It’s an age-old debate about music whenever new technologies come to the fore or whenever someone introduces a different way of listening to audio. Can you hear the difference?
When it comes to music streaming services that’s a question that’s frequently asked. You might expect all streaming services to sound the same, but we’d say that they are all different from one another.
We’d also assert that it’ll differ depending on your device, and what equipment you’re using too. Each chain in the link will have an effect.
Drivers have a bigger effect than the overall bit-rate
You’ll likely have heard a lot in the past few years about music providers trying to drive up the quality of audio, especially streamed audio.
Spotify still lags behind the rest with its 320kbps OGG Vorbis streams, which aren’t much higher in bit-rate than what iTunes was pumping out with its M4A streams at the turn of the century. Spotify Supremium should hopefully be coming soon to resolve this issue, but at the moment, Apple Music, Deezer, Qobuz, and Tidal all offer higher quality streams.
The marketing hook that’s been used to sell headphones is the uptake of higher quality Bluetooth codecs such as LDAC, aptX Apadative, and aptX Lossless (also known as Snapdragon Sound). This is all well and good, as Bluetooth does have a bandwidth problem and if you want to hear at the highest quality possible (say lossless audio), then that bandwidth pipe needs to be stretched open to allow more data through over a Bluetooth connection.
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However, this doesn’t matter as much as you think it does without high quality headphone or speaker drivers. Poor quality will ensure that detail, clarity, and overall resolution won’t make their way to your ears. Tracks may sound muddy or indistinct, even if they support tech like Snapdragon Sound because the drivers can’t pass through what’s in the signal.
The tuning of drivers will also have an effect on what you hear. Is it more of a neutral sound, a crisp, analytical performance or something that sounds warm and rich. These tuning decisions will have an effect too.
Really, it’s a combination of the driver, tuning, and technology used that will ensure a higher quality performance.
Each streaming service takes a different approach
Some may refute this point, but in our experience, each streaming service is tuned slightly differently in terms of how it sounds.
Qobuz is the clearest, most detailed sounding streaming service we’ve come across. Tidal sounds warmer than others, while Apple Music has a more neutral, if slightly dour tone that lacks the richness Tidal can offer. Spotify is similar, but its low bit-rate and compression also starves it of detail, definition, and dynamism.
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With Amazon Music, we’ve noticed that even when using the same equipment and listening to the same track, the bass can sound bigger. And there’s more to it than that, sometimes the soundstage is smaller (or bigger); other times a streaming service offers better top-end clarity. And listening on different platforms can also yield an effect. Qobuz and Tidal on an iPad sounded much more even, although Qobuz still bested its rivals in the detail and clarity stakes.
All of this is to say the quality of the streaming files, the signature of the streaming service, and how it’s delivered to your device of choice will have an impact.
It depends on the equipment you use
Do you use a portable DAC or a headphone amplifier? You’ll yield much better results with a device that can clean up and remove the noise from the signal before it passes through to your headphones.
Do you stream over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, as that too can have an effect. The former often leads to higher levels of resolution, even with Spotify Connect, than you’d often find when streaming through Bluetooth.
And obviously if you’re using a music streamer, a higher quality one with premium parts will be able to do a better job than a cheaper one, but at some point you’ll hit a limit and it’ll become “much of muchness” in terms of how much you spend and how much performance you get back.
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To hear the differences, every part of the chain needs to be strong without a weak link. Your source needs to be high quality, the connection between the source and the end device needs to keep the quality up and then whatever you’re listening through needs to make sure that what’s in the source at one end makes it all the way to your ears.
There are differences to be heard, some more nuanced than others. At the end of the day, it all depends on what you’re looking for. Is it an audiophile performance? Then that will guide you in one direction. Are you more a casual listener who’s not as interested in quality? Then that’s a different route too. In either case, if you like what you hear, that’s the most important thing.
Although it would be better if everyone listened in audiophile quality.
I am trying to create the experience of playing a hand drum. The idea is that the user picks up the drum mallet, hovers it above the drum, and if the user clicks again the drum plays the audio. Is this possible? I have found a lot of resources about shapes, specifically ellipses, but not a lot of information about images.
var drum, mallet;
var x, y, w, h; // Location and size
let dragging = false;
let rollover = false;
let img;
let vel;
let pos;
function preload(){
strike = loadSound('HandDrum.mp3');
drum = loadImage('handdrum2.png');
mallet = loadImage('drumMallet.png');
}
function setup() {
createCanvas(750, 500);
//Dimensions for Moving Stuff
x = 400;
y = 100;
w = 300;
h = 300;
}
function draw() {
background(220);
tint(219,69,69,250);
image(drum,125,95,400,400);
tint(82,217,198);
//image(mallet,350,100,width/2,height/2);
if (mouseX > x && mouseX < x + w && mouseY > y && mouseY < y + 2) {
rollover = true;
} else {
rollover = false;
}
// Adjust location if being dragged
if (dragging) {
x = mouseX + offsetX;
y = mouseY + offsetY;
}
image(mallet, x, y, w, h);
}
function mousePressed() {
if (mouseX > x && mouseX < x + w && mouseY > y && mouseY < y + h) {
dragging = true;
offsetX = x - mouseX;
offsetY = y - mouseY;
}
}
function mouseReleased() {
//Quit dragging
dragging = false;
}
Nothing has produced several excellent sets of wireless earbuds, and this guide will ensure you’re getting the best audio possible.
