The home theater industry seems fond of format battles. Everyone’s heard of VHS versus Betamax — but there are almost always two or more standards duking it out for supremacy. Blu-ray, for example, was briefly challenged by something called HD DVD. The console wars ultimately settled the matter. Sony built Blu-ray into the PlayStation 3, while Microsoft merely offered an HD DVD add-on for the Xbox 360. Although the 360 was the more popular console, everyone who bought a PS3 had instant access to Blu-ray, guaranteeing an audience of millions.
One of the raging fires at the moment is the conflict between two spatial audio standards: Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. As you’ll see, you should almost certainly favor Atmos when building out your speaker system, although DTS:X is still viable if you’re willing to put up with some tough constraints.
Dolby Atmos vs. DTS:X: The similarities
Why can’t we be friends?
As mentioned, Atmos and DTS:X are both spatial audio formats. Unlike traditional surround-sound standards, such as Dolby Digital 5.1, they don’t simply pan effects around you. Rather, they position audio “objects” in 3D space, enabling far better precision. I should emphasize the 3D part — if you’ve got ceiling satellites, or speakers with upfiring drivers, sounds can soar overhead as well.
The more speakers you have, the better this precision becomes. That said, for the average person, it’s typically fine to go with a soundbar-based setup. The best bars are all-in-one designs with integrated woofers and upfiring drivers, also doubling as hubs for wireless satellites. In fact, any setup with both rear and ceiling satellites needs to be anchored around a receiver, and likely external amps as well, raising the cost substantially.
Both formats are best served by eARC-compatible products. Atmos, at least, can technically operate over ARC, but eARC is required if you want either with lossless quality. I do feel that lossless is overrated, especially since it’s largely unavailable on streaming. You might miss it, however, if you’ve got high-end speakers and a hefty Blu-ray collection.
Anecdotally, the impression I get is that once you’ve got a system fully configured, you’ll enjoy either standard equally. Complaining about one versus the other is akin to griping that your filet mignon needs a bit more pepper. It’s not as if film fans in the 1980s were upset about watching Raiders of the Lost Ark on VHS with stereo or Dolby ProLogic.
Why Dolby Atmos comes out on top
A war of attrition
On paper, DTS:X actually has an advantage over Atmos: flexibility. It can automatically configure itself for whatever setup you have, using pink noise to gauge the relative distance and position of equipment. Atmos is more rigid, depending on exact layouts to guarantee the best sound. Dolby even publishes official guides for different speaker configurations.
That advantage is increasingly moot. For one, some audio systems (like those from Sonos) can perform their own room calibration. It’s not quite the same, but I doubt anyone with a Sonos Arc and a pair of Era 100 or 300 satellites will be complaining. Not long ago, Dolby itself introduced FlexConnect, more directly targeting DTS auto-configuration. You do need a compatible TV and speakers — over time, however, FlexConnect will presumably become de facto on new hardware.
What’s truly crushing DTS:X is the thing that matters most: content. If they offer spatial audio at all, most streaming services support Atmos and nothing else. The only safe haven for DTS:X is Disney+’s IMAX Enhancedsection, and even then, only a selection of titles are mastered for it. The standard does have a reasonable presence on Blu-ray, yet it’s still dwarfed there.
It’s a vicious circle. Because most movies and shows are limited to Atmos, manufacturers gear their hardware for it, often dropping DTS:X entirely. With Atmos hardware being omnipresent, studios and services lack pressure to support anything else, particularly with royalty payments involved.
Branding and business practices are playing their part. Dolby is an instantly recognizable name — Dolby Stereo dates back to the 1970s, so audiences have been conditioned to expect varying flavors of Dolby in theaters and at home. DTS formats didn’t reach theaters until 1993’s Jurassic Park. They were a mainstay on all screens for a while, for instance becoming the exclusive choice of Universal Pictures until 1997. DTS:X, though, didn’t launch until 2015, a year after Atmos was already in homes. Dolby had a headstart in more ways than one.
You can still build a DTS:X-based home theater. You’ll just have to be careful picking TVs, speakers, and other devices, perhaps enabling passthrough on some of them to get around decoding barriers. But because you can’t count on your media being compatible, you’ll have to focus on Atmos as if it was your original plan.
5/5
