Tidal HiFi rolling out Atmos encoded music

[Grayson Dere]

I read just this morning that the Tidal music streaming service will be soon rolling out Dolby Atmos encoded music. I'm not too familiar with the Atmos encoding scheme...does this mean those tracks will also be at least 5.1 discrete surround?
If so this would be awesome! Also, it seems for now this is limited to the Tidal mobile app...no desktop app support yet.

https://www.techhive.com/article/3489998/dolby-atmos-music-tracks-tidal.html

 

[Todd Anderson]

Technically speaking, they would be multi-channel with the use of presence channels to add a sense of height and/or overhead activity to the experience. I've heard Atmos encoded music (on Dolby Demo discs) and can be quite spectacular. Of course, it really depends on the overall recording quality of the song itself. I've also heard some Atmos music that sounds harsh and unappealing.

 

[GFOviedo]

I'm barely tapping into MQA, and now this!