More precisely, Spatial Audio renders sound into your ears that simulates placement of sound sources in a real 3-D space. It can take a stereo mix and render it

More precisely, Spatial Audio renders sound into your ears that simulates placement of sound sources in a real 3-D space. It can take a stereo mix and render it as if it were coming from speakers in your device. It can also take a surround or Dolby Atmos mix and render it as if you were in the center of the speaker array (surround) or the center of a room with multiple signal sources (Atmos). It can do this with head tracking that makes the simulation truly uncanny. So the branding is a little confusing — Spatial Audio is a technology that sits between your ears and the encoded mix, as well as a marketing label to differentiate Atmos mixes from stereo mixes in the store.