Dolby and SRS Labs bring surround sound to mobiles

With all these companies honing in on bringing HD capabilities to handsets, we were beginning to wonder when someone would step up and lend a hand on the audio front. Thankfully, both Dolby and SRS Labs have come forward at Mobile World Congress to announce separate enhancements to mobile audio, so we'll touch on the former first. Dolby Mobile, hailed as an "audio processing technology platform that brings rich, vibrant surround sound to music, movies, and television programs on mobile phones and portable media players," is available as we speak on the FOMA SH905i and FOMA SH905iTV in Japan, but will hopefully float out to other handsets in due time. As for SRS Labs, it's boasting its own SRS CS Headphone technology, which reportedly "takes stereo or surround encoded 2-channel audio and processes it using an ultra-low-power Circle Surround decoder to create 5.1 highly accurate channels." Granted, we're still wondering exactly how 5.1 channels make their way though stereo earbuds, but we'd be up for a listen, regardless.

Read - Dolby Mobile
Read - SRS CS Headphone technology

[looseinthedeuce @ Feb 11th 2008 2:09PM]

Isn't this called Dolby Pro Logic? I realize it may be digital at this point, but really, what's the point of processing a 2-channel track into multiple channels when they weren't encoded from a surround track?

Like when listening to old (read: bad) 2-channel recordings, the Pro Logic processing puts ALL the audio in the rear because it "thinks" it's supposed to be back there. Obviously I defeat this by forcing "stereo" mode, but the point is that unless these 2-channel tracks are designed for such processing, you're not gonna get anything useful.

[DarkLightConnection @ Feb 11th 2008 2:55PM]

Yes, I agree with you that tracks that are natively stereo are better off being listened to as stereo....

BUT, you're not getting the point.

This is NOT a stereo-to-surround decoder, this is a SURROUND-TO-STEREO processor, that means you can play digital surround files (AC-3?) and, despite having only two speakers, you will listen to them as if there were 5.... no, it ain't magic, it's called PSYCHOACOUSTICS

Oh, and this have been arroud for decades (see: Ambisonic... the sound processing method, not the software), exept no one wants to implement it (and it makes me angry, I love this technology)

[looseinthedeuce @ Feb 11th 2008 3:51PM]

@DarkLightConnection

Actually, I'm getting it. It says "stereo or surround encoded 2-channel audio." So I'll give you the surround encoded 2-channel audio (like 2-channel PCM meant for Pro Logic decoding), but if the source material is 2-channel, it should be left as such. You might get some interesting (perhaps even preferable) effects if processed, but they're unintended, and possibly unfavorable.

My real confusion with synthetic surround sound is it's implementation. Even if these actually do a good job at simulating surround sound, does that, combined with watching a movie on a 2 (or even 13) inch screen, make you "feel like you're there"?

[DarkLightConnection @ Feb 11th 2008 5:47PM]

You're right on that, I have never liked the idea of watching video on such a small screen (unless it's a quick video message from your girlfriend ;-) , my LifeDrive's screen is about as small as I can tolerate to view serious video files on the go...

However, I (esp. as an artist) see ALOT of potential on this for music.... after listening to surround music you will never want stereo again :-)

And this is a step further into that surround paradise: we no longer have to mess arround with pre-rendered surround simulation that works on some setups/devices and not on others...

[Ty @ Feb 11th 2008 2:40PM]

That picture looks like it belongs on blotter paper.

[djrome @ Feb 11th 2008 2:57PM]

Don't forget, the Philips HE592 featured "virtual surround sound."

[silencer @ Feb 11th 2008 3:00PM]

Want Dolby and SRS Labs sell us again a Holophonic known since 2nd half of 20th century?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binaural_recording

[L.Rawlins @ Feb 11th 2008 3:17PM]

Would these technologies offer anything of substance to the quality if not the amplitude of the actual mobiles stereo speakers though? That's what I'd like to know.

Not least when I've just found out that the N96 has the capability of live TV.

[scrjr1977 @ Feb 11th 2008 3:31PM]

I was able to demo SRS Labs Headphone 360 at CES, as well as a preprocessed CS Headphone Clip and I must say I was thoroughly impressed. As for Dolby Headphone (or Dolby Mobile) it seems like they are playing catch up. SRS' roots are in phychoacoustics, while Dolby roots are in removing the hiss from tape players (remember Dolby, Dolby B, Dolby C each trying to remove the hiss while still attempting to preserve the highs).

