31–40 of 107 posts
I think it would nice to have headphones that can detect orientation accurately and do positional audio. Probably a gimmick but maybe some of the VR headset technology will trickle down.
darn it, just tell me what to buy.
I've heard the Sony system is good, but audio has to be encoded in Sony's format.
I used to own the Smyth Realiser 8 and it was awesome. The latest version is the 16. It's rather expensive, which is maybe why the source article didn't mention it, but you can feed it almost any surround sound source. It's probably the most versatile (and expensive) of the bunch:
Obviously an outlier here, but I have as much desire to hear sounds behind my ears as I do to see images around my butt. Best case scenario I've ever had is that it's distracting as hell.
In some games like tactical first-person shooters, having the ability to pinpoint accurately and with precision the footsteps or gunfire can make the difference between a kill or be killed.
i went to a qualcomm presentation at CES a decade ago where they demoed surround sound with basic cheap stereo cans and it was impressive as hell. i was always surprised it never seemed to take off as a general thing.
Shameless plug: My company also makes virtual surround sound software for headphones. But unlike other solutions (like Atmos and Airpods Pro) we generate your HRTF from a photo of your ear using machine learning. If you're interested in this stuff, please check us out too: https://embody.co/
It's been 14 years since the last state of the art 3D audio experience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUDTlvagjJA has anybody done as good since then ? What's this Cetera algorithm ?
Holy shit that demo is amazing. Are there more demos like that? I was wearing AirPods Pro and nearly jumped out of my seat, I thought someone walked into my room. That’s better than anything I’ve ever heard using so-called “spatial audio”, and it’s just surround sound.
How have we not done better since? How is this not just in every video game now?
I find the way some of these surround virtualizations work to be odd. Like when I used Atmos, it sounded more like I was in a room surrounded by speakers instead of like I was actually immersed in the content. Maybe that's desirable for movies? It certainly didn't make sense to me for games.
The alternatives are:
- record a real sound space using a binaural mic head, then simply use 2-channel output. Head tracking not supported, HRTF is physical not modeled/virtual.
- build a 3D virtual sound space. Apply the HRTF in post-production with output to 2 headphone channels. Head tracking can't be supported, but there's a lot more flexibility.
- encode a potentially large number of discrete channels and their positions in 3D space (including reverb and room dynamics) and let the listener's system apply the HRTF. Would support head tracking, but the audio format would be super complex, as would be the rendering software. Reverb calculations in particular could eat up a lot of CPU.
- render in post-production to a discrete number of channels that will be placed in known positions around the listener. This supports theaters and home surround setups, can be implemented in headphones using an HRTF, and would support head tracking - all at the same time. The only drawback is that in headphones, it sounds like speakers around you. Because that's exactly what the HRTF is doing with the input signal.
It's easy to see why the last option is what we've landed on. It's the most flexible for the widest number of scenarios, it's a straightforward standard, and it's not too hard to emulate using an HRTF.
Shameless plug: My company also makes virtual surround sound software for headphones. But unlike other solutions (like Atmos and Airpods Pro) we generate your HRTF from a photo of your ear using machine learning. If you're interested in this stuff, please check us out too: https://embody.co/
It's been 14 years since the last state of the art 3D audio experience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUDTlvagjJA has anybody done as good since then ? What's this Cetera algorithm ?
darn it, just tell me what to buy.
AirPods Pro are good, but they only support iPhones/iPads as a source (I assume they'll add Apple TV later). I've heard the Sony system is good, but audio has to be encoded in Sony's format. I used to own the Smyth Realiser 8 and it was awesome. The latest version is the 16. It's rather expensive, which is maybe why the source article didn't mention it, but you can feed it almost any surround sound source. It's proba…