The Dolby Atmos mix of Billie Eilish's new album sounds so much better than the stereo master to me it's not even funny - even on AirPods.

And the reason has nothing to do with surround sound.

Don't get me wrong - people love full Atmos mixes - they hear them and just have a huge smile on their face.

That's what all the engineers I'm talking to who are working in Atmos are telling me, anyway. And it's not really surprising. Atmos mix rooms are set up with 10 or more speakers, carefully placed around and above you to give a fully immersive 3D sound-stage – what's not to love ? I've done a ton of mixing and mastering in 5.1 over the years myself and loved it. Great surround sound can literally bring a whole new dimension to music.

But what if the spatial enhancements aren't the only thing that people are loving about Atmos ?

In fact, what if a huge aspect of the appeal is actually down to something much more familiar... like dynamics ?

Pretty much any Atmos mix you check right now will be dramatically more dynamic than the stereo master of the same song, and there's a good reason for that. In this video I play some examples so you can hear these dynamic differences for yourself, and talk about the reasons behind them - and why I'm so excited about them.

Take a listen, and let me know what you think !