I don’t have any fancy AirPods or Headphones so I can’t compare I recently listened to Apple’s new spacial audio on the Dolby system in my car (played through my iPhone 12 mini) and holy wow is it incredible. Like being in the middle of the band while they’re playing.
@patrickrhone it depends on the song, but with the right mix in our basement and it’s 7.1 surround speakers + an Atmos capable receiver is a whole new way of hearing a familiar tune.
I’m still not sure it is the same as going from standard def TV to 4K UHD TV (which I don’t have), but it can definitely be impressive with the right studio engineering.
@patrickrhone Apple says spatial audio is supported for AirPods too. I suppose it will work with my second generation AirPods?
@stevesnider I’m no audiophile but it sounds AMAZEBALLS on the Dolby Surround system in my 2010 Volvo.
@ridwan If you've not yet listened to anything that's been converted to have spacial audio, especially something you're pretty familiar with already (in my case, “What's Goin’ On” by Marvin Gaye), prepare to have your socks knocked off.
@patrickrhone I’ve been impressed a couple of times just in our Honda minivan with how a song just sounds… different in a way that sorta blows my mind.
I really am looking forward to a proper Atmos/“Spacial audio” mix of, say, the Pink Floyd classics. That could be great.
But really this is maybe the way I formally introduce myself - by offering to let you stop over next time you are by the Mac Groveland Dunn Bros to give the full speaker treatment a listen. 🙂
@stevesnider By “Mac Grove" Dunns do you mean the original one on Grand and Snelling?
Our house on Summit puts me in that general area for most of each week (and, frankly, our other house is only a mile and a half away)
@patrickrhone I don’t have Apple Music subscription but I guess you won’t need that to experience Spatial audio. However, I will check out that track. I prefer Hip-hop & Rap.
@patrickrhone My reaction to spatial audio has been more subdued. For songs with vocals, it simply does not work at all. Every song I’ve listened to sounds worse than its lossless counterpart. For instrumental music, there is a nice improvement but not nice enough to leave the option on and ruin the vocal music I listen to. I’ve tested this on AirPods Pro, AirPods Max, and a vehicle stereo system.
@gpittman Very much agree. It’s a mixed bag with most sounding worse, low volume, missing punch. Not sure how I feel about the original artists not having input on these new mixes as well. If we get new music specifically mixed for it, perhaps it’ll be ok.
@gpittman Wow. Sorry you’ve had such a different experience. Like I’ve said, I’m not a audiophile and listen mostly to mp3 quality stuff so perhaps that’s the reason for the difference to me.
@patrickrhone my issue is that engineers are re mixing these without artist input most of the time. This is not a filter but a change in interpretation in a lot of ways. Sounds good in some ways. But I think overall it is a gimmick.