Someone has just invented the dream lossless Dolby Atmos music service for audiophiles — but it needs some changes before it’s likely to really take off
- Headphone Dust is a new platform to buy audio with your choice of mix
- Songs mixed in Dolby Atmos, 5.1 surround, available in MKV and FLAC
- Far from being a complete platform yet, but shows how it can be done
A new music download platform called Headphone Dust shows has been created by Grammy-nominated lead singer and solo artist Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree to show major music services how it works. could be done – giving users an incredible choice of audio formats.
Wilson is, rightly, known for remixing recordings in Dolby Atmos and 5.1 channel mixes. He improved on tracks by Elton John, Black Sabbath, King Crimson and Guns N’ Roses this way.
Headphone Dust is a platform for this type of track, as a storefront to buy music mixed to such audiophile standards – not only in these formats, but also in completely uncompressed audio quality (unlike the biggest streaming services).
Each album is available in two-channel stereo, spatial Dolby Atmos, or mixed with 5.1 surround sound, or in a special headphone-specific version – and sometimes accompanied by 4K video too.
You do not broadcast the pieces from the site; you can download them in FLAC and it uses the MKV format to allow you to choose in which of the above formats you want to listen.
The albums cost £14.99 or £18.99 (around $20, AU$30 or $26, AU$36), so it’s a cheaper option than physical versions tend to be. For now, though, there are a few pitfalls.
Limited offers
As of this writing, six albums are available through Headphone Dust: four remixed albums from Steven Wilson, one newly mixed live album from the artist, and one album from Wilson’s solo project, Bass Communion.
This is no coincidence, Wilson confirming that Headphone Dust will, initially, be intended for his own catalog. He claims to use it to release works he has mixed for other artists and bands, but this will likely depend on various deals and arrangements made later.
It is obviously enough a limit to its popularity, but we’re featuring it because it’s a lifesaver for audiophiles, offering a way to download high-res music that will sound as close to the original master as possible, but with the option of more interesting mixes if you have the equipment to get the most out of it.
But this is also the other limiting factor of the idea of the moment: not only do you need the right equipment, but it must be connected to your PC, if you are counting on the MKV format to choose which version of the song to listen to.
There are obviously plenty of people who have one of the best headphone DACs plugged into their PC, so that’s at least one way to get your music out of it – but how many people have a laptop connected to their Dolby Atmos system as standard?
We hope Wilson can find a way to realize his idea of uncompressed music with selectable mixes through a more user-friendly system – and can of course get other musicians on board – because it’s a great idea. Media ownership, format control, maximum quality… even if it doesn’t take off, it at least gives us something to point our fingers at and say, “Look! It’s possible! It is what we want!
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