A number of the Ear models, including the Ear (a) and Ear, have support for LDAC, a Sony-developed audio codec that allows for higher-res streaming than traditional Bluetooth.
This isn’t on by default, but it’s easy to enable it, and all the steps are detailed below.
What you’ll need:
Nothing Ear, Ear (2) or Ear (a)
A supported Android device
The Short Version
Open the Play Store
Download the Nothing X app
Open Nothing X
Ensure your buds are connected
Tap the Settings icon
Toggle on High-Quality Audio
The buds will reboot
Step 1
Open the Play Store
to begin, you’ll need to find the Nothing X app. Open up the Play Store on your Android phone and search for Nothing X. You might also get a nudge to get the app the first time you connect the buds.
Step 2
Download the Nothing X app
Once you’ve found the app, download and install it.
Step 3
Open Nothing X
All the sound options are inside the app, so open it up once it has been downloaded and installed.
Step 4
Ensure the buds are connected
You’ll need to make sure your Nothing buds are connected, you can do this by opening the case or popping them in your ears.
Step 5
Tap the Settings icon
Tap the Settings icon inside the Nothing X app – the cog signifies this.
Step 6
Toggle on High-Quality Audio
There are numerous options here, but we’re looking for the one called High-Quality Audio. Toggle the option on.
Step 7
The buds will reboot
Once the above option has been toggled, the buds need to be rebooted. After this, they are ready to use.
I have 2 audio files recorded using laptop mic and one with external mic. Laptop mic recording starts after external mic. The time difference could be 2-60 seconds.
So I wrote this code which is pretty accurate, but when I bring both audio tracks (one from the video that uses laptop mic) and the newly adjusted audio, there is still like 50ms delay. Why could this be?
Sometimes it seems there is positive delay, and sometimes negative.
from scipy.signal import correlate
from scipy.signal import fftconvolve
from scipy import signal
from pydub import AudioSegment
from pydub.utils import mediainfo
import numpy as np
def findOffset(audio1, audio2):
correlation = signal.correlate(audio2, audio1, mode="full")
lags = signal.correlation_lags(audio2.size, audio1.size, mode="full")
lag = lags[np.argmax(correlation)]
return lag
def adjustAudio(audio_segment, lag, frame_rate):
# Convert lag from samples to milliseconds, rounding to nearest integer at the last step
ms_lag = round((lag / frame_rate) * 1000)
if lag > 0:
# Audio needs to start later: pad audio at the beginning
silence = AudioSegment.silent(duration=ms_lag, frame_rate=frame_rate)
adjusted_audio = silence + audio_segment
else:
# Audio needs to start earlier: trim audio from the beginning
adjusted_audio = audio_segment[abs(ms_lag):] # Use abs to convert negative lag to positive
return adjusted_audio
def alignAudioTrack(audioFile, newAudioFile, lag):
audio_data, rate, audio_segment = loadAudio(audioFile, return_segment=True)
# Adjust the AudioSegment based on lag, ensuring frame_rate is passed correctly
adjusted_audio = adjustAudio(audio_segment, lag, rate)
# Fetch original bitrate
bitrate = mediainfo(audioFile)['bit_rate']
# Save the adjusted audio preserving the original bitrate
adjusted_audio.export(newAudioFile, format="mp3", bitrate=bitrate)
audio1, rate1 = loadAudio(audioFile1)
audio2, rate2 = loadAudio(audioFile2)
lag = findOffset(audio1, audio2)
alignedAudioFile = os.path.join(newAudioDir, f"{baseName}_aligned.mp3")
alignAudioTrack(origAudioFile, alignedAudioFile, lag)
Vinyl has been resurging for years and its popularity has seen it outpace the sales of CDs for two years in a row. And part of that resurgence is down to Record Store Day.
Record Store Day is one of the biggest annual events on the music calendar, with a number of independent record stores, music artists and audio brands teaming up to mark the occasion.
If you’re not aware of it, or want to learn more about what is is, who is participating and what’s happening during the event, keep reading to learn more about Record Store Day 2024.
What is Record Store Day?
Record Store Day (RSD) was first conceived of back in 2007, with the first Record Store Day event held the following year on April 19, 2008.
Record Store Day is an event held every year that sees over 270 independent record store shops across the UK banding together to celebrate vinyl records. And it’s not just in the UK the event takes place, as shops around the world also take participate in the one-day vinyl extravaganza.
Record Store Day tends to be celebrated by limited edition releases/special pressings of vinyl records. These types of records are only available in-store and not online, and can only be bought on that specific day. Not every shop will stock each release, which is why you’ll need to check before you head out. Once the stock is gone, it’s gone.
The code of conduct for Record Store Day prohibits stock from being solid online until 8pm on the following Monday after RSD. Basically, if you miss out on a record and what to see if it’s still available at one of the stores, any remaining stock will be sold online from 8pm on Monday 22nd April, 2024.
When is Record Store Day?
Record Store Day 2024 will take place on April 20th, 2024. Kate Bush will be one of the ambasadors for the UK event, along with Paramore (in the US).
There is another Record Store Day in November of each year called Record Store Day Black Friday, which sells records at a discounted price.
What vinyl records are released on Record Store Day?
If you want to know what’s coming to Record Store Day 2024, be sure to have a look at this downloadable PDF ahead of the event.
