While the audio experience is solid on Galaxy phones, it isn't the absolute best out of the box. That's because Samsung has partnered with Dolby Laboratories to provide its industry-leading sound technology known as Dolby Atmos, but it's turned off by default. Once enabled, your audio experience will go from good to great.
With Dolby Atmos enabled, sound will be noticeably louder. When watching movies, Dolby Atmos will provide a more spatial sound, giving you the impression that audio is coming from all around you and not from a pair of drivers in the headphones. With music, Dolby Atmos provides a richer, fuller sound that is more balanced than the default setting. No matter what your needs are, as a music lover, this is an option you want to take advantage of.
Enabling Dolby Atmos
Open Settings by either selecting the gear icon in Quick Settings or by choosing the "Settings" icon in the app drawer. Select "Sounds and vibrations," then choose "Advanced sound settings." Choose "Sound quality and effects" then select "Dolby Atmos" to enable the toggle.
For the best experience for music listening, select the Dolby Atmos text (not the toggle). Choosing this will bring you to a new page with some options for how to best configure Dolby Atmos enhancements. Choose "Music" for the best audio experience for listening to music.
The before and after is dramatic, so we suggest having some music playing while you toggle the main Dolby Atmos setting on and off. How are you liking it? Let us know in the comment section below.
This article was produced during Gadget Hacks' special coverage on streaming, listening to, and creating music and podcasts on your smartphone. Check out the whole Music and Audio series.
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2 Comments
Atmos was designed for movie theaters. It uses a huge array (>40) speakers to simulate motion with audio. It requires a specialized sound mix and very skilled sound engineers.
Atmos on your phone is a scam. Yes it does "something". But who cares? I want to listen the way the musicians intended it to be heard, not some over-processed, over-hyped system that is only designed to make executives at Dolby rich. Ray Dolby would be spinning in his grave if he knew what a scam his name has become synonymous with. Even the Dolby family has sold all their stock in this once-proud audio engineering company.
Dolby Atmos is louder than other sound settings, which really make it hard to compare when switching.
A nice sideeffect of enabling Dolby in the S9: Gapless playback is working!
I tried all other equilizer settings in S9 and Google Play Music. Only with Dolby Atmos I was able to play a liferecording without a click between the tracks.
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