360 Reality Audio
 

Several platforms including Spotify, Tidal and Amazon started streaming in 360 Reality Audio. Last I checked Qobuz didn't offer that format (yet?).

Works only when streaming from a mobile device and listening with headphones.

Blue Note just released Kind of Blue in 360. I've had a listen via Tidal, the experience is quite unique with amazing surround portraying. Difficult to appreciate for stereo purists but impressive it is!

This is not very different from the binaural 3D/8D streams you can find on YouTube.

Here's a few explanatory words found on various sites:

Sony is working with a number of major record labels (including Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group), streaming services and other music organisations to refine a next-gen audio format that sits the listener smack bang in the middle of a 360-degree music listening experience.

What is 360 Reality Audio?

360 Reality Audio is an immersive experience using Sony's spatial audio technology to map out sound at any point or distance from your ears. This new listening experience is the culmination of years of acoustic and physiological studies of how we hear and place sounds. When streaming in 360 Reality Audio, the listener is made to feel as if they were experiencing a live performance.

How does 360 Reality Audio work?

In conventional stereo or 5.1ch surround sound, speakers are fixed in position, and the sound can only be panned around that fixed-format on a horizontal plane. 360 Reality Audio utilizes a spatial sound field by creating multiple virtual speakers which can be heard in front, back, above, and below you in a true 360-degree space.

Interesting, though I guess there are obvious compromises in resolution. If one plays Kind of Blue in 360, are you sitting in the studio with the musicians encircling you, or are they in front and you have a better illusion of being in the room?

Hi Peter, I was listening again to Kind of Blue in 360 and I would say that it's more like having the musicians around you in a surround mode, but not exactly in a circle.

The most realistic sound effect comes from the drums, you can visualise Jimmy Cobb playing right in front of you, to your right. Miles Davis is blowing his trumpet right on top of your head, sometimes you feel he's in your head, that feels a little strange. The other musicians seem to be placed rather at the back of your head, Bill Evans' piano on the left, John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley saxophones very clearly on each side. Paul Chambers' double bass sits behind you, a little faded.

So I don't know if 360 is the best way to describe it, I would say there is a real holographic feel, also a sense of palpability, but the musicians are not in a perfect circle, some of them are positioned above your head so it can feel awkward at times.

I guess like everything in audio, our brain gets used to it and after a while probably starts enjoying this new presentation :yes:

Miles Davis in your head.
Be careful!

A song came immediately to me: from Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon: "The lunatic is in my head"... :D

Bart, now that you mention can’t wait to listen to DSOTM in 360 :D

It is not a fixed feature of 360. It is the result of whatever the re-mastering team decides to do with the instruments/musicians/sources. They have almost complete freedom and, as a result, there is no predictable configuration from recording to recording. See: https://www.stereophile.com/content/immersive-audio-aes

I do like it in 5.1!

Kal, thanks for sharing your very informative review on immersive audio :thumbsup:

Kal is a true defender of everything that surpasses stereo (let alone mono). :thumbsup: