DTS:X - DTS Will Soon Offer 3D Sound Too

by Olaf Adam

At CES in January and ISE in February, the first demos could be heard, and recently the first details were presented in the USA: With DTS:X, DTS will soon join the 3D sound race. While competitors Dolby Atmos and Auro 3D have already been available for a while, it will still take a little longer before the first products with DTS:X hit the market; so far, nothing is even known about Blu-rays with the format. Are the Californians simply too late, or will the longer development time pay off in the end?

What will DTS:X deliver?

That remains to be seen, of course, but the first known key data already sound quite promising. Like Dolby Atmos, DTS:X is an object-based format. This means that the sound mixer no longer mixes fixed channels on a reference system, which are then played back more or less accurately in the home theater depending on the room and setup. Instead, the engineer defines audio objects during mixing, whose position in the room can be precisely determined at any given time.

DTS:X - object-based audio format

The audio system in the cinema or at home then takes on the task of acoustically reproducing the spatial positions of the individual speakers. This is, of course, only possible if there are enough speakers available and the system has been correctly calibrated to the listening room. At least theoretically, DTS:X can manage and use up to 32 different speaker positions. But that ultimately depends on how many amplifiers, connections, etc. the hardware manufacturers integrate into their devices. And since most manufacturers will offer products that support Aura 3D, Dolby Atmos, and DTS:X, a 10.2 or 11.2 configuration will probably remain the standard. DTS:X also requires speakers mounted at height or on the ceiling to present the corresponding acoustic height information in the overall sound image. However, the developers at DTS claim that DTS:X is significantly more flexible in speaker positioning than the competition. What exactly that means, whether you will actually be able to distribute your speakers more or less arbitrarily in the room, and how that affects sound quality, all remains to be seen.  

DTS:X is said to be 'more flexible' than the competition when it comes to speaker placement. How that works and, more importantly, how it sounds? We shall see ...  

3D sound through headphones as well?

Support from hardware manufacturers, however, already seems assured for DTS. All relevant AV receiver manufacturers have already announced products, and with companies like Steinway Lyngdorf and Trinnov Audio, serious high-end brands are involved from the start. While most manufacturers are still giving vague timing such as “fall 2015” or “early 2016,” Denon and Marantz already have the corresponding products on the market with the AVR-X7200W and AV8802. They just can’t do DTS:X yet; the required software upgrade is supposed to be available—surprise—“during the year.” But since there will almost certainly be no movies with the new audio format available beforehand, that's actually not a big problem.  

"Fully immersive surround sound" via headphones as well? DTS Headphone:X is supposed to make that possible   Another grand announcement in connection with DTS:X will also only be able to be verified when suitable movies are available. DTS Headphone:X is supposed to allow you to enjoy a similarly “immersive” sound experience over headphones as in the DTS:X cinema. We are curious, admittedly a little skeptical, and already looking forward to trying it out “during the year.”