It's no secret that immersive sound - the enhancement of regular surround sound with height channels - is something we're very excited about here at Big Picture Big Sound. A well-mixed movie or concert video that takes advantage of the soundscape not only around the listener but above the listener as well can create a much more immersive and engaging sonic experience in the movie theater or at home. As far as immersive sound formats for home use, the two players that dominate the space are Dolby, with Dolby Atmos, and DTS with DTS:X.
To get the full effect from these surround formats, you need content that has been mixed and encoded in the appropriate format, a source that supports DTS:X or Dolby Atmos playback, a receiver or powered soundbar that supports decoding of that encoded content and height speakers to reproduce the height effects. These height speakers can either be mounted on the ceiling or can sit atop your regular surround speakers and bounce sound off the ceiling. But DTS knows that this commitment to technology is not something that all TV viewers, movie and music lovers have. The company wants to bring the immersive surround experience to those who aren't interested in placing (or can't afford to place) expensive gear and speakers all over their living room. And this is where DTS Virtual:X comes in.
DTS Virtual:X uses psychoacoustic engineering and electronic processing to create a "virtual" immersive soundscape from just two speakers in front of the listener. Sounds great, right? All the benefits of an exciting immersive surround soundscape without the expense or effort of a multi-speaker system. And listening to a prototype of the Yamaha YAS-207 soundbar at a DTS-hosted demonstration this week, I will say that the little bar and companion subwoofer did a nice job of creating a large and enveloping soundstage on movies, without sacrificing much in the way of vocal clarity in the dialog. But it wasn't really the same as a discrete immersive surround system; it wasn't even close.
The issues are two-fold: a.) it's tricky to make it sound like sound is coming from above your head when it's actually coming from in front of you and b.) the height channel information in the Yamaha soundbar is actually not discrete channels - it's "interpolated" from ambient information in a regular 2-channel or 5.1-channel mix. The reason for this is that while the Yamaha YAS-207 soundbar does include DTS Virtual:X, it does NOT include on-board decoding for DTS:X or Dolby Atmos. If it did, then the soundbar would probably do a much better job of creating an immersive virtual soundstage.
I'm not saying that the YAS-207 soundbar sounded bad: it actually sounded quite good for the $299 price tag (including subwoofer). But if you're expecting cinema-quality immersive sound with real height effects, you'll be disappointed. There is a general feeling of sound that extends above and beyond the physical dimensions of the bar, but you're not likely to look behind or above you to figure out where that sound is coming from.
But for its price point, the soundbar is pretty impressive. The YAS-207 features 4K-capable HDMI ports as well as ARC (Audio Return Channel) support so you'll only need a single cable between the soundbar and the TV. Its Clear Voice technology assures that you can hear important bits of dialog even while the music swells or the explosions ring out on screen. And the included compact wireless subwoofer brings a nice heft to the bottom end, without taking up too much floor space.
One thing that the DTS folks at the demo did demonstrate is what the Yamaha soundbar would have sounded like with an on-board DTS:X and/or Dolby Atmos decoder. DTS reps took a native DTS:X encoded immersive soundtrack, decoded and pre-rendered it in two channel for DTS Virtual:X playback. And this clip actually did create a larger and more full-sounding soundscape with the illusion of sound (at least some of the sound) coming from overhead. We look forward to hearing what an upgraded version of the bar with on-board DTS:X decoding will sound like when it makes its inevitable debut.
DTS said that more announcements will be coming in the near future from makers of both A/V receivers and soundbar systems. The Yamaha YAS-207 is expected to start shipping this month for $299 including a powered wireless subwoofer. The DTS Virtual:X feature will initially be delivered as a firmware update but will be rolled into future manufacturing runs of the product.
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