking with 13.3.1 if thats really a 13.5 bug! My setup is a bit unconventional but here goes...

I am running GROUNDCONTROL SPHERE as my monitor controller and I have THREE 9.1.6 source inputs:

1. Dolby Renderer 5.0.0 setup for 9.1.6 feeding SPHERE via the “SPHERE 16” virtual buss. (I work in Protools a lot so I always have Protools routed through the Dolby Renderer.)
2. EMOTIVA RMC-1 running 9.1.6 feeding SPHERE input via an old school LYNX AURORA 16 (USB) via analog XLRs.
3. A custom 16 channel virtual buss 9.1.6 created in Rogue Amoeba Loopback (for Apple Music as well as any other CPU originating audio.)

I run a single 9.1.6 OUTPUT from SPHERE via another custom Loopback 16 channel virtual buss mainly because I use two separate IO devices to hit my speakers. I run the LCR channels out to a MOTU 8D for my LCR speakers (JBL 708s) and the other 13 channels (all subs, surrounds, wides and tops) are routed to the analog outputs on the Lynx Aurora 16 and ultimately to amps and speakers.

I’ll often listen to Apple Music off of my AppleTV4K, which is plugged into the EMOTIVA RMC-1 (SPHERE Input 2) via HDMI and I gotta say that ATMOS music sounds **** terrific, often utilizing the full wide spatial spectrum of 9.1.6 (assuming the mix of the song used objects to hit the wide channels)

That same song I play off of my AppleTV4K (in 9.1.6) will only play in 7.1.4 off of the AppleMusic app from my MacStudio fed through the (SPHERE Input 3) virtual 9.1.6 buss…. Argh. SO CLOSE.

Thank you, this worked! It's a shame that Apple does not fix this by default. They want to promote Atmos and they don't let us enjoy multi-channel audio from their own music app!!! Apple support told me the desktop Music app is the same as the iOS app, and that's why they don't support multichannel interfaces... terrible!

Anyway, here's a diagram showing the connections in Loopback. It may be helpful.

Thanks again! :D

Hello. The same thing happened to me. Music app could play Dolby atmos in my 7.1.2 setting (via MOTU 16A) until last month, but it only plays 5.1 right now for some reason. My MIDI setting is 7.1.2 and I can play all speakers without problem. I hope I can some advice from Apple support team.

Mixing is not the problem here, that's not the context. It works perfectly in Logic, Atmos Renderer etc. The issue is when the MacOS built in Dolby Atmos renderer is used by eg. the TV app, Music app etc. It renders incorrectly if you have more than 16 channels even if the AudioMIDI setup is correct. This seems to be a broadly known issue, I can only hope Apple gets it fixed.

I'm running primarily a Lynx Aurora (n) 32 so I'm also vaguely holding out hope that the promised Dolby Atmos release of their drivers some time soon will fix the problem. I believe the release is mainly about supporting room correction / EQ / Sonarworks etc but one can always hope.