[Android Software Development] Alanon:
Now we're talkin'! I was somehow under the impression that the Lenovo Atmos version was meant for Lenovo devices as a sort of bugfix, and not suitable for other phones. I think you should make a special note regarding this in the first post, to avoid further confusion?

As far as the Atmos version goes, it's damn near perfect! Thats the soundstage which I remember and love! As far differences go, I'm not entirely sure how precise they will be, as my previous experience was based on Dolby Digital +, not Atmos. But, here goes. The settings used were Music, flat EQ, loudness levelling and Surround turned ON. There's no hissing anywhere in the music, the bass is cleaner than before, although slightly softer than default with Atmos on. However, Viper Dynamics and Viper Bass add an extra oomph to the bass sound while retaining the crystal-clear vocals and highs. So to me it's a clear cut victory for ARISE Atmos, with a definite and audible upgrade to the sound.

I also need to mention a "negative feature" of Atmos, which is the algorithm used for sound levelling. Now, I've been told that I listen to music with the volume too loud, which is true, to an extent. For instance, an unmodded average Android volume bar set to the max would be too quiet for me, and my stock Viper amp was set to extreme, and still stood with the volume maxed very comfortably. With DD+ leveling, and with the Viper amp turned off, about 2/3 of the volume bar was my sweet-spot, just in line with the European mandatory volume decrease that props up on every jack plug-in. With Atmos (and while using the exact same Viper settings as with DD+), anything around or above the first third of the volume bar hurts my ears. But without the leveling some of the clarity in the sound dissipates! The leveling itself seems too aggressive to me. The first time I turned levelling in Atmos on, the sound exploded inside my headphones. If for any reason you forgot to lower your volume, or even worse, if it somehow reset itself, you are in for a nasty shock! In my opinion, this really needs to be calibrated somehow, making it more similar to DD+.

In addition, I have to report a couple of things that folks might find useful. Prior to installing the Atmos edition, I made two experiments. I listened to some tracks on the regular version again, in order to compare the sound with Atmos turned off to the regular version. To me, there was no difference between what I was listening to this morning and again just now, and the Atmos version with Atmos turned off. Put simply, I couldn't hear the effect/benefit of the "passive" Dolby libraries in the regular version. This might have been due to my choice of music, my poor listening abilities, or if the Dolby library effects are simply marginal in comparison to the other libraries. To me, the Atmos version adds another (and great!) option to the "stock" sound. What's more, even if you don't use it, you can still turn it off completely, and no muss, no fuss - that's just perfect in my opinion.

The second experiment concerned the convolvers. I downloaded the audiophile kernels and stuff to try and replicate the Dolby surround without having to install Atmos. According to my listening experience, there is no setting that fully replicates it. The closest one to my ear is the SRS 2.1 Normal Headset.irs, but it has a booming, overflowing bass somehow centered in each headphone, that is never present in any Atmos setting in such an amount. However, the mids and highs are pretty close to the Atmos feel. My advice to people considering Atmos, but unwilling to go about the process of upgrading is: listen to some tracks with the mentioned SRS convolver with your regular settings (excluding bass) - if you like the sound of the highs and mids (again, ignore the bass as much as you can and concentrate on everything else), then give Atmos a try, I'd wager you'll like it.

[MENTION=4445176]guitardedhero[/MENTION]: Thanks for your comment, I'm glad you liked my input! :) Now I happen to have another question for you. Would the Viper headset checkmark (that's to say, keeping it checked at all times, but nothing checked on the speakers, etc.) burn through my battery even without actual music playback? Should I untick it every time I'm done listening to music to be on the safe side? I don't mind battery usage while it's in use, but since this morning it seems to me that Viper has eaten a bit more than I'm comfortable with, concerning my playback didn't last that long.

Cheers, and thanks for reading! :D

PS. To all the folks with crashing Atmos problems, don't flash the zip as an upgrade over a different version, it will certainly cause problems! My device came with a locked bootloader, so I don't have any rom to reflash, and here's what i did: I compared all the files and simply deleted the surplus from the regular version, added the unique files for this version, overwriting the files that were different, rebooted - and everything works. It only took me a minute, but you do need to remove all surplus files, or Atmos will crash. You can use any given software for comparing textual and binary files to see the ones with a difference. I wouldn't recommend this unless you don't have another option like me and don't mind flashing a clean rom in case something goes kaputt.