Highlights include Alison Goldfrapp’s The Love Reinvention, Blur’s Parklife, Buena Vista Social Club’s Buena Vista Social Club, Orbital’s Orbital, Public Service Broadcasting’s Gagarin, David Bowie’s Waiting in the Sky (Before the Starman Came to Earth), Kate Bush’s Eat the Music and plenty more.
Taylor Swift fans looking for a record might be disappointed to know that she’s not participating in it this year, but her latest album is expected to drop on the 19th April, a day before Record Store Day…
Which record stores are participating in Record Store Day?
There will be stores in cities such as London (Sister Ray, Phonica Records), but also places such as Exeter and Dorset.
If you’re in the UK, head to this link to find the nearest store to you, head to this link.
If you’re looking to pick up a new skill at home, Spotify could be your new go-to app.
The music streaming service recently began testing a feature called Spotify courses here in the UK, bringing video lessons from BBC Maestro, PLAYvirtuoso, Skillshare and Thinkific together in one place.
These lessons are categorised into four main themes – make music, get creative, learn business and healthy living.
“Many of our users engage with podcasts and audiobooks on a daily basis for their learning needs, and we believe this highly engaged community will be interested in accessing and purchasing quality content from video course creators”, said Product Development VP at Spotify, Babar Zafar.
So, what courses does Spotify have ready to watch? Keep reading to learn how to access video learning courses on Spotify.
What you’ll need
A smartphone, tablet or PC
The Spotify app
The Short Version
Open Spotify
Tap Courses
Select a course
Hit play
How to access video learning courses on Spotify
Step 1
Open Spotify
Our screenshots will follow the steps for the iOS app. However, you can also access Spotify Courses on your desktop or browser by visiting courses.spotify.com/home.
Step 2
Tap Courses
You may need to scroll across to find this option.
Step 3
Select a course
Scroll down to browse the different categories and courses available and choose one.
Step 4
Hit play
You can also stream the trailer or download the course to watch later.
Troubleshooting
Who can access Spotify courses?
Courses are currently being tested in the UK, meaning only users in this region can access them right now.
Surprisingly, this feature isn’t restricted to Premium subscribers, with all users able to trial two free lessons per course before purchasing any additional lessons.
Who are Spotify’s content partners for courses?
Spotify has partnered with a handful of educational tech companies for its courses, including BBC Maestro, PLAYvirtuoso, Skillshare and Thinkific Labs Inc.
3D audio goes by many names, definitions, and forms in the current market, and one of those formats is Sony’s 360 Reality Audio.
While the jump in interest in immersive audio has certainly been given a push by Apple’s adoption of Dolby Atmos for its music streaming service, Sony got there a couple of years earlier in 2019 and has sought to bring it to a wider audience.
The idea is simple – it’s audio that you can hear all around you, creating an immersive soundscape to listen to your favourite tunes and films. So, how does it work and is it everything Sony makes it out to be?
What is Sony 360 Reality Audio?
Stereo sound, quadraphonic sound, 5.1-channel surround sound etc – they all have something to recommend them. What everyone likes less is competing audio formats that do the same thing.
At first glance, it would seem Sony’s ‘3D’ audio format – 360 Reality Audio – falls into the ‘same-thing-different-banner’ category. Object-based audio, where a soundtrack is mastered into numerous channels to create front, rear, sides and overhead of a soundfield, can be great when used right – but we already have the likes of Dolby Atmos and DTS-X.
Anything from a home 5.1.4 system to a state-of-the-art commercial cinema sounds thrillingly complete when it has a Dolby Atmos soundtrack to play with. Four overhead channels of information (in the home), or upwards of 64 overhead channels in a cinema, each receives discrete, carefully positioned information. The sense of scale, and of wide-ranging, believable movement in the right setting, is always impressive.
Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)
360 Reality Audio does the same thing, essentially, although previously the emphasis was squarely on music but has now broadened its talents to include cinema and gaming.
Sony has built 360 Reality Audio around the MPEG-H 3D Audio codec, which is able to support 64 individual channels. The format is open source, so anyone from small companies to individual artists can get involved.
And Sony has persuaded the Big Three record companies – Sony, Universal and Warner Music – as well as high-profile streaming services that includes TIDAL, Amazon Music HD and Deezer – to distribute the content.
How does Sony 360 Reality Audio work?
The idea is to place the listener in the thick of the audio action. Any element of a recording – by which we mean specific individual sounds, like a high-hat cymbal, a person’s footsteps in a game, the engine of car, or Bez-style maraca – can be positioned anywhere in the 360-degree sound field.
It can be finessed to give the impression of a specific angle or distance, painting a detailed and expansive audio picture, with the listener in the front row or even on the stage itself.
Sony states its 360 Reality Audio will work with headphones from most manufacturers, so theoretically all that’s required is a subscription to the premium tier of a partnering streaming service (and some headphones).
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However, if you want a more personalised experience and happen to have either a pair of compatible Sony headphones or headphones from another brand that support the tech (like Audio Technica), you’ll be prodded in the direction of the headphones’ respective app.
There you can capture images of your ear with the mobile device’s camera (you may want someone’s help for that), and set up an optimal hearing profile before it shoots you off to enjoy 360 Reality Audio tracks in streaming services such as Tidal and Deezer’s seperate 360 RA app.
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What are the benefits?
Most consumers (and perhaps even professionals) would say that immersive audio is no more than party trick and a gimmick, a feature that doesn’t present a better experience for the listener compared to stereo.
