Audio is a very important factor in your at-home viewing experience. While a lot of people get bogged down by thinking they need the biggest and best TV, there are other things that matter. Don’t get me wrong, a big TV is important, but you shouldn’t stop there. Modern TVs might look great, but they are lacking in the audio department. If you remember, CRT TVs used to have stereo speakers built right into them, but that’s not the case anymore. TVs have only gotten slimmer, and the audio has taken a hit as a result.
For that reason, many people look at soundbars as an option. Make no mistake, that’s a big upgrade, and it’s something I did when I was fed up with how my TV sounded. It made a big difference, and for a lot of people, that’s the endgame. I thought that was going to be the case for me, but my soundbar reached its expiration date. I wanted something more, and a soundbar could only take me so far.
Dolby sound engineering
Trivia challenge
From noise reduction to immersive audio — how well do you really know the science behind Dolby sound?
HistoryTechnologyFormatsCinemaInnovation
In what year did Ray Dolby found Dolby Laboratories?
Correct! Ray Dolby founded Dolby Laboratories in 1965 in London, England. The company initially focused on professional recording studio equipment before expanding into consumer and cinema audio.
Not quite. Dolby Laboratories was founded in 1965 by Ray Dolby in London. He had previously worked at Ampex and developed his noise reduction ideas while studying at Cambridge University.
What was the primary purpose of the original Dolby A noise reduction system introduced in 1965?
Correct! Dolby A was designed to reduce the audible tape hiss that plagued professional studio recordings. It worked by encoding audio during recording and decoding it on playback, effectively masking the noise floor of magnetic tape.
Not quite. Dolby A was a noise reduction system aimed squarely at reducing tape hiss in professional studio environments. It used a compander approach — compressing audio on the way in and expanding it on the way out — to suppress background noise.
Which 1975 film was the first to be released with a Dolby-encoded stereo optical soundtrack?
Correct! Lisztomania (1975), directed by Ken Russell, was the first film released with a Dolby-encoded stereo optical soundtrack. This marked a major turning point in bringing high-quality stereo audio to cinema audiences.
Not quite. The first film with a Dolby-encoded stereo optical soundtrack was actually Lisztomania in 1975. While Star Wars (1977) and A Star Is Born (1976) were landmark Dolby films, Lisztomania holds the historical first.
Dolby Digital is also known by which technical designation used in industry documentation?
Correct! Dolby Digital is technically designated AC-3, which stands for Audio Codec 3. It was developed in the early 1990s and became the standard audio format for DVD video, digital broadcast, and cinema releases.
Not quite. Dolby Digital’s technical designation is AC-3. The AC stands for Audio Codec, and it was the third generation of Dolby’s perceptual audio coding technology, succeeding AC-1 and AC-2.
What audio object-based feature distinguishes Dolby Atmos from earlier surround sound formats like Dolby 7.1?
Correct! Dolby Atmos uses audio objects — individual sounds with positional metadata — rather than fixed channel assignments. This allows a renderer to place sounds anywhere in three-dimensional space and adapt the mix to any speaker configuration, from a home soundbar to a 64-speaker cinema.
Not quite. The key innovation in Dolby Atmos is object-based audio. Instead of assigning sounds to fixed channels, each sound element carries metadata describing its position, allowing the system to dynamically render it for whatever speaker layout is available.
Dolby Vision is a proprietary HDR format that competes directly with which open HDR standard commonly found on televisions and streaming services?
Correct! Dolby Vision competes most directly with HDR10 and its dynamic metadata extension HDR10+. While HDR10 is an open, royalty-free standard, Dolby Vision requires licensing and supports dynamic metadata for scene-by-scene brightness optimisation, often delivering superior results.
Not quite. Dolby Vision’s main competitors are HDR10 and HDR10+. HDR10 is the baseline open standard, while HDR10+ adds dynamic metadata — a feature Dolby Vision pioneered. Dolby Vision supports up to 12-bit color depth and 10,000 nits peak brightness in its specification.
What does Dolby MAT stand for, and what is its primary function in modern audio delivery?
