Can Sony 360 Reality Audio Survive Against Dolby Atmos?

while searching for home audio products online you may have come across terms like Dolby Atmos dtsx or with 3D or IMAX enhanced but more often now you may have seen this logo in the mix too great another thing to wrap my head around but what is 360 reality audio in why should you care well it's actually pretty cool and getting more buzz when compared to its competitors I'm Ian Osborne and this is acoustically spooky immersive sound and spatial audio are two generalized terms for one of the most popular Transit music movies and home theater audio although both of those terms describe the same thing the ability to create an enveloping and immersive Sonic experience which brings the listener inside the music movie or TV program immersive sound differs from stereo or traditional Surround Sound by the inclusion of height elements sound comes from not just all around the listener but from above as well Dolby Atmos was the first immersive surround sound format introduced in movie theaters with the film Brave in 2012 and you better believe I was one of the first in line to see Brave just because of that fact audio nerd since then Dolby Atmos has expanded its footprint from movie theaters into home theater systems wireless speakers cell phones laptops headphones sound bars and even cars straight up dominating the home audio market like an NBA All-Star against a bunch of kindergartners competing formats dtsx ro3d and IMAX enhanced were released later with limited degrees of commercial success but back in yield ancient times of 2019 BC BC standing for before covid Sony released its own immersive sound format called 360 reality audio our founder Brian Mitchell experienced it in a private tour at Sony picture studios and was very impressed by what he heard based on the MPEG h3d audio standard 360 reality audio is an object-based surround sound format which combines a standard multi-channel surround sound bed with sound objects that can be mapped in 3D space this allows the format to work for the wide variety of speaker configurations and even with headphones Sony has also been working with music studios to get the format into music releases as of early 2023 over a thousand music tracks have been encoded in 360 reality audio including major releases from new artists as well as classic back catalog tracks 360 reality audio tracks can be found on music streaming services including Amazon music unlimited Deezer nugs.net pure tracks and title personally I think Deezer and nugs.net need to merge to form Deez Nuts but that's just me in order for consumers to experience this sound at home Sony release Bluetooth speakers and Sound Bars which included multiple drivers pointing in different directions to reproduce sound coming from all around the listener the company also released headphones designed to replicate the immersive effects of 360 reality audio in a more private environment the company even offers an ear-shaped analyzer for its wireless bluetooth headphones as a feature of its mobile headphones app Sony headphones connect this optimizes the 360 reality audio headphone experience for all the different shapes and sizes of ears out there in the world including these big satellites on yours truly 360 reality audio can be experienced on traditional headphones as well though our experience with immersive sound has been that it works best over speakers and the more speakers you have the better it sounds to this effect in February 2023 Sony introduced a new suite of avrs which include 360 reality audio decoding the company has also begun licensing The Tech 2 third parties such as Den in for use in their own products Sony's immersive Surround Sound Solutions also include 360 spatial sound mapping which and don't grown too loudly is different from 360 reality audio but don't you fret my friends I'm about to explain the difference right now while 360 reality audio is a codec that needs to be present in both the source material and the playback device like Dolby Atmos or dtsx 360 spatial sound mapping is a technology that enhances any round or immersive sound recording by making it more seamless much like Odyssey or direct live room correction software 360 spatial sound mapping can take a home theater system that has seven speakers plus a subwoofer let's say in a 5.1.2 configuration for example and make it sound like it has more speakers 360 spatial sound mapping creates Phantom channels in different parts of the room to make the movement and placement of sounds within the sound field smoother and more natural sounding like in Sony's wildly popular Flagship home theater system the hta9 with the format making in rows in the music industry those considering a high-end Soundbar home theater receiver or preamp processor should also consider products that support 360 reality audio in order to guarantee maximum format compatibility and future readiness well there you have it folks are you on board with 360 reality audio has it intrigued you are you wanting to make sure your future home audio purchases include support for 360 reality audio let's have a conversation in the comments below shall we as always to keep up on all things Hi-Fi and audio computers gadgets merging Tech head over to acoustics.com for all you could ever need and don't forget to follow us on social media for even more bite-sized content while on the go until next time I'm Elon Osborne and I have acoustically spoken foreign

Channel: ecoustics

Views: 6,952

Keywords: home audio, home cinema, home theater, audio, sound, tv, television, electronics, consumer, consumer electronics, loudspeaker, headphones, hifi, hifi audio, hifi nation, dolby atmos, atmos, dts, dts x, auro 3d, computers, gadgets, earbuds, iem, in ear monitor, news, breaking news, audio news, tech, technology, tech news, ecoustics, imax enhanced, sony, 360 reality audio, 360 audio, sony 360 reality audio, immersive audio, immersive sound, educational, entertainment, spatial sound mapping

Id: E-d6XzTNk4A

Length: 5min 31sec (331 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 03 2023