3d audio
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Codemasters breaks down how it made the cars in 'F1 22' sound like the real thing
EA's Codemasters is making F1 2022 audio more realistic with an improved driver modes plus updates that make broadcast and car sounds more authentic.
Sony unveils an all-black version of the Pulse 3D Headset
Now, how about an all-black PS5 too?
Amazon Music Unlimited plans now include HD streaming at no extra cost
The announcement comes on the heels of Apple introducing high-fidelity streaming.
iHeartRadio is making a dozen 3D audio podcasts this year
The company has built three studios to help it produce more binaural shows.
Two years in, Sony wants to bring 360 Reality Audio to the masses
Sony's plan to bring its immersive 360 Reality Audio to more people includes the combo of new speakers, more content, software plug-ins and licensing.
Amazon Music HD is adding thousands more Ultra HD songs and albums
Amazon is working with Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group to remaster more songs in Ultra HD.
Sennheiser and Continental's speakerless car audio sounds great
Yesterday, automotive tech company Continental announced a slew of futuristic car enhancements, but one that really caught our attention was a new in-car spatial audio system using Sennheiser's Ambeo 3D audio. What really makes it interesting, though, is the fact that it doesn't use traditional loudspeakers. Instead, it uses Continental's "Ac2ated" technology to physically stimulate various surfaces in the car; that stimulation makes them produce sound, the same way plucking piano or guitar strings causes the instrument's body to resonate with sound. It's a weird concept, a demo at CES Continental held for the press showed the technology really works.
Amazon Music HD expands 3D audio library with Warner Music Group tracks
Echo Studio, one of Amazon's latest smart speakers, might sound great, but until now it offered a limited library of 3D audio through Amazon Music HD. However, if you picked up the speaker and signed up for the hi-res streaming plan, you now have more 3D music options. You can listen to tracks from across the Warner Music Group empire in Dolby Atmos starting today.
Echo Studio review: Amazon finally nailed the audio quality
We've heard this pitch before from Amazon. Last year, the company debuted the $150 Echo Plus in an attempt to improve audio quality in its smart speaker line. It also revealed a $130 Echo Sub add-on that could provide the much-needed low-end tones that all of its Alexa speakers lack. But now that Amazon has a high-resolution option for music streaming, which also includes 3D audio, those older Echo devices just wouldn't cut it. Enter the $200 Echo Studio: a supersize Alexa hub that's hands down the best sounding speaker Amazon has built.
Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar review: A full bag of tricks
Sennheiser has spread the gospel of its Ambeo tech for years. The broad pitch is incredibly immersive audio for AR, VR and your living room. As far as consumers are concerned, though, Ambeo is just a headset that records 3D audio and headphones for Magic Leap. At CES 2018, Sennheiser revealed it was cramming the technology inside a soundbar, so we could all use it for a more common activity: watching TV. It took the company another year and a half to release the $2,500 Ambeo Soundbar, and the wait was mostly worth it.
Ear Monsters for iOS uses 3D audio to drive gameplay, kill monsters
Ear Monsters (US$1.99) is an arcade-style iOS game with a twist. Unlike most games on the iOS App Store, Ear Monsters uses 3D audio to drive gameplay instead of video. Ear Monsters is about a monster invasion through wormholes. At first, the monsters are visible and you're easily able to take them out with a satisfying tap on the wormhole they arrived through. However, soon they arrive invisibly, which makes killing them a lot more difficult. Fortunately for us, you can still hear them arriving. And that's where focusing on what you're hearing instead of what you're seeing becomes really important in Ear Monsters. Naturally, you need to play Ear Monsters with your headphones! Ear Monsters takes a little bit of time to adjust to. But once you get used to it, it becomes an incredibly challenging and rewarding game to play. Gameplay starts off easily with just three wormholes. The monsters appear in the wormholes one at a time with a visual and audio cue. Once you're skillful at killing the monsters, the visual cue disappears and you're left with just the audio. As you progress, more wormholes appear. At its hardest, Ear Monsters has 14 wormholes. On top of that, there are bombs to contend with too. Thankfully air support arrives every so often to give you the opportunity to acquire some bonus help. Ear Monsters has drawn attention in the visually impaired community for its audio driven gameplay. Developer Brian Schmidt has written a very interesting blog post on the development of the game and how he tailored it to the visually impaired community. If you're interested in game development and accessibility, particularly on iOS, it's well worth checking out. I enjoyed playing Ear Monsters. At its heart, it's a simple arcade-style scoring game. However, with gameplay driven by audio, it provides something totally different resulting in challenging, addictive, bite-size fun. It's definitely worth checking out, and I look forward to seeing how it develops in the future.
The Expendables 2 Blu-ray ships November 20th and is the first one with 11.1 channel DTS Neo:X audio
Just when we were getting used to 7.1 channel surround sound audio tracks on our movies, our friends at High Def Disc News have pointed out Lionsgate's announcement of The Expendables 2 on Blu-ray that cranks the audio up to 11 -- 11.1 to be exact. The extra channels come courtesy of the new DTS Neo:X codec which includes support for speakers in the front mounted both high and wide to create more of a 3D audio effect that can simulate planes flying overhead or a car driving past. While those who have upgraded their receivers and added extra speakers will mostly experience the effect thanks to upmixing, it does allow for an 11.1 audio track with the extra channel info matrixed into a standard 7.1 audio track. Of course, with a supercharged action flick like TE2 there should be plenty of explosions to give any audio system a workout, and now we have one more reason to check it out when it's released November 20th (just beating the also Neo:X ready Step Up Revolution to the punch.) Beyond the audio there's also several making-of featurettes if you need more Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme in your life, plus UltraViolet and regular Digital Copy; all of which is currently available for pre-order on Amazon for $27.99. Check out a press release with all the specs plus a theatrical trailer for the movie and a video explaining DTS Neo:X audio after the break.
Sony MDR-DS7500 headphones promise 3D sound, will play nicely with your 3D glasses
Are you settling for non-3D sound to go with all of your 3D movies? You should be ashamed of yourself. Thankfully, Sony's looking out for you. The company's new MDR-DS7500 headphones promise 3D surround sound, thanks in part to the inclusion of Dolby Pro Logic IIz technology. The headphones have a number of different sound settings, serving different audio needs, including Cinema Mode, Game Mode, and Voice Mode. Also, that extra padding assures that they'll play nicely with your 3D glasses. The headphones will be hitting Japan on October 10th, running ¥49,350 ($643) for the full package and ¥24,675 ($321) for additional headphones. Extra dimensions don't come cheap, after all.
Antec wants to rockus with its new soundscience 2.1 '3D' speakers
Yesterday it was Corsair, today it's the turn of Antec to step into the world of PC audio components. Best known for building cases and power supplies, the company's aiming to make a splash in this unexplored pool with its all-new soundscience brand and first product, the rockus 3D|2.1 speakers. We're guessing capital letters weren't high on the priority list here, with Antec instead opting to focus on delivering "immersive 3D soundscapes," the supposed aural equivalent of three-dimensional visuals. Beyond the marketing exaggerations, you'll find anodized aluminum satellite speakers, both digital and analog input options, and that cute little control pod for adjusting volume and toggling between stereo and Antec's proprietary 3Dsst mode. This rockus 2.1 set certainly looks stylish enough, but the asking price of $250 makes us think we'll probably have to make do without one this fall.