Correct! Dolby MAT (Metadata-enhanced Audio Transport) is a lossless bitstream container that carries Dolby TrueHD audio along with Dolby Atmos object metadata over HDMI connections. It is what allows modern AV receivers and soundbars to receive full lossless Atmos signals from Blu-ray players and streaming devices.
Not quite. Dolby MAT stands for Metadata-enhanced Audio Transport. It is a lossless container format that wraps Dolby TrueHD audio and Dolby Atmos object metadata, enabling high-fidelity Atmos delivery over HDMI. Without MAT, devices can only receive a lossy Dolby Digital Plus version of an Atmos stream.
Which legendary rock concert film from 1978 is widely celebrated as a showcase for Dolby Stereo’s capabilities in cinema?
Correct! The Last Waltz (1978), Martin Scorsese’s documentary about The Band’s farewell concert, is frequently cited as a landmark demonstration of Dolby Stereo in cinemas. The film’s rich multi-track recording benefited enormously from the format’s improved dynamic range and channel separation.
Not quite. The Last Waltz (1978) is the celebrated Dolby Stereo showcase. Directed by Martin Scorsese, the film captured The Band’s final concert with exceptional audio quality that highlighted what Dolby Stereo could achieve over conventional mono and optical formats of the era.
Your Score
/ 8
Thanks for playing!
I wanted a true surround sound system
A soundbar couldn’t do it
Soundbars come in many forms, and while I had a basic stereo soundbar, there are some that boast about their 5.1 and 7.1 capabilities. If you look at a soundbar, you’ll quickly realize that those are just buzzwords that don’t mean much. If all of your speakers are stuck on a bar, there’s no way it can be 5.1 or 7.1. You need surround speakers and a subwoofer for that, so a soundbar essentially tries to mimic that the best that it can. They might be able to get close, but they’ll never be the real thing.
A place where soundbars really show their limitations is with Dolby Atmos. Many Atmos soundbars use upfiring speakers that are designed to bounce off your ceiling and reflect to where you’re sitting. If your ceiling is the proper height, it can work. However, it’s much better if you can install some height or ceiling speakers if you care about getting the best audio. This is what led to me ditching the soundbars for good and getting an actual surround sound system. Yes, it ended up being more expensive than a soundbar, but the juice was worth the squeeze.
I have enjoyed watching movies at home more than ever before thanks to my surround sound setup, and it’s not even a high-end one. I use JBL speakers in the front and Sonys as my surrounds. My Atmos speakers are small satellite speakers that are in desperate need of an upgrade, but it works for me. Everybody has different situations, and there are definitely arguments for a soundbar. The big one is that a soundbar doesn’t take up a lot of space, and they are easy to set up. My speakers have to be wired from my receiver, and that means wires are running underneath my rug that I had to buy just to cover them up. I also have them hanging down my wall because I never got around to covering them up.
The cost is also a big barrier, but the good news is that you can start small. I started with a stereo setup before upgrading to surround sound. Those same stereo speakers are used as my rear surrounds, so it’s not like you have to throw away your old equipment when you upgrade. Speakers can last a long time as long as you don’t drop them on the ground, so you can always repurpose them if you need to. I’ve moved some older pairs to other rooms where they can help out another TV.
Know what you need before spending money
Maybe a soundbar is right for you
While a soundbar wasn’t what I needed, that might not be the case for you. It’s tough to know exactly what you want, and considering how expensive audio equipment is, it can be very difficult to make the right decision. If you drop $500 on a soundbar, you’re probably locked into that decision unless the place you bought it from has a solid return policy.
In some ways, that’s why it’s better to start with a surround sound system, because you can still keep those small. A receiver is pretty chunky, but you can keep it in a entertainment cabinet and out of sight. You can also stay with a pair of bookshelf speakers for a small footprint. I’d also argue that it sounds better than soundbar could, and you can pick up a setup like that at a fraction of the price. Over time, you can add more speakers to it, so you get out as much as you put in. Obviously, adding surround sound speakers means you have to make space for that, and that’s not something everybody wants to do.
For me, soundbars hit their expiration date once I started learning about Dolby Atmos. I wanted to get my hands on superior audio, and now that I’ve been using this setup for a few years, I don’t think I made the wrong decision.
