How it Works
Whether you're a seasoned audiophile with an encyclopedic knowledge of media players and Atmos-enabled receivers, or you're just getting started and discovering the world of lossless audio for the first time, you can easily get started and download music from IAA for your listening pleasure at home or wherever you are.
You'll need a few things to get started:
- Mac, PC, or mobile device to purchase and download files from the IAA shop.
- Playback software (VLC Media Player, Plex, Kodi, etc)
- An amplifier + speakers, or headphones
Depending on your home audio setup - and depending on the files you purchase - there are a variety of ways to achieve playback in surround sound and immersive audio formats. First here’s a list of the kinds of files available on our site:
- MKV - Dolby Atmos (TrueHD - lossless)
- MP4 - Dolby Atmos (DD+ - lossy)
- FLAC - 5.1 Surround, 7.1 Surround, Auro-3Dl (lossless - ranging from 24-bit/48kHz up to 192kHZ)
Home theater playback of Dolby Atmos content is contingent on an HDMI connection, as the TrueHD audio is passed as a “bit-stream” from the user’s media player to their A/V receiver for decoding. This is how Dolby Atmos signals are passed to one’s AVR from the streaming services (lossy DD+) and Blu-Ray discs (lossless TrueHD).
All Windows PCs will pass bitstream audio, as will some Blu-Ray players (Oppo series). Additionally, HDMI media player devices such as the Nvidia Shield and Neumi’s inexpensive 4K Atom Lite are confirmed to handle Atmos MKV from an external USB drive or network-attached storage.
NOTE: If you possess an older AVR without Dolby Atmos capability, our MKV files will “fold-down” to traditional 7.1 or 5.1 surround sound with no loss of audio information.
List of confirmed devices:
- Windows PC
- Oppo 103
- Neumi Atom 4K Lite
- Nvidia Shield
- Dune TV-301 HD
Whatever setup you have, you can test playback by downloading our free test track here to confirm your system’s compatibility. We developed this sound test in collaboration with Dolby-certified producer/engineer Gabriel Lundh, and it’s formatted for playback in both Dolby Atmos & 5.1 surround sound.
For additional guidance, check out our Resources page for articles on how to play back Dolby Atmos and surround sound music according to your system.