However, there are good reasons for mastering engineers and the public to venture into the immersive sound as we learned at a Sony press event held in Amsterdam via a presentation from mastering engineer Maria Triana.
She alluded that stereo is of course made up of two channels – left and right – but this can be an issue as to where to positions instruments and vocals within the soundfield, and how to manage all the sounds and frequencies vying for the same space in a two-channel mix.
With immersive audio that’s not an issue as it takes place on a bigger soundfield where instruments and vocals aren’t fighting for the same space, and frequencies from highs to mids and lows have more room to breathe. Vocals don’t have to be compressed to highlight them above other instruments, there is (or at least should) be more room to breathe and allow the listener to focus on different elements in a track.
Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)
Another benefit is that with immersive audio, you can experience music in a more natural way. With stereo content, mastering engineers create reverb and the ‘room’ the music takes place in, while in an immersive soundscape, the onus moves to the reflections of the sound around the whole room, so it is more like how music is created and listened in a ‘live’ setting.
A third, and perhaps most obvious benefit to listeners is movement of sounds. A mastering engineer can place sounds around the virtual room, but also have those sounds move about, the decay of a hi-hat cymbal can move from the front of the room to the rear.
A good immersive can give the impression of sounds all around you, but the immersive effect can be down to the number of elements in a mix and is not always obvious. It’s down to how the mastering engineer interprets and manipulates those elements. Some songs are suited to being in immersive audio, others less so.
Which products support 360 Reality Audio?
When the service was launched in 2019, Sony said they estimated they’d be around 1000 tracks in the format. At the end of 2023, Sony said there were over 1000 tracks available – that suggests there hasn’t been a huge uptake in developing for the format.
Artists with music in 360 Reality Audio format includes the Foo Fighters, London Grammar, Cypress Hill, Alicia Keys, Pharrell Williams, Paloma Faith, HAIM, Outkast, and RUN-DMC, so you have a decently diverse collection of musical genres to sample, as well as songs new and old that have been remastered to take advantage of what 360RA offers.
In terms of hardware, the unsurprising news is that Sony is doing the heavy lifting.
Sony headphones feature the tech from the WF-1000XM5, to the LinkBuds S, to the affordable CH720N over-ears. Whatever your purchase, they’ll be a little card in the packaging promoting 360 Reality Audio.
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Sony sells its own wireless speakers with the Wi-Fi-enabled SRS-RA5000 and SRS-RA3000. They use the company’s ‘Immersive Audio Enhancement algorithm’ to create that room-filling, live music feel. The RA500 features seven woofers – three firing upwards, three to the sides and one in the centre. The RA300 is less complex (and cheaper) with two tweeters, two passive radiators and a full-range driver.
The first speaker on sale that was able to handle Sony’s 3D audio standard was Amazon’s Echo Studio (you’ll need an Amazon Music HD subscription, though).
Sony’s added its soundbar line-up into the mix with the HT-A7000, HT-A5000, HT-A3000 all able to play content in 360 Reality Audio, as well as surround sound systems and speaker systems such as Sony HT-AX7 and HT-A9 models.
Sennheiser has also gotten into the game by updating its Ambeo soundbar, which can now service 360 Reality Audio content via a Chromecast connection. Currently only nugs.net music service provides Chromecast streaming for 360 RA content.
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More products are expected to arrive – Sony’s determination to democratise 360 Reality Audio means more Alexa-enabled, or Chromecast built-in devices will be able to support the format. Sony has worked with Google to embed the MPEG-H 3D audio into the Android code and widen its compatibility.
And Sony’s partnership with chipset companies like Qualcomm and MediaTek should, hopefully, make 360 Reality Audio compatibility across a lot more consumer hardware likely too.
Are there different versions of 360 Reality Audio?
Sony has expanded 360 Reality Audio into several directions that criss-cross with each other under the umbrella of 360SST (360 Spatial Sound Technologies).
We’ve talked about 360 Reality Audio, which is for music, but there’s also 360SSG (360 Spatial Sound for Gaming) supported by Sony’s Inzone gaming headsets. Those headphones can place you in the middle of a video game, with sounds coming from in front of the character and behind (a rather scary proposition in the Resident Evil 4 remake).
360SSP (360 Spatial Sound Personaliser) tailors audio to the shape and size of your ears so you’re getting the spatial effect as it’s meant to be heard. This is available through a dedicated app on Android and iOS platforms.
Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)
360SSM (360 Spatial Sound Mapping) works in concert with other object-based audio formats such as Dolby Atmos and DTS:X to create a room-filling, immersive performance.
When featured in compatible Sony soundbars and speaker systems, the built-in microphones will sense nearby surfaces (couches, walls, etc) to create a map of the room. It will use that map to calibrate the audio system’s delivery using psychoacoustics, tech similar waveform synthesis, and a “unique” Sony algorithm to create phantom speakers, giving the impression of sound coming from a certain area.
Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)
Finally, there’s 360VME (360 Virtual Mixing Environment), used by Sony Pictures, as well as The Hit Factory (New York), Gold Diggers Studio (Los Angeles), and MIL Studio (Tokyo)
This version of the technology is able to “accurately” reproduce the acoustic field of an immersive studio that consists of multiple speakers with headphones. Once the room has been mapped, if we understand this correctly, you can essentially take the measurement of the room and listen back on a pair headphones, creating a virtual studio as it were.
Those measurements can be only be done at the studios mentioned above. Though it does help that they’re come of the best in the world…
Is Sony 360 Reality Audio worth it?
