[bob1029]

This is my position as well. I've probably had every combination of surround sound setups imaginable, but nothing beats a really good 2/2.1 setup to my ears.

My takeaway has been that if 2 channels sounds crappy, you need to look at the room, not adding more damn speakers. It's just like shiny cloud tech imo.

[criddell]

I don't think anybody is saying stereo music sounds crappy. It sounds as good as it ever has - really great! But some of us think a good ATMOS setup sounds even better.

[bob1029]

The point I was trying to make is that the room is way more important than the speakers or DSP engine.

You could spend 7 figures on commercial ATMOS hardware and still have a $500 setup sound better depending on the room.

[greggsy]

Room treatments are technically straight forward, but they come at a cost of interior design and practicality. Many people see it as but if a dark art too, so they’ll take a technical implementation any day because it has been designed to accomodate a wide range of scenarios, and takes the guesswork out.

[Sebb767]

Placing 5/7/11/n speakers plus a number of subwoofers also comes at the cost of interior design and practicality ;) It's just (usually) easier to do than proper soundproofing and easier to adapt to non-optimal room designs.

[nitrogen]

Stereo can't provide a true rear or side image for more than one person, and it can't do vertical. Phantom center is great for one person in a good room with eq matched speakers, but for multiple listeners the extra speakers really do matter.