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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.
If that’s the case then I’m really impressed that they created thousands of new mixes for all the 5.1 movies on iTunes. But I’m not complaining. They are great, and every movie I have tried in my library has impressed me.

But upon reflection I don’t believe that Apple or the studios created new mixes just for spatial audio Since remastering thousands of movies just for this feature wouldn’t make sense when a simple algorithm can take a 5.1 channel track and adjust the sound on the fly in real time.
 
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The studios create the mixes. They make one for home theater, and they make another for TV. Compare the same movie on HBO Max or Apple TV with spatial audio to the same movie on Netflix with an Atmos fold down to stereo. I bet they will sound the same.
 
bigshot said:
I'm betting those are two completely different mixes and the mixes are responsible for the difference, not spatial audio.
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Currently it is not possible for spatial audio does to "toggle a different track". It is purely a switch for turning the DSP for the feature itself on or off.

There is definitely a difference with spatial audio turned on (provided you are listening to compatible material). Maybe you just don't like the effect? That's certainly your right. But your strong feelings of minimal or no difference leads me to believe something is not quite right with your gear (firmware version? fake AirPods?) and spatial audio is just not working properly for you to actually hear it.
 
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I'm using AirPods Max. All functional. Spatial Audio turned on. Head tracking works. I've found that David Attenborough documentaries have the best sound on blu-ray in my 5.1 speaker system- immersive and lots of rear channel information. So I compared a recent Attenborough doc The Year Earth Changed on AppleTV in Spatial Audio Atmos to the Attenborough doc Our Planet on Netflix in regular Atmos folded down to normal stereo. The only difference in sound quality between the two was the head tracking. There was absolutely no front/back depth, no sound coming from the rear, no difference in the volume of the voice over, no difference in the placement of sounds left to right. It wasn't spatial, it was regular headphone stereo.

Netflix presents the best stereo sound it can, folded down from the Atmos track. Apple might be deliberately hobbling the non spatial track if it detects you can play spatial audio, but I don't know how to toggle spatial audio on or off on my iPhone. In the AppleTV app, it selects the audio track for you. You can't choose. The same for HBO Max I think.
 
bigshot said:
I don't know how to toggle spatial audio on or off on my iPhone. In the AppleTV app, it selects the audio track for you. You can't choose. The same for HBO Max I think.
Click to expand...

You cannot choose spatial audio in the apps. You have to choose it in the OS itself. When you choose it to be "on," then all 5.1 tracks in compatible apps (eg, iTunes movies) are converted on the fly to spatial audio. They don't have a separate track that you can choose.

How To Geek has a good tutorial:

How to Quickly Toggle Spatial Audio On and Off​

To quickly turn Spatial Audio on and off, you can also use the Control Center. Open it by swiping down from the top right corner of your iPhone or iPad’s display.

Long-press the volume control that has a small picture of your AirPods to access their options.

Accessing AirPods options in the IPhone Control Center.


At the bottom of the screen, tap the “Spatial Audio” option to turn it on and off.

You can also adjust their transparency mode from here, controlling how the noise cancellation works on your AirPods

AirPods Spatial Audio and Noise Control toggles.
 
Thanks for the info marvin_h, that helped me figure it out a lot better. It appears that the Spatial Audio is taking the soundtrack and adding a slight phase reverb giving it the sound of a small room with concrete floor. Then it boosts the bass and adds a bit of phase shift to that, and raises the volume a bit. With Spacial Audio switched off it has the exact same placement of the sounds across the stereo spread, just no phase effect and a slightly lower volume. It's the exact same mix.

I don't think this is using the multichannel sound from the streaming service at all. I think this is a DSP on top of regular stereo. There's no reason that this kind of DSP couldn't be applied across the board to Netflix and YouTube and Spotify. I don't think the streaming source has anything to do with it. I think the standard stereo signal is being processed by the phone. No Atmos at all. I bet Apple is looking to license streaming services. If they pay a fee, Apple allows them to include a flag that enables the DSP in the phone.
 
Guys, spatial audio works on Mac without Dolby atmos. I don’t get how it knows where my monitor is but it works!
 
Does it work with any audio that comes through the computer, like youtube or iTunes?
 
bigshot said:
Does it work with any audio that comes through the computer, like youtube or iTunes?
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Yes. In control center it shows what kind of audio it is streaming, stereo or surround, with spatial audio.

when it’s stereo, it’s as if the audio is coming from the display
 
bigshot said:
I'm using AirPods Max. All functional. Spatial Audio turned on. Head tracking works. I've found that David Attenborough documentaries have the best sound on blu-ray in my 5.1 speaker system- immersive and lots of rear channel information. So I compared a recent Attenborough doc The Year Earth Changed on AppleTV in Spatial Audio Atmos to the Attenborough doc Our Planet on Netflix in regular Atmos folded down to normal stereo. The only difference in sound quality between the two was the head tracking. There was absolutely no front/back depth, no sound coming from the rear, no difference in the volume of the voice over, no difference in the placement of sounds left to right. It wasn't spatial, it was regular headphone stereo.
Click to expand...
Seriously? There was a profound difference in the narration soundstage when I watched. With SA on, it sounded like Sir David was in a theater somewhere to the rear of my position. Moving my head, he stayed in the same virtual space. There was also noticeable background sounds emanating from all over the place.

I did notice his "Earth changed" special wasn't loaded with lots of back/side channel, at least not as much as any of his BBC productions. But then, most of those aren't in Atmos.
 
The two programs I compared were both in Atmos. Absolutely no sense that any sound was coming from behind or at a distance in front. Everything was a straight line through my ears, just like all headphones. If I turn my head, the sound pans left and right. It doesn't move in front of me.

I don't think you can do Atmos with true surround on the APMs.
 
AirTagStalker said:
Yes. In control center it shows what kind of audio it is streaming, stereo or surround, with spatial audio.
when it’s stereo, it’s as if the audio is coming from the display
Click to expand...
I wonder how you got that toggled on? Are you using a beta OS?
 
To get the best spatial audio experience, should I turn on or off Follow iPhone in Accessibility? Thanks
 
It doesn't sound any better with Dolby Atmos on Apple Music. What a disappointment.
 
It might sound better to you. It depends on how you feel about phase/reverb and EQ processing. It isn't multichannel.
 
If you toggle Spatial Audio in and out on your phone, you can hear exactly what it does. There's some added reverb and a bass boost.
 
Dolby Atmos working for me on AirPod Pro’s, sounds phenomenal. MASSIVE upgrade to audio. MAKE SURE the music is Dolby, search Dolby Atmos in Apple Music for a list of playlists made by Apple, make sure the toggle in CC says Dolby Atmos and Spartial.
 
I find the volume of the music much lower with spatial/dolby activated, is there a way to fix?
 
Does VLC still not work with Dolby tracks? Does FE File Explorer Pro work with MKV files that are E-AC3?
 
I think Handbrake will convert any audio format in an MKV to any other compatible format. And I think Plex can play anything in an MKV. Might be wrong about that though.
 
Sure, but I’d rather not have to process all my video files that exist if possible. If VLC or FE File Explorer Pro worked with Dolby Atmos audio tracks in MKV too that would be awesome. Id be happy to check but not sure how to tell haha.
 
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