This is an interesting question. There are so many facets to 360 Reality Audio, so many different but overlapping applications that it can be used for, that the way you experience it can differ but at its heart it’s all about immersion.
For headphones we’ve found it reasonably effective at creating a bigger soundstage with sounds that go around you, but like with Dolby Atmos, the quality of the experience can depend on how the track was mixed and effectiveness of the 360RA optimisation process.
We listened to Daft Punk/Pharrell Williams’ Get Lucky and didn’t noticed much of a difference pre and post-optimisation. And also, the song sounded better in stereo with bigger bass and vocals that weren’t as thin.
When 360RA works in tandem with Dolby Atmos in can be very effective in creating phantom speakers and a more immersive experience. We’ve played a Resident Evil game in 360RA spatial audio with the Inzone headphones and found that a suspenseful and gripping experience. If you have a soundbar, you’ll need rear speakers and subwoofer for the full experience, which will also add to the cost.
So in short it does work, and the experience is effective, though like most immersive audio it’s effective in the right setting, though 360RA tries to get around this with its mapping feature.
If you have a Sony product, it’s a nice benefit to have, but like with most immersive audio formats, it’s not essential – at least not yet.
FAQs
Does 360RA support head-tracking?
Yes it does. When enabled, head-tracking serves to automatically adjust sound as you move your head (in relation to the smartphone screen) – keeping the sound in its original position.
If your AirPods or Beats headphones have been announcing incoming notifications and you want it to stop, you’ve come to the right place. In this guide, we’ll take you through the simple steps to dismissing this feature for good.
Having Siri announce your notifications as they arrive can be a helpful feature for users of AirPods and iOS devices giving you a quick overview of incoming messages, however it’s certainly not for everyone and can get very irritating in certain situations.
You might not be aware the feature was turned on in the first place as it pops up as an option during the initial setup of a pair of AirPods or certain Beats headphones. If that is the case, and you want to turn it off, then the instructions below lay out the simple steps to complete the task.
What you’ll need:
AirPods (Max, AirPods Pro, AirPods 1st gen or later)
Or Beats (Fit Pro, Powerbeats, Powerbeats Pro, Beats Solo Pro)
An iPhone or iPad running iOS/iPadOS 15 or later
The Short Version
Open Settings on your device
Find Notifications
Tap Announce Notifications
Turn off
Step 1
Open Settings on your device
To begin, open up the Settings app on your iPad or iPhone. Ensure you’re on at least iOS 15, or later.
Step 2
Find Notifications
Once in the Settings app, scroll down to the Notifications option. Tap it.
Step 3
Tap Announce Notifications
Now look for an option labelled ‘Announce Notifications’. It’s situated under the ‘Siri’ banner. Once you’ve found it, tap it.
Step 4
Toggle off
Finally, it’s just a case of toggling the option from ‘On’ to ‘Off’ and you’ll no longer have notifications announced in your AirPods whenever a new message arrives.
Troubleshooting
Are there any further customisations to how Siri can announce notifications?
Yes, with the feature turned on, you can select the apps you wish to have Siri announce notifications from and tweak some of the settings for connected CarPlay devices.
More than a decade has passed since Dolby first brought its game-changing spatial audio technology, Dolby Atmos, to cinema screens.
Since then, Dolby Atmos has expanded to cover TVs, soundbars, smartphones, headphones and more. The audio feature is also supported by major streaming platforms like Apple Music, Netflix and Disney Plus, as well as game consoles like the Xbox Series X and Series S.
Keep reading to discover everything you need to know about Dolby Atmos, including what it is, how it works and where you can find it.
What is Dolby Atmos?
Dolby Atmos is a surround sound technology that allows sounds to be positioned in specific places, creating a realistic and immersive listening experience with the listener directly in the centre.
With Dolby Atmos, each sound is no longer limited to a particular channel as they were in pre-existing 5.1 and 7.1 set-ups. Rather, sound designers can specify where a sound originates, the direction it moves in and where it ends. These sounds are called audio objects and convey a more lifelike, three-dimensional presentation of sound.
There are up to 128 audio channels in total and 10 channels are still used for ambient sounds that don’t require any specific placement. These sounds stick with the traditional channel-based approach used in other sound systems. The other up to 118 channels are used for audio objects, which is what makes Dolby Atmos audio so dynamic and all-encompassing.
Audio objects are also compatible with any number of speakers, meaning Dolby Atmos can be heard on the big screen with a cinema-level 64 speaker set-up, or adapted to play through an affordable pair of earbuds.
Of course, Dolby isn’t the only company to introduce object-based immersive audio. DTS:X and Auro 3D create a similar effect, though each system requires a slightly different speaker setup.
How can I listen to Dolby Atmos sound?
The easiest way to hear what Atmos is about is to find a cinema with the necessary technology.
Another option is to upgrade your home audio set-up. Of course, when it comes to upgrading your personal system, 64 speakers is a logistical challenge at best, and utterly crazy at worst. Which is why Dolby and home cinema brands have been introducing a variety of products to expand Atmos’ reach.
All headphones are capable of playing Dolby Atmos as there’s no specific tech required to get it working. Soundbars are increasingly capable of playing Atmos film soundtracks by incorporating upward-firing speakers that shoot audio towards the ceiling or by reproducing the Atmos effect virtually via digital processing.
