TIDAL unveils Sony 360 Reality Audio

[beerking]

How it Works

360 Reality Audio is a new music experience using Sony’s object based spatial audio technology.


Individual sounds such as vocals, piano, guitar, bass, and even sounds of the live audience can be placed in a 360 spherical sound field, giving artists and creators a new way to express their creativity. Listeners can be immersed in a field of sound exactly as intended by artists and creators.


Experience 360 Reality Audio with your smartphone, any headphones, and a TIDAL HiFi subscription.

Yeah rite!!

 

[Albert Dagger]

The bad thing is that this option is turned on by default on phones and tablets. You need to turn it off manually. Check your settings

 

[rtbluray]

This is interesting:

 

[humprof]

This is interesting:

>Sigh<. Jeez, Tony: you're someone who's actually done true surround mixes. Did Sony pay you a shit-ton of money to flog this, or are your ears shot, or did you just drink the Kool-Aid? At least Atmos exists in both faux and vrai versions, even if Dolby's marketers are doing their level best to confuse the issue. But Sony 360 is all smoke and mirrors, as far as I can tell. The masses can have their 360 Reality Audio mix if they want it. But why in the world would Sony imagine the masses would care? For those of us who really do care about surround sound: give us a genuine immersive mix designed for "seven speakers in your front room." We'll eat it up!

 

[mlrocker]

if it's just an app and some headphones, it's worth a try, in my mind

 

[J. PUPSTER]

This is interesting:

I do quite a lot of headphone listening late at night. With regular stereo music, origination from the sides are a given; and depending on the microphones used in the studio and subsequent mixing, sounds emanating from the back of my head and even a little above is fairly standard stuff. The real rare position for music to come from with headphones, is in the front. Along with overall clarity, that would be how I judge how well this new system works, is how much is presented out in front. I admit I haven't heard any of this yet, so I can't offer a personal assessment. With @Bob Romano saying it sounds like a "hollow muddy mess", doesn't sound like an auspicious start to me. It's only fair (ha), to actually give it a serious personal try out before coming down too hard on it, but I'm highly skeptical.

 

[humprof]

if it's just an app and some headphones, it's worth a try, in my mind

I do quite a lot of headphone listening late at night. With regular stereo music, origination from the sides are a given; and depending on the microphones used in the studio and subsequent mixing, sounds emanating from the back of my head and even a little above is fairly standard stuff. The real rare position for music to come from with headphones, is in the front. Along with overall clarity, that would be how I judge how well this new system works, is how much is presented out in front. I admit I haven't heard any of this yet, so I can't offer a personal assessment. With @Bob Romano saying it sounds like a "hollow muddy mess", doesn't sound like an auspicious start to me. It's only fair (ha), to actually give it a serious personal try out before coming down too hard on it, but I'm highly skeptical.

In spite of my unkind rhetoric, I'm trying to stay agnostic on the merits of Sony 360 per se. Maybe it's fine for what it is. (Though as you say: early reports from people we trust are not encouraging. I'm not as skeptical of Atmos as Bob is, however; I'm just discouraged that Dolby is not distinguishing--quite the opposite--between the upmixing version, the binaural version, and the real hot item.)

What ticks me off is: if you want to do a headphone version of this technology, or an Alexa version, or a soundbar version, or whatever, then great. But don't get Tony Visconti to rhapsodize about it like it's the second coming of Christ and it sounds just as good as having a dedicated multichannel system. And if you're really going to have somebody of his stature go to all the trouble of returning to the multichannel masters so as to instruct Sony 360 how to place instruments and voices "psycho-acoustically," then why not also do a true multichannel mix at the same time?

 

[J. PUPSTER]

In spite of my unkind rhetoric, I'm trying to stay agnostic on the merits of Sony 360 per se. Maybe it's fine for what it is. (Though as you say: early reports from people we trust are not encouraging. I'm not as skeptical of Atmos as Bob is, however; I'm just discouraged that Dolby is not distinguishing--quite the opposite--between the upmixing version, the binaural version, and the real hot item.)

