Spatial Audio: Is There a Problem With Me?

Hi,
I totally agree with you. I use the Sonos Ace which is capable of 3D audio as well and it sounds not very three-dimensional.
The problem could lie in the binaural render that Apple offers. Apple does not use the AC-4 codec which is recommended by Dolby for binaural listening.
If you search for „Dolby Atmos Binaural demo“ on YouTube and listen wit headphones, you‘ll get a real sense how binaural could sound if Apple would deliver it properly.

they should just upgrade everything to use what they should, and people should stop paying for apple TV until it works as they claims.

But try this. It's still one of the best binaural demos I've heard, mostly because instead of a bunch of sounds, like a storm and such in the Dolby Atmos demo I just listened to, you have isolated stuff. So it really does sound close to a guy being behind you, e.g. when he goes to get the barber, and when the barber is cutting your hair. I totally get why you think it sounds like just a widened stereo field from stuff like that Atmos demo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUDTlvagjJA

It's all subjective and therefore hyperbolic language is fine. I'm not really a fan, it empties out a lot of sound stage for music which reduces cohesion of the track. Even when watching films, it's just okay, though I find the audio through apple TV rather glassy and sharp, there is a glare to it and it just generally sounds low resolution. Not sure if it is something to do with split bandwidth.

I just gave the spatial audio demo a listen, the one linked to in the next to last post. I've never had audio that precise. Where can I buy headphones that actually deliver that sort of experience? they would be fantastic in games

i think that is modeled around an actual human head so when he moves to cut the back of your hair he is standing behind the head, but that's what apple Tv should be i still don't get, why do you want or need sounds move with you when you are listening to a movie as you turn? in the cinema, i don't have to swivel my head everywhere to hear an aeroplane flying directly above me or a car chase behind me so the spacial audio should be replicating a cinema-style experience what does fixed spacial audio do? i do think it is wrongly advertised and feel the pros are a waste of money, you can just get the airpods 3 now as they have it anyway but still wrong how it advertised.

Head tracking and spacial audio aren't, as I understand it, the same thing. spacial audio is basically a mix that simulates speakers using psycoaccoustics and other clever things, head tracking pins speakers, atmos or stereo or even 5.1 in space.

It's not really worth it much if you are watching with audio description anyway. There are some services, HBO max, apple TV themselves, and netflix that have audio description in surround sound, but others such as Disney, collapse the audio into stereo when audio description is turned on.

Some of the audio games out there on the market use a technology called "Binaural Audio". Is this similar? To give an example, with Binaural Audio, you can experience sounds in a 3 dimensional radius to your position, including distance and height.

It is an amazing, and sometimes frightening, experience.

Anyone who has played the old Papa Sangre games will understand. 😉

Aw man, I miss those games.

Am I wrong in my thinking that these two things are similar, if not the same thing?

PS I miss those games too. . .

Thank you for that explanation. When I first heard of spatial audio, Binaural Audio immediately came to mind, and I always wondered.

I would agree that you missed out on some truly great games from "Something else", the company behind "The Nightjar", "Papa Sangre", and "Papa Sangre 2". I am unsure about the first Papa Sangre game, but the 2nd one was voiced by actor Sean Bean, and the Nightjar by Benedict Cumberbatch.

Amazing games! You can catch clips and (possibly) playthroughs on YouTube.