If you have space for surround speaker set-up, this is the best way of enjoying immersive object-based audio with the ability to add upfiring speaker modules to existing set-ups. To get Atmos from a speaker package set-up, an AV receiver is required to decode Atmos sound. There are plenty of options available, such as Denon’s AVC-X4700H.
So even though you won’t be able to recreate the full 64-speaker cinema set-up at home, you can still get a good Dolby Atmos experience in the living room.
Home Atmos systems are capable of reproducing all 128 audio objects across from as few as seven speakers. For those who want to go all out, home Atmos systems support up to 34 speakers, but such a set-up is unnecessary.
But before you worry about speakers, there’s some other information to be aware of. Firstly, you won’t need a new Blu-ray player. Standard Blu-rays are capable of containing the necessary Atmos data, as are Ultra HD Blu-rays, so unless you feel like upgrading to UHD Blu-ray, there are no format issues to worry about.
The amount of content has been rising with each year. Sky mixes content in Atmos, with Premier League football, events such as the Isle of Wight music festival and shows such as Portrait Artist of the Year, as well as a range of on-demand movies. BT has put its weight behind the format, too, with every Premier League and Champions League match broadcast in Atmos.
Atmos in gaming is becoming more popular, with the technology available in a wide range of games such as Halo: Infinite. Xbox has gone big on the technology, with its Series S and Series X consoles featuring Atmos.
What set-up do I need for Dolby Atmos?
For those overhead speakers, you may be wondering whether you’re going to have to drill holes in your ceiling to install the requisite speakers. Luckily, that isn’t necessary.
You can buy specially designed Dolby Atmos speakers. These integrate forward-facing speakers with upward-firing versions, which rebound the sound off the ceiling, mimicking the effect of overhead speakers.
If you like your current speaker set-up, there are speaker modules that can transform the existing set-up into Atmos-enabled one. It’s a case of placing the modules on top of the existing speakers to add the overhead functionality.
Another way is to take the plunge and install actual overhead speakers. As mentioned, home Atmos systems work with up to 34 speakers, so if overhead speaker installation isn’t a problem, you can go Atmos mad.
Before ruining the plasterboard, though, it’s worth bearing in mind that Dolby’s guidance states that using only two overhead speakers will “provide a convincing and powerful effect” while four overhead speakers will give you the “optimum sense of audio movement and precision.”
In fact, Dolby’s reference guides for the best Atmos speaker set-up recommend using 12 speakers at most. Once you’ve got the right AV receiver, you can upgrade your existing 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound by adding two or four ceiling speakers and either a couple of speaker modules or Atmos-enabled speakers.
The rise of Atmos in the home has also coincided with the rise of Atmos-enabled soundbars as a cheaper, less obtrusive way of getting Atmos in the home.
These simpler solutions integrate upward-firing speakers with traditional soundbar tech to deliver an Atmos experience without the hassle. The Sonos Beam 2 uses digital processing to deliver Atmos for around £450, and Denon DHT-S517, which has upfiring speakers, and costs $399 / £379.
Sennheiser’s Ambeo 3D Soundbar takes the Dolby Atmos codec and adds Ambeo 3D processing to create a massively immersive experience. It sounds fantastic, but it’s also one of the most expensive (and gigantic) soundbars on the market.
Atmos on mobile
Because Dolby Atmos is designed to be adaptable to whichever device you’re listening to, you can experience Atmos sound using your smartphone, tablet or headphones. Though as it is on mobile, don’t go expecting the sense of sound above or around you – think of it as just better sound.
Atmos on mobile is made possible by combining traditional virtual surround technology with the object-based audio of Dolby Atmos, the combination of the two allows headphones to reproduce a convincing version of the 3D soundscape.
Dolby told Trusted Reviews that manufacturers can embed Atmos into both software and hardware, which means your device doesn’t necessarily need specific hardware to use it, although Apple’s Spatial audio with Dolby Atmos uses the accelerometers in certain iOS devices to produce the head-tracking effect required.
What is Dolby Atmos Music?
credit: Dolby
Atmos isn’t just for home cinema aficionados. Its presence has been growing in the music industry too. Dolby Atmos Music does the same thing as Atmos did for cinema, producing music in a 3D soundscape. Currently, Tidal, Amazon Music and Apple Music offer the biggest catalogues of Dolby Atmos Music.
The first Blu-ray audio disc with Atmos sound arrived in 2015 in the 25th anniversary edition of R.E.M’s Automatic For The People. Atmos Music has grown since with Hans Zimmer’s Live in Prague concert film released with Atmos audio, as has INXS’ reissue of the Kick album, Roger Waters’ The Wall and many other titles.
At the 2019 Bristol Hi-Fi Show, Trusted Reviews was treated to a behind the scenes look at classic songs remixed in Atmos. Tracks included Public Enemy’s Don’t Believe the Hype (in orchestral form), the Beach Boys’ God Only Knows (by the Royal Philharmonic orchestra) and Elton John’s Rocket Man.
The end result was interesting, as some songs are better suited to the format than others hence the orchestral versions of some songs. Music studios are putting more music out there in Atmos, though the number of new releases per month is still relatively few, and it also faces competition from Sony’s 360 Reality Audio.
How does Dolby Atmos stack up against the competition?
Dolby isn’t the only company product immersive audio. The DTS:X format was introduced in January 2015 and also uses an object-based system. Unlike Dolby Atmos, DTS:X was originally aimed at home use, before being targeted at cinemas.
