Well, I think I've spent more than long enough looking into the whole Dolby Atmos / Spatial Audio issue, and my conclusion is that I'll probably just stick with stereo (and mono, given how much of my music predates stereo).

I can listen to the Dolby Atmos albums I have by playing the Blu-Rays, but it's not exactly convenient and I'm not convinced that the programs I've tried so far are even playing them properly (they sound good, but so does the stereo version; I can't hear enough of a difference to be certain that it's Atmos I'm listening to rather than a different mix. Very often the headphone menu says that spatial is not available despite the track supposedly being compatible). If I copy the Blu-Ray to mkv files then I end up with the whole album as one long track instead of individual songs. A pain in the arse when I'm just trying to find out whether Atmos is even worth it.

Still, I can't say that I'm dissatisfied with how the albums I have sound in stereo (Steven Wilson did some very nice remixes a few years ago), so I don't need to change. It would have been nice to give it a try, though.

Apparently, according to The Internet, the answer is "get an Apple Music subscription," which does rather miss the point when I already have the albums.

#DolbyAtmos #SpatialAudio #Mac