I have no arguments with you there. Where any of these QS or SQ encoded recordings also exist on DVD-A, SACD or Blu-Ray in full 5.1, and when you like the music enough you’d usually be better off with the disc. Having said that, appreciation of any surround sound format is very dependent on the mix. At QuadraphonicQuad.com you’ll see plenty of discussions of the mixes of music on various surround formats. Members there may prefer one of the older Quad mixes to any newer formats including Dolby Atmos, for particular recordings, because of their preference for the older Quad mix. A number of them collect the original Quad LPs and have even put together Quad systems from the 70’s to replay them.
But hey, I’m just pointing out that they’re out there in abundance on the streaming services, and can be decoded using software plug-ins. Of course, I do most of my listening in Stereo and wouldn’t prioritise these over whatever music I happen to be into at the time, which only exists in Stereo. Many of the Jazz, Soul and Rock albums that are on the streaming services, QS or SQ encoded, do correspond with my tastes though. The plug-ins that decode them do a great job, and you will hear separate instruments from the rear channels, than from the front channels (discrete in that sense).
This provides further separation of instruments, which for me personally provides greater insight into the music, and greater appreciation of it.
Ambisonic is another animal. If you’re into classical or any of the other acoustic music that tends to be in Ambisonic, these are on Qobuz; etc. encoded as UHJ stereo and can be decoded to any number of channels you may have. Unfortunately something was lost in this UHJ encoding when compared to original B-Format recordings which can also be mapped to the number of speakers you may have, some of which are truly spectacular.
Ambisonic is a kind of forerunner of Atmos; but is still relevant today. In fact I think it inspired Atmos to some degree at least.
Many of the UHJ encoded Ambisonic recordings from Nimbus, just feature a single instrument. So no instrument separation there. What is the point you may ask? Well when the solo instrument is decoded you have a much better sense of that instrument in the room where it was originally recorded, than you have, if you just play it back in stereo. Of course Nimbus and Ondine also have plenty of multi-instrument recordings, including full orchestra.
So, to not ramble on too much longer, all I’m saying is they’re out there and can be decoded.
For anyone who has at least a 4 channel system, why not enjoy them decoded with the appropriate plug-in(s)?
I have a solution for this using Foobar2000, which can output more channels than it received as input to a plug-in.
I would love to be able to do this in Audirvāna instead though. Hence my reason for starting this thread.