I realize my opinion is subjective, but it seems manufactures these days would rather go with the Dolby name, rather than the superior technology. I demoed Dolby Headphone at CES, in an on/off demo and really it just sounded as though the sound field had been expanded. I was watching Spiderman 3 and there clearly was no separation of 5 channels--like I experienced in the SRS demoes.

Also, to address the earlier comments regarding stereo content. SRS provides another technology called WOW HD, for use with music or content encoded is plain stereo. That said, when SRS says it can create a 5.1 experience from 2 channels-I believe they are refering to mixed down Lt/Rt, which is how streaming audio is condensed to conserve bandwidth. So it's quite amazing the SRS can put a Circle Surrond Decoder Library on a phone chip to enable a user watching a movie or tv streamed in two channels (total left and total right) and render it back to a 5.1 listening experience w/o the need for special headphones.

Maybe Apple sould consider using this technology for its iPhone, iPod, iTouch...for accurate playback of movie content....just a thought.

[Timerider @ Feb 11th 2008 3:32PM]

Audio related: What ever happened to hypersound? Those speakers that focus sound like a beam? I thought that stuff was supposed to be around now.

[maxd @ Feb 11th 2008 4:10PM]

SRS has been doing this with WOW (no, not WoW) for at least a decade.. it has to do with phased output, so you have to use over-the-ears to give it enough airspace. but the processor i had back in the early 90's was pretty cool.
For the early 90s, anyway. As an audio nut it's nice to see they're trying.

[Jason @ Feb 11th 2008 4:22PM]

For those of you who have not experienced "3D" sound through headphones, I'm here to tell you it can sound fantastic. In fact, the stuff I've heard sounds even better with headphones than with a true surround sound setup! It makes sense that this is possible, because after all, our ears are only stereo to begin with. The way it works is by subtly distorting the sound as direction changes, in a way that mimics how stuff sounds when it bounces into our ears at different angles. The effect can be amazingly convincing. For an example, listen to some binaural audio clips (Google for "virtual haircut"). Binaural audio clips are typically recorded with a dummy head and two fake ears, but technologies exist that simulate this effect quite well, and that's what I assume Dolby and SRS are doing here.

[kevjohn @ Feb 11th 2008 4:25PM]

Sounds like they just put Steve Martin's duodecaphonics into action.

[Onetruebill @ Feb 11th 2008 4:40PM]

I can hear the court testimony now...
Honest judge I couldn't see him through all of the little circles

[Jim Noyd @ Feb 11th 2008 5:52PM]

To "hear" more about what SRS can do with playback from a PC or MAC go to http://www.srslabs.com/consumers/store.asp to download a free trial of their SRS Audio Sandbox or iWOW 2 plug-in for iTunes.

Plus in the iWOW version their is a cool "Movie Mode" that simulates what CS Headphone can do.

[TX30000 @ Feb 11th 2008 6:20PM]

Just to point out.

DoCoMo's SH905iTV already has Dolby Mobile. But I don't know what is the point of this in a device though.

[gluv4u2 @ Feb 11th 2008 6:45PM]

I'd be very curious to check out a few more products by SRS. I checked em out at CES, against Dolby. The Dolby headphone on a laptop just sounded cheesy in comparison. SRS's seemed, in my opinion, more rich, and just sounded more realistic. I own an SRS product (clix2), so I'll be anxious to see what both companies put out on the market, beacuse I need an upgrade from my crappy razr. I'll be checking out the new phones with both technologies, my bets on SRS over Dolby.
Dobly is the bigger name, due to its brand exposure. Dolby has been marketing a lot more than SRS should have been. Thats probably why everyone gets hyped up over the Dolby name. I smell a Mobil audio war (Beta vs VHS? BluRay vs HD? SRS vs Dolby?) We all know the best quality doesn't always win...

[Leo @ Feb 11th 2008 7:20PM]

"we're still wondering exactly how 5.1 channels make their way though stereo earbuds"

Engadget, I love you but you're dumb sh*ts some times.

As I've explained in a previous post, humans have TWO ears only yet can detect the direction of sound to within 1 degree azimuth - so providing the tech behind the earphones and that they couple with the ears well enough and isolate the outside ambience well enough - TWO earbuds could theoretically reproduce 360 speakers.

[VeganFreak @ Feb 11th 2008 7:48PM]

all you need is stereo