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List of Apps that work with Spatial Audio

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The first post of this thread is a WikiPost and can be edited by anyone with the appropiate permissions. Your edits will be public.
honglong1976

honglong1976

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jul 12, 2008
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UK
I thought this may help those who want to use Spatial Audio.

Supported
Air Video HD - Yes (turn Surround on in audio settings)
Apple TV - Yes
Disney+ - Yes
Hulu - Yes
Plex - Yes (go into settings > advanced and enable old video player) then quit and relaunch the plex app.

FE File Explorer - Yes
- SMB and automatic selection of 5.1/Dolby Atmos track (tested with .m4v files with AAC 5.1 (iOS 14.2 or above required), AC3 5.1, E-AC3 5.1, E-AC3 Atmos tracks)
- DTS 5.1 does not work

Foxtel Go (Australia) - Yes

Currently unsupported
Infuse - No
VLC - No
Netflix - No
YouTube (iOS) - No
Vimeo (iOS) - No

Not recommended and works intermittently
PlayerXtreme - Yes, and it can play videos over SMB (just select the DD 5.1 stream) but not recommended (loses connection to SMB, spacial audio stops working)

If anyone has tried other apps, feel free to edit (wiki post).

Supported Devices:
  • AirPods Pro or AirPods Max
  • iPhone 7 or later, or one of these iPad models:
  • iPad Pro 12.9‑inch (3rd generation) and later
  • iPad Pro 11‑inch
  • iPad Air (3rd generation)
  • iPad (6th generation) and later
  • iPad mini (5th generation)
  • M1 capable Mac with Big Sur installed (can someone test and confirm,?)
Unsupported devices
  • AirPods 1st and 2nd generation
  • iPhone 6S and below
  • Apple TV 4K and below
  • All Macs (Intel + M1)
 
Last edited:
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honglong1976 said:
I thought this may help those who want to use spacial audio.

Apple TV - Yes
PlayerXtreme - Yes, and it can play videos over SMB (just select the DD 5.1 stream)
VLC - No
Disney+ - Yes
Plex - No
Infuse - No

If anyone has tried other apps, feel free to edit (wiki post).
Click to expand...
Is it just SMB for PX? Couldn't get it working over UPnP
 
bumbo said:
Is it just SMB for PX? Couldn't get it working over UPnP
Click to expand...
I used SMB. Same for VLC.

I have an external HDD connected to an Apple router.

Also for better video playing in PlayerXtreme, go to the settings and choose the Extreme player (rather than native oir auto). Works great. Pop up to rate is annoying though.

Hopefully, VLC can implement it.
 
Well playerxtreme kinda works. I add the SMB, spacial audio works. Then it can’t find the SMB. Then when it does spacial audio doesn’t work.

Uninstall reinstall. Works ok then stops working.

Its no VLC.

Anyone had any luck with anything else?
 
Well, tried lots of apps and the best by miles is FE File Explorer. Free, connects to SMB and works with spacial audio (the app automatically picks the 5.1 track) and it also downloaded the album covers.
 
honglong1976 said:
Well, tried lots of apps and the best by miles is FE File Explorer. Free, connects to SMB and works with spacial audio (the app automatically picks the 5.1 track) and it also downloaded the album covers.
Click to expand...
App is free, yes but it wouldn't play any MKVs without an IAP. I'll wait for Infuse/Plex to update
 
bumbo said:
App is free, yes but it wouldn't play any MKVs without an IAP. I'll wait for Infuse/Plex to update
Click to expand...
All my files have been converted to m4v, and they are also optimized for streaming when saved using https://subler.org/

I usually open the MKV, then add the artwork and saved as .m4v with sublar. It's doesn't re-encode or anything, so it's super fast.

Works ok in FE File Explorer, so I guess it's just using the native apple video player (which is fine).

Everything I loaded played perfect and automatically spacial audio worked on each one. It's the best by far, and I will use this till VLC updates their app.
 
Although originally designed for Apple TV and home theater use, I was surprised to find my surround sound audio apps for iOS work great out-of-the-gate with Spatial Audio!

Surround Speaker Check - The free Speaker Check 5.1 test demonstrates the surround sound capabilities of Spatial Audio, while the Center Speaker Check track ($0.99) IAP is a great way for viewers to clearly experience Apple's Spatial Audio head tracking feature in action.

Surround Sound Ear Candy - App-album featuring guitar-centric surround soundscapes and instrumental music. Perhaps offering a glimpse at how music might sound if Apple Music offered Spatial Audio? (Please read app description before downloading.)

Vermont Sleep Sounds & Music - Immersive recordings of nature, white noise and relaxing music, featuring Dolby Atmos tracks. Update (v1.1.2) for Spatial Audio support out today! (My newest app - still a work in progress!)

I hope it's okay to share these here. Let me know if otherwise and I'll edit or remove this post. Thanks.