What ticks me off is: if you want to do a headphone version of this technology, or an Alexa version, or a soundbar version, or whatever, then great. But don't get Tony Visconti to rhapsodize about it like it's the second coming of Christ and it sounds just as good as having a dedicated multichannel system. And if you're really going to have somebody of his stature go to all the trouble of returning to the multichannel masters so as to instruct Sony 360 how to place instruments and voices "psycho-acoustically," they why not also do a true multichannel mix at the same time?

I hear you loud and "discretely" clear @humprof , I'm hoping we've actually got this all wrong! What if it's a long term business plan by Sony and the others, to get the younger and uninformed buying audience acclimated to something more than stereo, with an end game of them discovering the true discrete and wonderful clarity of non-matrix surround. That would mean Sony has a very brilliant vision for surround as we like to experience it somewhere in the future - er did I just dream this...

 

[HomerJAU]

Has anyone tried to decode/upmix a S360 stereo track with a Surround Master to 5.1 or Quad?

 

[steelydave]

I hear you loud and "discretely" clear @humprof , I'm hoping we've actually got this all wrong! What if it's a long term business plan by Sony and the others, to get the younger and uninformed buying audience acclimated to something more than stereo, with an end game of them discovering the true discrete and wonderful clarity of non-matrix surround. That would mean Sony has a very brilliant vision for surround as we like to experience it somewhere in the future - er did I just dream this... View attachment 44091

I'm with you, despite what I said earlier in this thread, there's like 1% hope inside me that the tracks I listened to on YouTube are fake, or that there's some kind of error with how they've implemented the technology, or something, because affordable, effective headphone surround is effectively a magic bullet that could transform the fortunes of our favourite shared hobby.

 

[HomerJAU]

I’m wondering if S360 an implementation based on Ambisonics, since that’s an open technology and seems to do 360 sound from stereo tracks and can play in stereo without artefacts.

 

[J. PUPSTER]

Has anyone tried to decode/upmix a S360 stereo track with a Surround Master to 5.1 or Quad?

I would give it a try, but I don’t subscribe to Tidal; and has anyone actually seen what codec they use, or is it something new?
I just checked out Sony’s demos with headphones and didn’t hear anything specifically directional in the imaging that you’d get from a good actively mixed stereo track.

 

[HomerJAU]

I think you need an S360 app to hear the surround effect. There’s apps for Android and iOS. Not sure about desktops though (Windows, MAC-and Linux)

 

[J. PUPSTER]

OK, so I’m obviously missing something, I don’t see the app on the Apple App Store or by searching in Google. Anyone have a link for an official S360 iPhone app or do you have to be subscribed to Tidal first in order to get the app?

 

[HomerJAU]

Not sure. I think I read somewhere it comes with the Tidal app (recent Version) but I also found a reference to this:
https://www.sony.com/electronics/headphones-connect-app

 

[HomerJAU]

Forget that link, I don’t think that applies to non-Sony headphones

 

[HomerJAU]

This just says to download one of the three streaming apps:
https://www.sony.com.au/electronics/360-reality-audio

 

[J. PUPSTER]

Hmm

This just says to download one of the three streaming apps:
https://www.sony.com.au/electronics/360-reality-audio

Hmmm, don’t know, it’s got to be somewhere. So I’m thinking you need the app, with their songs in a proprietary codec, in order for the app to decode the psychoacoustic headphone effect, sort of like how Atmos places objects for its height speakers, but as more of a muddy SQ 3D version. Am I getting close? (I’m being serious here, figure I should check out the real deal for myself!)

 

[PmikeK]

Headphones suck and smartphones are extemely dumb

 

[beerking]

Maybe give this a shot (no not literally!!)

https://www.trustedreviews.com/news/deezer-launches-sony-360-reality-audio-app-3950702