How to play m4a files with Atmos?

[lotusaurus]

Can the Vero 4K+ play m4a files that are encoded (if that’s the right word) with Atmos? (Codec is E-AC3-JOC.) By “play” I mean a) I’d like to see “Atmos” appear on my Denon receiver, so no transcoding to something else and b) multiple files should be played sequentially as in an album (as if, for example, they were flac files from an album)

[darwindesign]

That shouldn’t be an issue as long as in Kodi’s audio settings you have TrueHD passthrough enabled and your playing this content from the Music section of Kodi. Additionally, I believe in order to actually see the Atmos displayed on a Denon AVR it must be configured with more than 6 speakers otherwise it will only display Dolby Digital. I personally haven’t tested it with an album in Atmos but I have with one in DTS and I don’t think they would work any different from each other.

[isolar801]

I’ve found that setting Kodi’s audio output to 2.0/2.1 allows these files to play and display as Atmos.

[darwindesign]

@isolar801

I’ve found that setting Kodi’s audio output to 2.0/2.1 allows these files to play and display as Atmos.

The setting that dictates how may PCM channels are used has no bearing on bitstream output. If you want to learn more about the audio settings we have a helpful guide here…

Audio hardware and software configuration

This wiki article should cover all your general questions about how to connect up your OSMC device to get the best audio possible. There’s also a section with explanations of some of Kodi’s audio settings as well as information about the audio capabilities of our OSMC devices. Supported devices OSMC supports a range of devices: All Raspberry Pis and our own Vero series (Vero 1, Vero 2, Vero 4K, Vero 4K + and Vero V). Veros have an HDMI port for video and audio, a 3.5mm port for analogue au…

[isolar801]

Known all that for years…just telling you what works for me.

[lotusaurus]

Thanks - it works. I have the files in the Music section, TrueHD passthrough is enabled. I struggled a little with my Denon receiver and its horrible manual, but eventually by pressing “Pure” a few times on the remote I got “Dolby Atmos” on my receiver. (I think “Pure” is meant to take the sound signal directly without doing any processing but even then there are some options like switching off the receiver display in order to possibly improve the sound.)

[darwindesign]

You might check out Denon’s Android/iOS app (they have a few and I think each only work with certain receivers) as viewing what processing mode its using as well as switching them may be a bit easier there.

[lotusaurus]

Thanks so much for the suggestion. I had always thought for some reason that the app didn’t work with my receiver (think I was confusing it with the Audyssey app). Just downloaded it and will play around later.

[thechrisgregory]

@isolar801

2.0/2.1

I convert my M4As (EAC-AC3-JOC) to FLAC 5.1/7.1 using this - https://www.poikosoft.com/.
On the other hand the immersive audio around in AC4 form (e.g. TIDAL) is not really supported (FFMPEG as far as I know, still does not support). EAC-AC3-JOC is compressed, as for AC4 I think thats compressed too, but probably has better algorithms. Really we need atmos with TrueHD, for the full lossless experience …

[isolar801]

Thanks…I will take a look at that program.

I don’t have many .m4a Atmos files…I tried Tidal once for half an hour. Canceled immediately… compared to my flacs of the same source Tidal didn’t sound too good.

I will take a look at the .m4a’s I have…seem to remember needing to set to 2.0/2.1 for them to play properly in Kodi…after all these years, Kodi audio is as flakey as ever !

[randallspicher]

Not sure about your Denon, but my Yamaha receiver for instance will only decode atmos when it is set to “Strait” audio mode. If it’s set to use any of the DSP modes (which includes “Dolby Surround” modes), won’t decode the atmos.