It’s fair to say that no five people crammed into a compact SUV have been more blissfully enthralled on a country drive than my wife’s family and I on one particular mid-summer Sunday. It wasn’t just the silky smooth performance of the Cadillac Optiq, or even its incredible 19-speaker AKG sound system, but an x-factor pushing our driving experience beyond the sum of their parts: Dolby Atmos Music. If you haven't heard it in a vehicle like this, you might think I'm joking. Everyone has probably had some experience with Dolby Atmos for movies and TV shows, maybe with a soundbar or in a high-end theater. It uses “object based” surround sound to place effects like a helicopter or a buzzing bee as “sound objects” that move virtually anywhere within a three-dimensional space. Atmos Music lets producers move instruments in 3D, with virtually no limit to where or how they’re placed. It’s an exciting format, but it's been severely limited by access: It's basically only been accessible in headphones like the AirPods Max until recently. With car-based Dolby Atmos and the silence of modern EVs, we finally might be seeing a real audiophile evolution. Dolby Atmos Music Is Awesome Photograph: Ryan Waniata Real audio nerds know how good it can be. My first real Atmos Music experience was at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. There in a backroom of the lavish Wynn Casino, I got a taste of the format’s true potential, courtesy of a carousel of high-end Focal towers and height speakers. From Prince to Elton John, I was engulfed in my favorite tunes like never before. It was glorious. That’s also when I realized that it's music—not movies or TV—that has the potential to fully unlock the power of the format. While Atmos for film can be thrilling, especially in a multi-speaker theater, it’s constricted by the need to put dialog front and center. With the freedom to place and move dozens of instruments all around you, Atmos Music goes further, giving producers and musicians a new creative outlet with possibilities that go beyond anything before it. Have you ever noticed how the soundtrack to a movie sounds particularly good in a theater? That's often because of a multi-channel upmix. It's not just listeners who like the new format. In the last five years, Atmos Music has spread through the music industry like wildfire. Creatives from all corners have sung its praises, from Abbey Road Studio’s Giles Martin (son of George Martin) to Finneas of Billy Eilish fame. At the launch event for the Atmos Music–ready Sonos Era 300 (9/10, WIRED Recommends), Martin said alongside a panel of industry leaders that nearly all new pop music is mixed in Atmos. Dolby claims 1,200 Atmos-ready studios in 50-plus countries, with 93 of 2024’s Billboard Top 100 songs mixed in the format, while services like Amazon Music, Tidal, and Apple Music have made streaming increasingly available. Atmos Music to the Masses Photograph: Ryan Waniata Despite industry interest, widespread consumer adoption of Dolby Atmos music remains elusive. Even as a professional audio reviewer who’s tested dozens of Dolby Atmos soundbars and speakers, my Atmos Music experience is limited, with nothing coming close to that 2020 listening session in my testing room yet. That is, until Dolby came knocking again at CES 2025, showcasing the fruits of its latest Atmos Music frontier: a Cadillac Optiq loaded to the gills with speakers, and Amazon Music at the helm.