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I really don't understand why spatial audio has to depend on the device having gyro (mems). I often stick my ipad under my monitor, plug it in, and then pop th

by soneil 6y ago

I really don't understand why spatial audio has to depend on the device having gyro (mems). I often stick my ipad under my monitor, plug it in, and then pop the headphones on. The ipad doesn't move. It doesn't need to move - for the next two hours, it's a dongle, a very flat appletv. Spatial audio still works like this. If I pause, look away, and unpause - where I was looking when I unpaused is the new centre. It's not depending on the ipad's position at all, just origin plus delta. I get that the iphone/ipad need more than this, in-case the device is moving too. But it's not a hard requirement. If the device doesn't move (eg, my appletv hasn't moved for 3 years), then it doesn't need a gyro/mems to tell you it hasn't moved. I think you can safely assume my TV hasn't moved, and if it has - pause and unpause still fixes it. And agreed on your main point, if I'm home, and awake, I'm probably wearing my Max. I can only speak for my own head, as it's the only one I've tried, but I'm digging them. The foam pads seem to solve the "burning ears" problem I have with extended usage of leather headphones.

crazygringo 6y ago
The spatial audio processing is done on the mobile device, not the headphones. Which has made me seriously wonder if it's not actually about a gyro/accelerometer on the device, but did Apple just design the code to run specifically on certain A chips? From the support page [1] for spatial audio, from the list of supported mobile devices you can basically deduce that it requires an A10 chip or later. Which would explain why Intel Macs aren't supported. The only thing it doesn't explain is why the Apple TV 5th gen (4K) doesn't support it, which does have the A10. But I swear I'm holding out hope that a software update this year will bring spatial audio to the M1 Macs and the Apple TV 5th gen. I just for the life of me can't imagine why they wouldn't. [1] https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211775 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211775
- _ph_ 6y ago
  Indeed, it must be one of the compute units available on the newer Apple processors. My iPad Pro 2nd gen also doesn't support it. I really hoope that they upgrade the Apple TV to support spacial audio soon. It really is a nice feature. Also, Mac support would be great. The bigger the screen, the more likely you are watching movies on it. While they are at it, Apple finally should properly support homepods on macOS. They still aren't shown as pairs - at least on Catalina.

by soneil 6y ago

crazygringo 6y ago

The spatial audio processing is done on the mobile device, not the headphones. Which has made me seriously wonder if it's not actually about a gyro/accelerometer on the device, but did Apple just design the code to run specifically on certain A chips? From the support page [1] for spatial audio, from the list of supported mobile devices you can basically deduce that it requires an A10 chip or later. Which would explain why Intel Macs aren't supported. The only thing it doesn't explain is why the Apple TV 5th gen (4K) doesn't support it, which does have the A10. But I swear I'm holding out hope that a software update this year will bring spatial audio to the M1 Macs and the Apple TV 5th gen. I just for the life of me can't imagine why they wouldn't. [1] https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211775 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211775

_ph_ 6y ago
Indeed, it must be one of the compute units available on the newer Apple processors. My iPad Pro 2nd gen also doesn't support it. I really hoope that they upgrade the Apple TV to support spacial audio soon. It really is a nice feature. Also, Mac support would be great. The bigger the screen, the more likely you are watching movies on it. While they are at it, Apple finally should properly support homepods on macOS. They still aren't shown as pairs - at least on Catalina.