How is DTS: X different? In many ways it’s the same, the crucial difference is in the speaker set-up. Whereas Atmos supports up to 34 speakers in the home, 64 in a cinema and requires new speakers/modules to work properly; DTS:X supports up to 32 speakers and will work with your current home speaker set-up. That means that while extra overhead speakers will enhance the DTS:X experience, they’re not necessary.
Another competing object-based, 3D audio system is Auro 3D. Developed by Belgium company Auro Technologies and officially introduced in 2006, the format is based upon a three-layer design: surround, height, and overhead.
The key difference between this system and Dolby Atmos comes down to the speaker layout. With Auro 3D, an additional row of speakers is placed above the traditional row found in 5.1 and 7.1 set-ups. This adds the height element. A single speaker is then placed on the ceiling to add the overhead dimension.
Although Auro 3D also creates a spatial sound field, the company doesn’t use the term audio objects as Dolby does. Auro’s plugins allow sound designers to dictate where sounds should originate and move to, and the format can be used in cinemas, at home, and over headphones, just as with Dolby Atmos.
Films such as The Hunger Games, The Croods, and Red Tails have used Auro 3D in the cinema, but it isn’t as popular as Atmos.
Atmos and VR
With virtual reality (VR) still on the rise, recreating the way we hear sounds makes all the difference to how immersive a VR experience feels.
Dolby has already worked with VR content creator Jaunt to add Atmos sound to three of the company’s VR experiences: Black Mass, Kaiju Fury! and video from a Paul McCartney concert entitled Live and Let Die.
Since then, Atmos has been extended to support VR experiences on iOS, Android, OS X, and Windows. Dolby lists the HTC Vive as a supported device, as long as you have Windows 7 and above. On top of that, the company says the Samsung Gear VR is compatible with Atmos technology while the Meta Quest 2 supports 3D audio, which we presume means it can support Atmos.
Is Dolby Atmos worth it?
So there you have it. Dolby’s surround sound format is an exciting proposition for anyone who cares about audio technology.
We’ve seen manufacturers throw their weight behind the format, especially with ever-cheaper soundbars. Broadcasters have produced more and more content in Atmos, and both gaming VR have thrown their backing behind it.
As long as you have the right kit then Atmos can deliver an experience that’s beyond the limitations of stereo. It’s a whole new world and it’s never been easier to sample.
I am building a Flutter app which uses the just_audio library to play short voice prompts.
If I generate an mp3 file manually using Amazon Polly Text to Speech in the AWS console and then upload the resultant mp3 file to an S3 bucket, (after granting public access and copying the S3 object URL) then just_audio downloads and plays the audio correctly.
// Dart
final AudioPlayer audioPlayer = AudioPlayer();
audioPlayer.setUrl('https://bucketname.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/say_someting.mp3');
audioPlayer.play();
However, I need the audio to be generated from text on-the-fly allowing voice prompts whose content is unknown until runtime. Hence I have also built a Java Spring Boot microservice which exposes an endpoint which calls Amazon Polly. Streaming is not necessary given the duration of the audio is less than about three seconds and the mp3 data about 15KB in each case.
// Java
@GetMapping(path = "/mp3", produces = "audio/mpeg")
public byte[] getAudio()
{
// Some piece of runtime text
final String whatToSay = "The time is now " + System.currentTimeMillis();
// Create a request for Polly to turn the text to audio
final SynthesizeSpeechRequest synthesizeSpeechRequest = new SynthesizeSpeechRequest().withOutputFormat(OutputFormat.Mp3).withVoiceId(VoiceId.Amy).withText(whatToSay);
// Use SSML for intonation control
// synthesizeSpeechRequest.setTextType(TextType.Ssml);
final SynthesizeSpeechResult synthesizeSpeechResult = amazonPolly.synthesizeSpeech(synthesizeSpeechRequest);
// The content it typically just a few kilobytes, so we can just collect it and send it as an array of bytes
final ByteArrayOutputStream outputStream = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
IOUtils.copy(synthesizeSpeechResult.getAudioStream(), outputStream);
return outputStream.toByteArray();
}
If I deploy this microservice to Elastic Beanstalk and access the endpoint with a browser then the browser plays the audio correctly. If I download the mp3 from this endpoint then the mp3 file can be played from Quicktime. So there does not appear to be anything wrong server-side.
// Dart
final AudioPlayer audioPlayer = AudioPlayer();
audioPlayer.setUrl('https://my-domain/mp3');
audioPlayer.play();
A problem occurs when I point the just_audio player to the endpoint. An exception is thrown with the message ‘source error’.
How can I get my Spring Boot app and the just_audio player to work together?
I have tried stepping through the just_audio source to see if I can find out any more detail as to the cause of the problem, but the trail goes cold as the error originates in async code and is attached to a Future.
I have tried including an empty header map while setting the url because I can see just_audio checks for this.
I have tried the flutter_tts package but I cannot find any support for controlling the emphasis of given words in a sentence. (Amazon Polly supports SSML and hence offers fine control of the intonation).
I have tried streaming the output of Amazon Polly to the Response stream instead of buffering the audio data.
I have set up a (temporary) URL which demonstrates the problem here: mp3 server
How can I find the total number of wide sound spikes in the audio? For instance, in the given image, there are three instances of wide sound spikes followed by small sound spikes.
Additionally, how can I determine the occurrence of small sound spikes after each wide sound spike? For example, after the first wide sound spike, there is one small sound spike; after the second, there are seven; and after the third, there are two.