—Jeff P.
 
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JeffPerrin said:
Although originally designed for Apple TV and home theater use, I was surprised to find my surround sound audio apps for iOS work great out-of-the-gate with Spatial Audio!

Surround Speaker Check - The free Speaker Check 5.1 test demonstrates the surround sound capabilities of Spatial Audio, while the Center Speaker Check track ($0.99) IAP is a great way for viewers to clearly experience Apple's Spatial Audio head tracking feature in action.

Surround Sound Ear Candy - App-album featuring guitar-centric surround soundscapes and instrumental music. Perhaps offering a glimpse at how music might sound if Apple Music offered Spatial Audio? (Please read app description before downloading.)

Vermont Sleep Sounds & Music - Immersive recordings of nature, white noise and relaxing music, featuring Dolby Atmos tracks. Update (v1.1.2) for Spatial Audio support coming in the next day or two! (My newest app - still a work in progress!)

I hope it's okay to share these here. Let me know if otherwise and I'll edit or remove this post. Thanks.

—Jeff P.
Click to expand...
Thanks Jeff. I tried the surround speaker check and it's amazing how good the Spacial Audio is. When it isolates channels, you can turn your head and can hear and look at a rear speaker that isn't there. It's very cool!
 
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Thanks for the post about possible apps that support spatial audio.

I cannot get FE File Explorer to work, even bought the full version. None of my files with AC3, DTS or Atmos work. What codec are you files using @honglong1976 or do you have flip a switch somewhere?
 
Seige said:
Thanks for the post about possible apps that support spatial audio.

I cannot get FE File Explorer to work, even bought the full version. None of my files with AC3, DTS or Atmos work. What codec are you files using @honglong1976 or do you have flip a switch somewhere?
Click to expand...
Read my posts to see what I do. Sublar and M4v. Tested with DD5.1

All using the free version of FE File explorer.
 
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Thanks for the reply, DD5.1 encoded in ac3 and h264 for video? Neither 5.1 nor 7.1 do work in my case :eek: I will try to trancode a test file to m4v and see what happens.

EDIT: It looks like only AC3 5.1 in a mp4 container is working. Will test further.
 
Last edited:
Seige said:
Thanks for the reply, DD5.1 encoded in ac3 and h264 for video? Neither 5.1 nor 7.1 do work in my case :eek: I will try to trancode a test file to m4v and see what happens.

EDIT: It looks like only AC3 5.1 in a mp4 container is working. Will test further.
Click to expand...
I use h.264 and either AC3 or E-AC3 (Dolby atmos).

All converted using subler.

Any weird format ones I convert with Avidemux (I converted one yesterday that was MPEG4 as an avi to h264). I have one now that has a 5.1DTS track converting to AC3.
 
matrix07 said:
How about list of devices that can play spatial audio on AirPods Pro?
Click to expand...
Already been listed on the Apple site:

www.apple.com

iOS 18

iOS 18 brings deeper customisation, new ways to connect, easier-to-find photos and support for Apple Intelligence.
www.apple.com


"Works with AirPods Pro. Requires iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR, iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max and iPhone SE (2nd generation)."
 
bumbo said:
Already been listed on the Apple site:

www.apple.com

iOS 18

iOS 18 brings deeper customisation, new ways to connect, easier-to-find photos and support for Apple Intelligence.
www.apple.com


"Works with AirPods Pro. Requires iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR, iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max and iPhone SE (2nd generation)."
Click to expand...

iPads:

  1. Works with AirPods Pro. Requires iPad Pro 12.9‑inch (3rd generation) and later, iPad Pro 11‑inch, iPad Air (3rd generation) and later, iPad (6th generation) and later, or iPad mini (5th generation).
 
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honglong1976 said:
  1. Works with AirPods Pro. Requires iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR, iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max and iPhone SE (2nd generation).
Click to expand...
The list below is the list of devices compatible with Spatial Audio - the list of devices that can run iOS 14 is different
 
Tried DTS 5.1 and AAC 5.1 tracks and they don't work. I am surprised AAC 5.1 doesn't work. AC3 and E-AC3 only.
 
bumbo said:
Already been listed on the Apple site:

www.apple.com

iOS 18

iOS 18 brings deeper customisation, new ways to connect, easier-to-find photos and support for Apple Intelligence.
www.apple.com


"Works with AirPods Pro. Requires iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR, iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max and iPhone SE (2nd generation)."
Click to expand...
So my X works. Phew...
 
honglong1976 said:
iPads:

  1. Works with AirPods Pro. Requires iPad Pro 12.9‑inch (3rd generation) and later, iPad Pro 11‑inch, iPad Air (3rd generation) and later, iPad (6th generation) and later, or iPad mini (5th generation).
Click to expand...

..and my Air 3 works as well. Swell...
 
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