Can someone please explain spatial audio to me

[TorontoSS]

Hello,
I’m hoping to get some insight from you. Let me explain why I‘m asking. I recently got AirPods max. And I have AirPods Pro as well. On the max, I used spatial audio on some songs and I really enjoyed it. this was before iOS15. On Dolby atmos songs, you could hear different instruments in different spots.

i understand Dolby atmos and spatial audio are different, but I’m not technically competent to know how.
When I got iOS 15 listening to spatial audio changed or is it just my own head thinking this? It seemed that it became more about where your head turned, the music would come from front. It was no longer just about where the instruments were. Quite frankly, Im not as into this, particularly if I‘m walking.

however I’d ii turn off spatial audio from the control centre on Dolby atmos enabled songs, I dont hear what I did before iOS 15.

so here are my questions.
- was spatial audio different on iOS 14 on Dolby atmos songs?
- if so how do you listen to that?
- what’s the difference between spatial audio and Dolby atmos?

thank you!

 

[Seanm87]

I would like to know this as well, and no you're not going crazy they deffo have head tracking enabled now which is annoying.

I much preferred standard dolby atmos.

 

[diego.caraballo]

You can disable Head Tracking in Accessibility settings. I found it too distracting and buggy. Sometimes the sound “stucks” to one channel or there’s a sound glitch when moving the head from left to right or viceversa. Dolby Atmos will work perfectly without head tracking enabled.

Info: https://www.whathifi.com/advice/what-is-apple-spatial-audio

 

[TorontoSS]

You can disable Head Tracking in Accessibility settings. I found it too distracting and buggy. Sometimes the sound “stucks” to one channel or there’s a sound glitch when moving the head from left to right or viceversa. Dolby Atmos will work perfectly without head tracking enabled.

Info: https://www.whathifi.com/advice/what-is-apple-spatial-audio

View attachment 1848582

This is sooo useful thank you so much!

 

[NastyMatt]

Hello,
I’m hoping to get some insight from you. Let me explain why I‘m asking. I recently got AirPods max. And I have AirPods Pro as well. On the max, I used spatial audio on some songs and I really enjoyed it. this was before iOS15. On Dolby atmos songs, you could hear different instruments in different spots.

i understand Dolby atmos and spatial audio are different, but I’m not technically competent to know how.
When I got iOS 15 listening to spatial audio changed or is it just my own head thinking this? It seemed that it became more about where your head turned, the music would come from front. It was no longer just about where the instruments were. Quite frankly, Im not as into this, particularly if I‘m walking.

however I’d ii turn off spatial audio from the control centre on Dolby atmos enabled songs, I dont hear what I did before iOS 15.

so here are my questions.
- was spatial audio different on iOS 14 on Dolby atmos songs?
- if so how do you listen to that?
- what’s the difference between spatial audio and Dolby atmos?

thank you!

Spatial Audio is another way of saying Dolby Atmos without paying royalties! They are the same thing.

Head tracking has been covered above, turn it off if it annoys you (and can see how it would when walking etc) but it's independent of SA.

 

[jakeenzo]

Spatial Audio is another way of saying Dolby Atmos without paying royalties! They are the same thing.

See that’s what I thought but I was able to listen to Dolby Atmos tracks on my Air Pods 1st Gen and they don’t have “Spatial Audio”. Spatial Audio is only for AP3, Pro’s and Max. So I’m now inclined to believe that Spatial Audio is separate tech/implementation of Dolby Atmos.

I’m so confused!

 

[NastyMatt]

See that’s what I thought but I was able to listen to Dolby Atmos tracks on my Air Pods 1st Gen and they don’t have “Spatial Audio”. Spatial Audio is only for AP3, Pro’s and Max. So I’m now inclined to believe that Spatial Audio is separate tech/implementation of Dolby Atmos.

I’m so confused!

Spatial Audio works with all headphones, head tracking does not (AP3, prod and Max).

 

[bigshot]

Head tracking is part of spatial audio. If your pods can't do that, all you're hearing is a stereo fold down of a multichannel track... which admittedly isn't all that different from spatial audio.