Recent Audio Technology Articles

Is Qualcomm’s New ‘aptX Lossless’ Technology The Holy Grail of Bluetooth?
Qualcomm Technologies announced the first truly lossless Bluetooth audio codec. aptX Lossless can deliver CD-quality audio with zero loss of information. Will audiophiles finally embrace Bluetooth?

Audio Codecs Explained for Non-Audiophiles
WAV, FLAC, MP3, MQA, what is the best audio CODEC to handle your audio files? Audioholics has put together a guide explaining these extensions and what they mean in terms of sound quality and storage.

Tidal Adds Millions Of MQA Tracks From Warner Music Group
Tidal’s library of MQA-encoded music has just grown significantly. Millions of new tracks have been added from Warner Music Group’s extensive catalog. Is MQA really better or just a gimmick? Read on.

Apple Music Lossless & Dolby Atmos: How YOU Can Enjoy Every Bit of Resolution!
Apple Music is now lossless for its entire catalogue with separate libraries streaming at high-resolution and Apple’s new Spatial Audio by Dolby Atmos. We discuss how to get the best sound.

Tidal Delivers True Dolby Atmos Music To Your Home Theater
Subscribers to Tidal’s $20/month HiFi tier can now stream Dolby Atmos Music to their Atmos-capable AV receivers or sound-bars, bringing immersive music into their home theaters. but there are caveats.

Dolby Eliminates Key Feature for Enhancing 2CH Music
When Dolby released Atmos, it was done in concert with their surround upmixer which does a great job enhancing 2CH music thanks to a key feature Dolby is now removing from new products. Let's get it back!

Sound United Brings Roon Compatibility to 68 Denon and Marantz Products
Sound United LLC announced that 68 Denon and Marantz products received Roon Tested accreditation. Want to know what Roon is and why Sound United is all in? Read on to find out.

What the Apollo Masters Fire Really Means for Vinyl
The vinyl record industry may experience shortages of new releases after the plant that made some 75% of the world’s blank lacquers burned to the ground. What does this mean for future pressings?

Predictions of Dolby Atmos Success or Failure Five Years Later
5 Years ago Audioholics made some predictions about Dolby Atmos. Today we look at how Atmos has panned out and what predictions were right and what was also wrong. Read on to see how we did.

Dirac Research and miniDSP Deliver Dirac Live Processing For Aftermarket Car Audio
Dirac Research and China’s miniDSP have collaborated to deliver Dirac Live processing for cars via an $899 digital processor called the miniDSP C-DSP 8x12 DL. Read on to find out more.

Sony Object-Based ‘360 Reality Audio’ Format Aims To Create New Music Ecosystem
Sony’s object-based “360 Reality Audio” format will soon launch on Tidal, Amazon Music HD, Deezer, and the live-performance streaming service nugs.net. Will Dolby Atmos Music win out? Read on...

Tidal VS Qobuz: Battle of the Hi-Res Streaming Services!
We extensively tested Tidal and new comer Qobuz for the last six months to see who is the indisputable king of Hi-Res streaming! Read on to find out which service won and sounded best.

Dolby Withdraws Upmixing Restrictions: A Win for Consumers?
Last year we reported on Dolby restricting upmixing of non-native content through their DSU. Due to backlash, Dolby has withdrawn this restriction on Atmos enabled AV products going forward.

Dirac Live Bass Management System To Debut at CEDIA Promising Perfect Bass
The new Dirac Live Bass Management protocol debuts at CEDIA this September and promises perfect bass for your home theater making multi-sub placement easier to integrate and setup in your room.

Turntables—A Short History and Explanation
People are rediscovering the romance and appeal of vinyl. With the popularity of turntables on the rise we decided to take a look at the history and development of the modern turntable to see why.

IMAX Enhanced Certification: What Are You Really Getting?
IMAX has been a staple in the movie theaters as the best in sound and video for over a decade and now they want to recreate that experience in your home with IMAX Enhanced hardware and movie content.

Dirac’s New ‘Panorama Sound’ Technology Makes Mobile Audio More Immersive
Dirac Panorama Sound is a new mobile audio solution designed to improve the unsatisfying audio experience of watching content and playing games on portable devices with small closely spaced speakers.

Dolby to Restrict Non-Native Upmixing on Atmos Based Products
Dolby recently issued a mandate to ALL of their Atmos licensee partners to restrict usage of 3rd party upmixers with ANY Dolby signals. What impacts will this have on your system? Read on to find out.

2018 Bluetooth Audio Codec Comparison Guide Part1: SBC & aptX
New Bluetooth audio products with aptX HD and LDAC codecs are the high-resolution options we’ve been waiting for. Wireless audio over Bluetooth has never sounded better.

Three Methods for Immersive 3D Audio
Surround sound, immersive audio, and 3D sound are growing in popularity and importance as gaming, VR, movies, and music embrace multi-channel audio. We looked at 3 options. Which one is right for you?

AV Receiver Surround Sound Formats Comparison
This article and related YouTube video discusses all of the major surround formats for home theater throughout the years and what all of those logos mean on your new AV receivers.

Surround Sound for Stereo Music…Sacrilege??
Is it worth revisiting some of your favorite stereo recordings in surround sound? This article introduces you to the ins and outs of stereo music and how it progressed into the surround we have today.

PRO Audio Technology / Trinnov 23-Channel Dolby Atmos/DTS:X Demo Experience
Whether it be a two-channel system or a full 23-CH Dolby Atmos/DTS:X Home Theater, the demo we heard hosted by PRO Audio with Trinnov processing proved you could have both with equal measure.

MP3 vs CD vs 24 bit High Resolution Audio Demo Results
AXPONA 2015: Legacy Audio demoed various playback resolution levels from MP3 to 192kHz/24Bit of source material provided by Sonos Luminous on a high quality system. The results may surprise you.

DTS:X Surround Format Overview and First Listen
DTS:X is a new object based audio format that claims to work with almost any speaker setup. We were at DTS for the unveiling to learn how it will work for cinema, home theater, and headphones.

DTS:X Promises Features Not Offered By Dolby Atmos
DTS:X Immersive Surround Format offers a real game-changing potential for flexible speaker placement, open format tools for movie mixing professionals, and really amazing headphone processing.

History of Surround Sound Processing: The Battle for Dolby Pro Logic II
This is a historical perspective on 6-Axis surround originally developed by Jim Fosgate and how it battled Harman's very own Logic 7 format to become Dolby Pro Logic II. The Silent format war.