Is Spatial Audio a Gimmick? An Audio Engineer's Thoughts

There's some confusion over spatial audio. What is it? How does it work? Is it worth it? Should you care? I answer all those questions and more in this video.
00:00: Intro
00:40: What is Spatial Audio?
01:30: A little audio history
02:50: How Spatial Audio Works
04:05: Good examples
04:50: Psycho-acoustic freak out
06:05: Why it might not work
07:25: Lossless audio
08:55: Gimmick?
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Gear I Use:
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☑️ This video and description contain affiliate links which means that if you click on one of the product links I’ll receive a small commission

#applemusic #losslessaudio #spatialaudio

[moomin]

Whether it's a gimmick, depends on if you end up just trying to hear the spatial effect rather than enjoying the music itself. A bit like 3D movies. They had that wow factor intially, but then you find yourself watching them just for the 3D effect rather than enjoying the movie.

[lancelotkamaka]

I am a blind person from birth and I rely so much on sound. I think spatial audio is okay, but what's even better is binaural audio. I am a heavy headphone user. Binaural is the best when it comes to sounds all aroun. However, I did hear dolby atmos that's really good, but very inconsistent. The movie Gravity was the best I've hear and I wish all movies and all things dolby atmos could follow suit.

[BuzzedLightYears]

Gimmick or not it definitely made a huge difference when I watched a Dolby atmos movie with my AirPod pros compared to watching with it off. Sounded worlds better on.

[duffyrides]

Great discussion and great video. Thanks for sharing that knowledge.

[andreistoica]

I think there is a good chance it will become a standard if Apple is pushing it. And they can go back to record labels and say: “if you mix in spatial audio, you will get this many more streams”

[manart]

Transitioning to atmos audio is hard? So it was changing cinemas’ projectors to totally digital but now we are there.

[JunkionMarnot]

Thanks Jason. Always good to get a pro take of this kinda stuff.

But like most things Apple, it’s only the beginning. We won’t see the bigger picture until Stage 2-3 of Apple’s implementation. That’s just my take.

[davidcanales]

I appreciate the frank discussion. I was getting worried about what felt like a 'if Apple does it it will be successful' attitude. I am old enough to remember the quadrophonic expirement - great idea but like you say - the buy in has to be way bigger than just Apple. I am only one person but I count on you for the straight dope - this video is much appreciated.

[sequences]

Spatial music is weird to me because there's rarely a time when music isn't just being played in front of you and being projected out at you from the same origin somehow. I don't go to a concert or a show and have someone playing instruments all around me (most of the time), and so I dunno what they're trying to recreate with this.

[TheNiteNinja]

I could see this working if you had an omnidirectional microphone in the center of a live concert and all those channels are utilized so that you could hear as if you were in the center of that concert. Would also be a great thing to have for VR too.

[anthonychilders]

So about 3 minutes in the video I thought back to the idea of “3D” cameras. Back in my art class in college my professor taught us that traditional cameras / phones flatten out pictures, hence why some people may look bigger or heavier set than some. Really interesting concept although I didn’t hear any noticeable differences with some songs.

[SuperMcgenius]

Nice to hear a informed and knowledgable review of technology. 95% of my friends have not set up proper sound systems.

[MF_OXF]

from my personal experience so far listening with the airpods pro, some songs do sound amazing and others sound considerably worse and weird. I dont know if it is bad optimisation or the original recording was just crap xD

[ProjectMockingbird]

I have a FiiO M11 and a lot of great headphones and mostly listen to balanced output Hi-Res FLAC files, so I was hesitant to give Dolby Atmos on my iPhone a shot. I turned it on and downloaded a bunch of music and plugged in my favorite headphones (with unbalanced to the Apple dongle) and was ready to be ultra skeptical. Even though the highest res I can get is 24/48, I was still shocked how much I enjoyed a lot of Atmos music. Even albums that I have that are Hi-Res FLAC on my M11 and just “lossless” Atmos on my iPhone…I enjoyed them more and certain songs I even found the separation was even better to bring out things that even the hi-res files didn’t make as clear.

I liken Atmos to my Grado SR60’s. They aren’t my “best” headphones, nor do they have the frequency response of my AT MSR7’s, but dammit, they are a fun headphone that I just love listening to music with. And that’s what I’m loving about great Atmos mixes…it makes music fun to listen to.

[ccheww]

whats your opinion on the gaming headsets with multiple drivers in each can

[BLT-s]

Cool video, thanks. What are your takes on Spatial Audio for movies (Dolby Atmos)? In particular with the Airpods Max?? It’s so hard to find people talking about Atmos in this regard, so any info is very much appreciated.

[Andrew-zxwx]

For what’s up on Apple Music now, I much prefer lossless over spatial/atmos. I came to this conclusion after extended listening since launch via AirPods Max as well as Drop + HIFIMAN HE4XX and Sennheiser HD 600 S with portable amp. I now have Atmos toggled off in settings. For me, Atmos can’t compare to the original recordings. So I guess… gimmick, or at least partially so. Once studio recordings are made with Atmos up front, perhaps that will change.

[nayan.saikia]

Hi Jason, can you please make a video on Apple Hi-Res and Tidal MQA?

[macinman]

Hey Jason, I have some thoughts here: I believe music mixed for a movie, or even TV soundtrack would translate better to spacial audio / Dolby ATMOS. For quite a few years now movies have been mixed at least for 5 speakers and one sub. for the standard home setup. I think commercial theater can go up to 10, or 12. 1, or more. Maybe you can fill me in here. Either way: Some standard stereo recording do translate well, but others don't. So maybe if artists start mixing like they would for movie soundtracks, spacial audio might work better. You also strike me as the type of person who would have used Super Audio CDs. Those were designed with multi channel in mind.

[davidashley]

Lossless sounds as though it’s a more pure experience. Yeah there’s a place for both perhaps lossless will be the stayer, maybe 🤔
Great honest review from somebody that understands music and sound.