What's the Deal with Amazon RA360?
My perceptions:
- Headphones only, no discrete Atmos, Quad. or 5.1 without rumored $8K McIntosh A/V Processor
- Amazon and Sony want you to buy the proprietary Sony headphones for $350 https://www.amazon.com/Sony-WH-1000XM4-Wireless-Canceling-Headphones/dp/B08WZXP336/
- Amazon RA360 streams don't even show available in the Amazon app on my iMac with 5.1 HDMI that I use for Apple Music
- On my iPhone & iPad, the streams do not show available unless the device detects either wired or bluetooth headphones / earbuds
Thank you for explaining the whole deal. Blows my mind - here I am; an avid fan of multichannel music - but can't access it because *reasons* created by someone at a desk.
I can guarantee this experiment is destined to fail because by default; they've already ousted the core group of multichannel fans. So, who exactly is this for???
1. What's the point of surround sound in headphones? Even old school Quad headphones were a bit of a joke. I'm sure you can create spacial effects with phase and cancellation but.... you simply can't beat four independent channels in a soundstage with actual DISTANCE between the listen and the driver. That way, you just deliver 4 channels of sound without phase cancellation gobbledygook. Why are they making this more difficult than it needs to be? Simplify and add lightness, Goddammit!!
2. Oh yeah, I'm gonna run out and drop a stupid amount of money on shit headphones that I'll never use. Bravo Sony. *insert slow clap here*
3. Streams. Great. Let me guess.... I'm paying REAL MONEY for something that doesn't actually exist and can be turned off at the flip of a switch? Sounds legit.
4. iPhone, iPad, iRobot. Name three things I have no use for in my life.
I don't even need to continue responding to the rest of your list, but I still thank you for providing it. This is such a joke.
So, if you're a large corporation; extortion is A-OK. But I'm a bad person and could face losing money/liberty/freedom because I make digital copies of a 50-year-old 8-track tape. Plus, I just watched a video that tried to explain that you can now place any sound object in a 360° Spherical Sound Space around you. Uh.... and people used to complain that QUAD sounds strange and unnatural? I've never heard a banjo play below my feet. Y'know.... this is JUST my luck. Here Sony is finally releasing "surround-sound" albums by groups I'd really like only to deliver it in a format that is expensive, cumbersome, pointless and incompatible with the other 29 formats I can play.
Sorry for venting, and this is probably not the forum to do so but.... I'm just so.... maybe not even angry - but disillusioned that "they" are even trying to fuck up my Quad fix.
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