Maybe it was the 38 speakers, or the other luxury accoutrements of the Cadillac Escalade, but when the backing vocals on Sir Elton John's 1972 classic, Rocket Man, hit, I got chills. I've been listening to that song for 50 years, and yet I'd never heard it quite like that.
It was an afternoon of aural revelations, thanks mostly to Dolby Atmos and Audible, Amazon's monthly subscription audio book service that starts at $7.95 / £5.99 / $8.99 a month. Rocket Man was one of the first songs to be converted into Dolby Atmos' spatial soundscape (the audio technology premiered in 2012 with the release of Disney's Brave), and it is still a revelation. But the brief sit-and-listen inside that luxury car was only part of why I was in downtown Manhattan on the hottest day of the waning spring. I'd already spent the last hour or so inside the Audible Story House pop-up store.
Listening in the Audible house
You can think of the Audible Story House as a bookstore without a single book. Instead, the main floor's shelves are stacked with Lucite bricks called "Story Tiles". On one side of each is the cover of an Audible audiobook, podcast, or other story-related listening experience. Audible subscribers can walk in between now and the end of May, tap their phone on a brick, and then start listening to any story on their phone. Non-subscribers can, too, but they'll have to set up an Audible trial to listen.
The Story House is like a play space for listening and storytelling. There's an event room for speakers and fireside chats, and the Dolby Lounge in the basement. On the top floor is a tiny cafe and merch center, another spot where you can grab an iPad and listen to Audible books while lying among too many cushions, and most interestingly, a Story Bar operated by a "Storytender" — think of her as a bartender for audiobooks.
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Like a good bartender, she asks you about your troubles and then wipes the table while listening... okay, strike that. This Storytender asked me about my favorite book genres. I described turn of the late 19th-to-20th century historical novels like The Alienist. She smiled knowingly, looked around, and grabbed me the Toni Morrison Beloved tile as she explained the plot and then put the block into one of the many listening holders scattered around the House. Once seated, the brick glowed while I picked up the connected headset and listened. Like a bartender delivering their special concoction that you didn't quite love, I can't say Beloved was right on target for my interest, but I appreciated the effort.
A real production
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Audible's partnership with Dolby Atmos is three years old, but this week marks the completion of all seven Harry Potter books in the format. I listened to a few of them during my visit — I had my reasons.
When my kids were young, we often took eight-hour drives upstate to visit my mother-in-law. To pass the time, we packed books on CD. Harry Potter was one of their favorites. I used to love Jim Cummings' characterizations. These new books are really nothing like that. They feature hundreds of actors, movie-grade sound effects, and, thanks to Dolby Atmos, a soundscape that is shockingly immersive. It's akin to watching the movies on your best TV and sound system, but with your eyes closed.
At one point, we were guided downstairs to the Dolby Lounge, a dark room with asymmetrical, low-slung couch-like seating that seemed to encourage leaning back or sleeping in odd positions.
We listened to a snippet of Pride and Prejudice. The sound was rich and clear, with voices and effects so cleanly separated that you could almost identify, say, people moving about the scene's ballroom space. Sounds bounced around the eight giant speakers, whisking you away to another time and place.
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Then we switched to another comedic book called Big Age. Little they said struck me as particularly funny, but I do recall clearly hearing paper rustling as if someone in the room with us was balling up some wrapping paper.
Back in the Cadillac, we listened to an Oliver Twist excerpt, more Harry Potter (I suddenly wanted to reread the series), and Golden (Dolby Atmos took it to another high-note level, and I challenge anyone to sit still when listening to it), but it was Rocket Man that left me in awe. It was a reminder, perhaps, that the audio quality you think you're hearing is limited to your experience and equipment. It only takes one good sound system, or processing algorithm like Dolby Atmos, to show you what you're missing. Oh, that and 38 speakers.
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