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Apple Announces Personalized Spatial Audio

MZKM

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You use the TrueDepth camera (dot projector and all the same used for FaceID) to map your pinna and then it will compute that somehow to tailor the response, coupled with how it already tailors the sound with Adaptive EQ (uses the microphones to hear how the music is playing in you ear).

They also mentioned AirPods are the most popular model lineup of headphones in the world. As a teacher of high schoolers, this is easy to believe.
 

NewbieAudiophileExpert

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IMO apple just takes something and gives it a proprietary name and then you think it's more awesome than it is.
 

Phorize

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You use the TrueDepth camera (dot projector and all the same used for FaceID) to map your pinna and then it will compute that somehow to tailor the response, coupled with how it already tailors the sound with Adaptive EQ (uses the microphones to hear how the music is playing in you ear).

They also mentioned AirPods are the most popular model lineup of headphones in the world. As a teacher of high schoolers, this is easy to believe.
This quite interesting for 2 reasons:

1) Unlike most so called 'innovations' in audio this could actually improve user experience.

2)This sort of development takes Apple closer to entry to the direct sales hearing aid market. Which is worth about $10 billion globally.

I wonder what the issues would be patent wise. REW plugin anyone?
:)

Of course it can't fix the millions of aging cochlears out there, so as is often the case it's good to be young in this situation!
 

MayaTlab

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You use the TrueDepth camera (dot projector and all the same used for FaceID) to map your pinna and then it will compute that somehow to tailor the response, coupled with how it already tailors the sound with Adaptive EQ (uses the microphones to hear how the music is playing in you ear).

My understanding of it is that it's a way to individualise the HRTF map used by Apple's Spatial Audio renderer, but won't affect the basal FR of the AirPods, as above the feedback mechanism (in Apple's parlance Adaptive EQ) range I'm not quite certain that it's predictable enough for Apple to then tailor it to a particular individual.
That is, unless Apple found a way to have the feedback mechanism operate above 800Hz or so, something the AirPods Pro 2's marketing could suggest they may have achieved (it's the first time Apple makes explicit mention that Adaptive EQ operates at high frequencies, and the French translation is even more explicit) :
Screenshot 2022-09-07 at 21.34.43.png

But I'm still quite skeptical of it and for now prefer to put it down to a marketing error.
 

Peluvius

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Apple have implemented something different and very worthwhile here. I have been using the new Airpod Pros with this feature enabled and it makes a markedly positive improvement to everything I have listened to aside from tracks encoded with Dolby Atmos (no idea why). I would love to know what they have actually done (in technical terms). The Sony feature by a similar name degraded the sound.
 
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I was able to set Spatial Audio up after roughly 4 hours of trying. It was a wild experience, prob the worst tech setup I ever had.

I think if I had shaved sides so the earth are more exposed that’d be easier as it seemed hair kept tripping up the IR camera.

Anyways I have this now, but no idea how to actually test it - sounds the same as non-personalized spatial audio. Maybe slightly better (?) in Apple’s test

Is there any content that I can try it with that would definitely take advantage of spatial audio?
 

MayaTlab

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Is there any content that I can try it with that would definitely take advantage of spatial audio?

I'm also in the process of trying to find effective ways to subjectively evaluate these systems. Things you can do, among others :
- Dolby Atmos test tracks where sound sources are in a known position.
- Play (ex : pink) noise from an iOS device and change your orientation relative to it.
The first avoids the problem of the accelerometer based head tracking introducing errors.
 

JSmith

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Mercedes-Benz has teamed up with Apple to introduce its Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos support for the first time in a car natively.

Spatial Audio is best known as Apple’s surround-sound audio technology that claims to bring “a fully immersive listening experience with unparalleled, multidimensional sound and clarity”.


JSmith
 

Cars-N-Cans

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JSmith
"The Burmester 4D sound system has a total of 31 speakers, including six 3D speakers that emit their sound from above, 4 near-ear speakers in the front seats, and an 18.5L subwoofer."

I'm sure it sounds amazing but good lord the entire interior is going to be nothing but Burmester speaker grills. I wonder at what point these start to approach true wave field synthesis? Although with that said a car interior is one of the worst music reproduction environments due to the litany of reflections and direct sound essentially arriving at the same time, not to mention having windows and road noise to contend with. Would be interesting to know what has been done to optimize it.
 
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