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iOS 16 Brings New Personalized Spatial Audio Feature That Uses TrueDepth Camera
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I have not seen his presentation yet, but …
If this is for listening with headphones then yes, it should only scan the head to derive the HRTFs for exactly your head, with anything you are wearing at the moment etc. And if they can pull that off, it would be a mighty achievement.
If however this is also for loudspeaker audio, then the room is important but not your head. It would be an attempt at cancelling out undesired reflections which is close to impossible, especially if you are several people in the room, I.e several listening positions. For that the scan would also have to deduct the acoustic properties of surfaces. And that can’t be done with a phone alone.
I must have been too long away from conferences on acoustics. Otherwise I would have seen this coming.
But cool to know that it seems to work
Quite the contrary IMHO. With over-ear headphones, you get at least some effect of your pinnae, which probably has a much bigger impact on spatial perception than the ear canal. But with in-ears, everything has to be simulated so to speak, including the pinnae. So this might be even more useful for AirPods Pro.
I might be wrong though.
Seems like some folks might be confused about spatial audio vs Dolby. They can work together but are not dependent so you can still use spatial features even in stereo. Those wanting to know why spatial audio is being pushed by Apple is because spatial audio is trying to bring the most important thing to music which is soundstage.
Purest will say it’s a gimmick but so was stereo when first introduced. In fact, when audiophiles evaluate a product they do so in mono (one speaker) as stereo can mask weaknesses in hardware. Lastly, while movies are meant to be heard in surround, music should resemble a concert where the soundstage is in front. Spatial audio looks to simulate a wider stage similar (not surround specifically) to open back headphones. It’s hit or miss however and can sound echoed or reduced highs with elevated mids.
Purest will say it’s a gimmick but so was stereo when first introduced. In fact, when audiophiles evaluate a product they do so in mono (one speaker) as stereo can mask weaknesses in hardware. Lastly, while movies are meant to be heard in surround, music should resemble a concert where the soundstage is in front. Spatial audio looks to simulate a wider stage similar (not surround specifically) to open back headphones. It’s hit or miss however and can sound echoed or reduced highs with elevated mids.
I do not like Dolby Atmos tracks in music because it places the vocalist right in the centre of my head, which I do not like. This sort of sound-staging is a negative for me. I much prefer stereo sound.
That is interesting actually, because ideally it should place the vocalist rather in front of you. Hearing it "in the head" is usually rather a problem with stereo and one of the reasons Dolby Atmos for Music exists.
It might be interesting for you to test the personalized Spatial Audio once available, maybe you'll get better results with it.
I think I should. Currently I do hear the vocalist in my head on Armos tracks, and this is on the AirPods Max. I hope the personalisation solves this for me.