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Do you know how it compares to Dolby Atmos for headphones, DTS Headphone:X, and Windows Sonic? Those solutions all work with conventional stereo headphones. Ed

Do you know how it compares to Dolby Atmos for headphones, DTS Headphone:X, and Windows Sonic? Those solutions all work with conventional stereo headphones. Edit: after more reading I believe the main difference is the sensors in the Airpods Pro track head movement. For instance the virtual center (dialog speaker) would always appear to be coming from the display device, even if you move or tilt your head.

crazygringo 6y ago
Son of a gun, I went and researched and turns out my Mac can produce a "similar" spatialization effect in VLC from 5.1 audio at least, under Window > Audio Effects > Filter > Headphone virtualization. Not that I've ever heard anyone mention its existence before. But I'm definitely using that from now on. Thanks for setting me on that track! As for comparing the two... the iOS one is absolutely better, but the VLC one is still a really nice improvement. But it's definitely not just the head tracking. The VLC one somehow feels like it spreads the audio out "horizontally", so background sound comes from outside the head, but people speaking still sound "between my ears". Whereas with iOS, the people speaking genuinely sound like they're in front of me -- it puts the center audio forwards -- and nothing sounds "between my ears". I would guess Apple can produce something superior because they know the exact shape and positioning of their own headphones, as opposed to a generic stereo headphone plugin? Not to mention, of course, the lack of head tracking in VLC. I just researched Dolby Atmos for Headphones to compare, and it looks intriguing but appears to be Windows only.
- debug-desperado 6y ago
  Classic "virtual surround" works like you've noticed in VLC. I believe the new spatial audio formats (including Apple's) all use a standard HRTF (head-related transfer function) that approximates an average person's ear canal shape. This lets you be placed in a virtual space surrounded by audio sources/objects. Sony's Mark Cerny had a fascinating talk on PS5's spatial audio implementation. Sony might even support importing a custom-measured HRTF for even greater sound placement accuracy. No idea where you'd get it measured though!
Polylactic_acid 6y ago
Not particularly useful for movies but an interesting fact is that you get this same effect with any pair of headphones while playing VR games since all the stuff for head tracking exists already.

crazygringo 6y ago

Son of a gun, I went and researched and turns out my Mac can produce a "similar" spatialization effect in VLC from 5.1 audio at least, under Window > Audio Effects > Filter > Headphone virtualization. Not that I've ever heard anyone mention its existence before. But I'm definitely using that from now on. Thanks for setting me on that track! As for comparing the two... the iOS one is absolutely better, but the VLC one is still a really nice improvement. But it's definitely not just the head tracking. The VLC one somehow feels like it spreads the audio out "horizontally", so background sound comes from outside the head, but people speaking still sound "between my ears". Whereas with iOS, the people speaking genuinely sound like they're in front of me -- it puts the center audio forwards -- and nothing sounds "between my ears". I would guess Apple can produce something superior because they know the exact shape and positioning of their own headphones, as opposed to a generic stereo headphone plugin? Not to mention, of course, the lack of head tracking in VLC. I just researched Dolby Atmos for Headphones to compare, and it looks intriguing but appears to be Windows only.

debug-desperado 6y ago
Classic "virtual surround" works like you've noticed in VLC. I believe the new spatial audio formats (including Apple's) all use a standard HRTF (head-related transfer function) that approximates an average person's ear canal shape. This lets you be placed in a virtual space surrounded by audio sources/objects. Sony's Mark Cerny had a fascinating talk on PS5's spatial audio implementation. Sony might even support importing a custom-measured HRTF for even greater sound placement accuracy. No idea where you'd get it measured though!

Polylactic_acid 6y ago

Not particularly useful for movies but an interesting fact is that you get this same effect with any pair of headphones while playing VR games since all the stuff for head tracking exists already.