5 Of The Best Ways To Test Your Surround Sound Audio

If you have a surround sound audio system installed within your home, it's also important to verify the system's quality. With some checks, it's easy to understand whether each speaker is in the right place or needs to be shifted to sound better, how well the subwoofer responds, and if the effects fill the room. Fortunately, this can be tested in numerous ways at home.

For example, many games, movie scenes, and even some music mixed with Dolby Atmos can help find details that would otherwise go unnoticed. So, to experience explosions, footsteps behind the camera, or even dialogue between characters in a satisfying way, you need a balanced system. That is why you need to run a few tests to optimize your surround sound system.

To unlock the full potential of your surround sound audio, we have selected some methods that help you check its quality. These examples put your system through different challenges so you can confirm whether the sound quality truly meets your expectations.

If you are a gamer, one of the best ways to test your surround sound audio is by playing games. "Cyberpunk 2077," for example, offers one of the best surround sound experiences. Besides offering a very good soundtrack, the game also lets you test several different channels. You hear corporate ads high above, NPC dialogue, cars, and movement around you, which helps you know whether everything works as it should.

"Resident Evil Requiem" is another good game for this test. The game puts a strong focus on its horror atmosphere, mainly when you play as Grace. Since the player must stay alert to character movement and other sounds to know whether it is safe to move forward, the surround audio is tested thoroughly. This way, you can spot possible flaws before you complete the installation.

If you aren't into those games, there are plenty of titles that have a similar audio quality to test your surround sound.  "Death Stranding 2" or "The Last of Us Part II" are also great titles to help you pinpoint which home theater audio settings need adjusting.

If you prefer to test your surround sound with movies, several scenes can help you check the whole system. For example, right at the start of "Ready Player One," there is a race scene that lets you test the system in several ways, especially fast movements between channels.

The full movie "Mad Max: Fury Road" could also fit here, since the film uses surround sound very well throughout. But if you are looking for one specific part, the scene during the sandstorm works very well. It has deep bass, impacts, and effect separation that test the quality of any surround sound audio system.

"Blade Runner 2049" is another movie that handles audio ambience very well, mainly with scenes flying over the city. These moments serve to create a strong sense of scale, and you can clearly hear engines, drones, and other noises spreading through the side and rear channels, which is especially great on the best home theater systems out there.

There are several songs that support Dolby Atmos, and offer a great way to test your surround sound audio. With them, you can more easily notice the separation, height, and depth of what you hear. So, tracks like "Rocket Man," by Elton John, and "Take on Me," by a-ha, work well for evaluating bass, ambience, and vocal presence in a more immersive mix.

If you want to try it, streaming services like Apple Music provide extensive catalogs mixed for Dolby Atmos. Spatial Audio is included in the Apple Music subscription, and songs by Billie Eilish, The Weeknd, and Dua Lipa were remixed specifically for the format. You only need to check for the Dolby Atmos badge on the song page to ensure that it will use your surround sound system. 

For those who want to go further, tracks like "Billie Jean," by Michael Jackson, and "Bohemian Rhapsody," by Queen, are also available in Atmos format to help you see how your spatial sound is working. Orchestral soundtracks, especially those by Hans Zimmer, also amplify depth and work very well in surround sound setups.

Live concert recordings are one of the most effective ways to test surround sound systems while enjoying great music. That's because they combine audio from many different sources at once, merging instruments, vocals, crowd sounds, and venue reverb in a way that makes any system work hard. For anyone who wants to be sure everything is functional, a live show is a good test case.

One of the greatest examples out there is Hans Zimmer's "Live in Prague," performed with 72 musicians and distributed via Blu-ray with a Dolby Atmos mix. The concert covers iconic scores from films like "Gladiator," "Inception," and "The Dark Knight," so the sound palette ranges from delicate orchestral passages to massive, bass-heavy climaxes.

For anyone looking for something else, there is Roger Waters's "Us + Them." The recording fits well for this purpose too, spreading guitars, keyboards, and lead vocals across the soundstage. Many other live performances can also work, as long as your favorite artist has one of these recordings.

Many of the best streaming services have also invested in Dolby Atmos mixes for several of their original TV shows. That means they can be great for testing all the audio channels in your surround system. So, if you do not want to watch movies, there are plenty of options on Netflix, Disney+, and Apple TV+ that can work just as well.

You can watch "Stranger Things," since the show uses sound effectively to build tension, especially in scenes set in the Upside Down. "The Crown," on the other hand, relies on a more subtle mix, with the reverb of large rooms and well-positioned dialogue. These differences make both shows useful for evaluating how the system handles impactful effects as well as more delicate details.

"Foundation" on Apple TV+ is another good option. Its scenes with spaceships and on different planets create rich soundscapes, with layers that spread clearly through the rear and side channels, making it a great way to test the system's separation.