Hello! I wish and hope that you are all well.
Since purchasing my 2nd generation Airpods Pro, I have been able to consume more content with spatial audio. They told me that it was a revolutionary technology, capable of projecting sounds even above and behind the listener, giving the sensation of being in a movie theater or on a stage with musicians.
It turns out that, for me, spatial audio seems more like widening the stereo audio field than doing anything else. I don't understand all the revolutions they say I would see when using the feature.
So I ask: could there be a problem with me?
Thank you all in advance
Comments
Spatial Audio
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.
false advertising then?
they should just upgrade everything to use what they should, and people should stop paying for apple TV until it works as they claims.
I don't own airpods.
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…
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.
that was eerie
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
the barber demo
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…
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.
Thank you for the answers so far
Yeah, I imagined that not only did I have this feeling of not filling when using spatial audio. There are even some songs Where you don't hear the instruments very well When this technology is activated, but I know that it depends on the mixing that was made for this purpose. As for the demonstration of the barber's audio, the technology is different, Binaural recording, which actually uses two microphones positioned in the direction of the ears of a replica of a human head, as explained above. On the other hand, this spatial audio uses the technology called Dolby Atmos, which basically allows you to position each sound individually inside a virtual sound camera, all this via software
Binaural Audio?
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.
Aw man, I miss those games.
Binaural vs Spatial Audio
Am I wrong in my thinking that these two things are similar, if not the same thing?
PS I miss those games too. . .
RE: Binaural vs Spatial Audio
Well, the difference between these two techniques is mainly in the way of obtaining the audio. With Binaural audio, a human head replica is physically used with two microphones positioned, one on each side, to replicate the way in which human hearing captures sounds. In this case, it is necessary that all action occurs around this mannequin, considering that the people involved have to be strategically positioned around. In the case of spatial audio with Dolby Atmos, the positioning is done entirely via software and can be changed depending on the mixing
Note: it's a pity that I didn't have any iOS devices at the time of papa sangre, as I wish I had played these games...
Fair enough
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.
Personalized spatial audio could be the solution!
Well, friends at Rede Globo, I believe I discovered the solution to my problem. For those who feel like me and believe that spatial audio doesn't make a difference to you, I recommend setting up personalized spatial audio which, roughly speaking, customizes the feature to the shape and size of your head and ears. Despite the difficulty I had in capturing my face and ears, even after iOS 17.3, it seems that I can now feel all the magic of this feature, including perceiving sounds coming from above me. I loved it, and I don't think I can live without this resource anymore!