Shame they cant explain why their ancient windows itunes app doesnt even have spatial audio or atmos capability
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Explains How Spatial Audio Head Tracking Will Work on Apple TV
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I’m not sure why I would want the head tracking feature vs spacial audio but what I want is virtual surround over headphone while watching a movie and it seems I’ll get it.
Great.
Great.
So, Team Confused gets one more member added to it… according to this paragraph two things activate (at different times):
1. Spatial Audio if you don’t move and
2. Head Tracking (which is completely different from Spatial Audio) if you move.
Is that correct? If it is, how so much different is head tracking vs spatial audio? Are they both active at anytime sometimes? Or are they always mutually exclusive?
I have no clue but right now on Atmos songs and ios15 with AirPod pros if I enable spatial Audio I I appear to get head tracking with it. If I turn left or Right the person singing stays in one spot
Last edited:
Exactly!
Even on devices that have a U1 chip, head tracking doesn't use the U1 chip because AirPods don't support U1 to source its location.
It's been clear that it simply uses the accelerometers to work out when you move your head. Hence it re-centres the channels if you keep looking in the incorrect location after a few seconds.
SPACIAL AUDIO & HEAD TRACKING HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ULTRA WIDE-BAND (U1) PEOPLE
/rant.
I’m on the iOS 15 beta, and others are reporting that it appears to already be enabled on iOS 15. (I didn’t have an opportunity to try music with Spatial Audio before installing iOS 15, so I have nothing to compare it to there.) But I can confirm the sound noticeably shifts as I turn my head.Not sure but..
Apple Music Spatial Audio to Get Dynamic Head Tracking in the Fall
Apple is currently rolling out spatial audio and lossless audio for Apple Music, offering subscribers a more immersive and higher-quality audio...www.macrumors.com
And it sucks.
It’s simulating speakers surrounding you. This isn’t just adding reverb and echo to make it seem like it’s a spacious room. From The Verge: “Apple says it uses algorithms to convert surround sound (5.1, 7.1, or Dolby Atmos) into spatial audio. From there, it applies directional audio filters and adjusts the frequencies going to each ear to achieve the immersion effect.”
Unfortunately, no one can be told what spatial audio is. You’ll have to experience it for yourself.” 😂
Spatial audio for video is fantastic I’ve found. Impressively large sound stage. Glad to see it’s coming to tvOS.
Deeply unimpressed by spatial audio music however (via my Airpods Max). Sounds very compressed, nearly everything piped through a middle channel, separation lost, with a bad/weird EQ. Tried with a variety of tracks, some marginally better than others. What they’ve done to some of the Beatles tracks is a crime! Disabled.
Deeply unimpressed by spatial audio music however (via my Airpods Max). Sounds very compressed, nearly everything piped through a middle channel, separation lost, with a bad/weird EQ. Tried with a variety of tracks, some marginally better than others. What they’ve done to some of the Beatles tracks is a crime! Disabled.
Last edited:
I had the same experience like you yesterday. Today when they enabled head tracking for spatial audio it is night and day. Give it another go with iOS 15.
Try: Tiesto - Boom, Kanye West - Black Skinhead, the entire Abbey Road, Kenny Rogers - The Gambler, Vivaldi, John Williams (and most of the classical music). It's incredibly immersive and even stereo spatialisation sounds so much better than having a stereo track inside your head.
Isn’t headphones “speakers surrounding you”? How is what you are describing any different than Windows Sonic or Atmos for headphones?
How stable is the beta? This is the first time I’ve seriously contemplated installing a tvOS beta. Does it break anything?
I'm interested too.
Is spatial audio for video enabled in 14.7 tvOS beta? Or just tvOS15? Respectfully, I find some people claim it's been enabled when it hasn't, not in this thread specifically.
Last edited:
No, headphones are either left or right. Spatial Audio is left, right, up, down, back and forth and many more locations because it supports Dolby Atmos. They’re able to use the accelerometer in your AirPods Pro/Max to keep the sound fixed when you move your head for a more immersive experience. It’s Windows Sonic and Dolby Atmos for headphones, just better. But that’s not the point, people are excited this feature is coming to the Apple TV, a thing people use to watch content.
I'd add that I experience a tangibly increased sound stage with spatial audio video w/ iPad Pro & AirPods Max, which I've never experienced with Windows Sonic/Atmos or any other purported headphone surround solution. On the Series X for example, on Atmos supported titles I barely hear any difference, and yes, I have the license and hardware configured correctly.
As above, not at all impressed by spatial audio music, heyho.
Spatial Audio is available, at least in Music, in iOS 14 (as of recently). Other than head-tracking (and ATV support) is it different in iOS 15?
I've been playing (on iOS 14) with a few of the tracks from the Spacial Audio category on Apple Music and I have to say that, so far, they sound slightly worse when SA is enabled. Quieter, muddier. In some cases narrower! I've not, yet, experienced anything that doesn't sound like normal stereo, but worse. Is it just my ears (which are, admittedly, not the best judge here as I have diminished hearing in my right ear - although that doesn't usually seem to impact stereo perception)?
(this is with AirPods Pro, btw)
I've been playing (on iOS 14) with a few of the tracks from the Spacial Audio category on Apple Music and I have to say that, so far, they sound slightly worse when SA is enabled. Quieter, muddier. In some cases narrower! I've not, yet, experienced anything that doesn't sound like normal stereo, but worse. Is it just my ears (which are, admittedly, not the best judge here as I have diminished hearing in my right ear - although that doesn't usually seem to impact stereo perception)?
(this is with AirPods Pro, btw)
That's been my experience. Muddier is the perfect word.
Think parents with small (or even not so small) children sleeping in a nearby room. We still do this quite often.