I'm planning an electrical installation at home and need to know what speaker cables to lay.
So far, neither the speakers nor the stereo amplifier have been selected, but I know that:
The room is ...
But, when I run the example code it compiles and runs with no exception, but no sound either..
I'm running VS 2022 with Microsoft.NETCore.UniversalWindowsPlatform version 6.2.14
I've tried turning on "background Media Playback in the Capabilities tab of Package.appxmanifest. That did get WAV files to play using the NAudio package and I could create a set of WAV files that are the tones that I want to play. But that feels like a hack solution.
Using PortAudio and SndFile to read WAV file content, writing directly into the output stream to play the sound is doable as in the sample wavplayer.chere, but does anyone know how to make the sound loops infinitely until we close the stream?
static
int
callback
(const void *input
,void *output
,unsigned long frameCount
,const PaStreamCallbackTimeInfo *timeInfo
,PaStreamCallbackFlags statusFlags
,void *userData
)
{
float *out;
callback_data_s *p_data = (callback_data_s*)userData;
sf_count_t num_read;
out = (float*)output;
p_data = (callback_data_s*)userData;
/* clear output buffer */
memset(out, 0, sizeof(float) * frameCount * p_data->info.channels);
/* read directly into output buffer */
num_read = sf_read_float(p_data->file, out, frameCount * p_data->info.channels);
/* If we couldn't read a full frameCount of samples we've reached EOF */
if (num_read < frameCount)
{
return paComplete;
}
return paContinue;
}
I have accelerometer, gyro, and received sound-level data streams from a data logger and I need to calculate the trajectory of the data logger over time (it's attached to something that is moving). I also have a GPS location of where the data logger began and ended (but that's it). I should also be able to get a sense of range from the received sound levels, because I also know the location of the sound source. I was hoping someone could point me to some code or a publication that does this?
I am trying to convert images generated in to a dataset.
(All I have is just png images in n folders and there is no label or meta data)
This is what I aspire to do:
I am using torch audio to convert audio formats to Mel spectrogram and save the images as png format. Status:done
Now I have n number of folders(classes) with images so I am curious if I could convert the newly generated images into data and
target as in normal datasets, so that I can use sklearn to do the
test train splits sklearn.model_selection.train_test_split
.
Status:not done
The best deal we saw during the annual Black Friday shopping event was £121 on Amazon. This deal from eBuyer whoops the pants off that. Google itself is still selling the Pixel Buds Pro for £129.
Pixel Buds Pro cheaper than on Black Friday
Somehow, Google’s Pixel Buds Pro are even cheaper than the best deal we saw on Black Friday. Snap them up while you can at eBuyer.
If you haven’t heard of eBuyer, they have an “Excellent” 4.4 star score from almost 50,000 reviews on TrustPilot. The Buds Pro are in stock and are available for next day delivery.
This offer is on the charcoal pair of Pixel Buds Pro wireless earbuds, with active noise cancelling technology, up to 11 hours of battery life, a Qi wireless charging case, and water and sweat resistance.
Google's best wireless buds yet
Pros
Multiport support
Very comfortable
Excellent Battery Life
Strong bass
Cons
ANC can be a hit or miss
Not worth it for iPhone users
Fit isn’t for everyone
We love the strong bass performance, well-rounded playback, and the multiport Bluetooth support enabling connection to multiple devices simultaneously. Our reviewer gave the Pixel Buds Pro a four-star score and praised the great sound and ANC performance.
He concluded: “The Pixel Buds Pro are a worthy entrant to the wireless earbud market and a marked improvement over previous Google buds. They sound good, with particular strength in bassy tracks and the ANC works well inside. There’s also a wealth of nice extras, like wireless charging, multipoint support and tight Android integration.”
Apple’s AirPods Pro (2nd Gen) make for some of the best noise-cancelling earbuds we’ve tested, and if you want to get them at a discount, this Amazon Cyber Monday deal may be your last chance before Christmas.
The big online retailer has knocked them down by 13% to put them under £200 – £199 to be precise – giving you a handy £30 or so discount on their usual list price.
If this isn’t the AirPods Pro 2 deal from Amazon isn’t for you though, then it’s worth checking out the Trusted roundup of the best Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals we’ve seen this weekend, including all manner of other options on wireless headphones galore. Time is running out so it’s worth taking a look.
Get these second gen AirPods Pro for under £200 from Amazon this Cyber Monday
If you’re after a pair of second-gen AirPods Pro for cheap this Cyber Monday, then this deal from Amazon at £199 may be your last chance before Christmas.
The AirPods Pro 2 impressed us when they were released last year with some fantastic noise cancellation and a rich, warm sound which made listening to music a pleasure. The addition of the new H2 chipset adds some new custom drivers and amplifiers which bring out the best in all sorts of music, whether it was Arctic Monkeys or Kendrick Lamar.
In addition, its connectivity with Apple devices especially is strong and the claimed 6-hour battery life on the buds with ANC is solid, too. The best features are saved for iPhone and Mac, but if you’re a user of those platforms, you can benefit from seamless integration and switching between connected devices, as well as the addition of the U1 chip to offer Find-My type powers if you end up misplacing your AirPods.
Their design hasn’t changed much since the original model, but that isn’t such a bad thing, with a comfortable fit and great charging case. That itself has seen some handy upgrades including a lanyard loop for attaching a wrist strap, and the addition of a speaker for providing audible feedback for connectivity and alerts.
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