- Joined
- Apr 11, 2010
- Messages
- 930
So this is coming from some discussion of Surround Virtualization in a thread on Apple's Atmos Headphones:
https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...tmos-on-apple-headphones-actually-work.29544/
It got me moving to (Re) test a few different solutions and share my results and see what others thought as well.
First off, two things about me:
1) I have non-average ears, in that before Waves NX and Smith Realiser A16 (both of which have head tracking) nothing ever gave me any convincing sense of depth. Regardless of what product or what HRTF (Head-related transfer function - Wikipedia) I tried. So, you may have much better luck with a given solution than I have, depending on your ear shape, etc.
2) I own and use every day a Smyth Realiser A16 and Sennheiser HD 800 S headphones so I'm pretty invested (to put it mildly) in that solution and I do believe it to be the ultimate solution. So, yeah, I will admit to some bias in that regard.
Here are Product/Solutions I have used in the last week
Again the Realiser A16 being so good you honestly can't tell the difference between headphones/no headphones (other than the weight of the headphones on your head).
The only lacking piece there is it doesn't yet do 6DOF (6 degrees of freedom; virtual speakers would get louder as you move towards them or softer as you move away). Also in terms of decoders only Dolby and Dolby Atmos is working currently (even though the data sheet mentions DTS, DTS:X, Auro 3D etc. Those are "coming").
I added the Oculus Rift VR stuff because it does have 6DOF, but it's not really practical for just listening to music. None of the VR theater's seem to have Atmos or DTS:X decoding yet. I guess there are some ways to do multi-channel playback, using VR Game development frameworks, but not anything user friendly for surround at this time.
What I have done is use 12 instances of the FaceBook 360 VST in Plogue Bidule, each one panned to a 7.1.4 speaker position, to play 7.1.4 mch wavs. Inside the VR you see a grid pattern with glowing balls for each channel, that get bigger with louder sounds. You can walk around physically or, using the touch controllers, virtually. You can also grab a sound and move it...
Waves NX is also more a production tool than a casual playback device, and you do need DAW software to run it as it is a plugin, but as far as capability you can feed it 5.1, stereo, or Ambisonics in and get binaural (headphones) or Ambisonics out. It has Presets for some common headphones and settings for the distance between your ears and the circumference of your head.
You can buy it with a wireless head tracker, or use a webcam as shown above. I actually found that the webcam worked better than the wireless module, so I could have saved money on that. Either tracking solution has a limited range, compared to the A16, however. You can really look behind you, for instance.
As I mentioned above, Waves NX was the first thing that worked for me AT ALL, but I can't see it as really being good enough to mix/produce surround music with out any speakers, which is its purpose.
Continued...
https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...tmos-on-apple-headphones-actually-work.29544/
It got me moving to (Re) test a few different solutions and share my results and see what others thought as well.
First off, two things about me:
1) I have non-average ears, in that before Waves NX and Smith Realiser A16 (both of which have head tracking) nothing ever gave me any convincing sense of depth. Regardless of what product or what HRTF (Head-related transfer function - Wikipedia) I tried. So, you may have much better luck with a given solution than I have, depending on your ear shape, etc.
2) I own and use every day a Smyth Realiser A16 and Sennheiser HD 800 S headphones so I'm pretty invested (to put it mildly) in that solution and I do believe it to be the ultimate solution. So, yeah, I will admit to some bias in that regard.
Here are Product/Solutions I have used in the last week
Product | Channels | Surround | Head Tracking |
Realiser A16 | 16 | 7.1.4 | Yes |
Facebook 360 VST Oculus Rift | Ambisonic | Ambisonic | Yes |
Waves Nx | 6, 8, or Ambisonic | 5.1, 7.1 or Ambisonic | Yes* |
Dolby Atmos for Headphones | 10 + Objects | 7.1.2 plus objects | No** |
DTS Headphone:X | 12 + Objects | 7.1.4 plus objects | No |
HeSuVi & Equlaiser APO | 8 | 7.1 | No |
Others not worth mention… | |||
* Both a wireless tracking sensor and tracking via a webcam and facial recognition are offered. I actually found the webcam worked best | |||
**Apple's latest have head tracking (not tested by me) but only when "watching" content on an iPhone or iPad (iMac??). |
Again the Realiser A16 being so good you honestly can't tell the difference between headphones/no headphones (other than the weight of the headphones on your head).
The only lacking piece there is it doesn't yet do 6DOF (6 degrees of freedom; virtual speakers would get louder as you move towards them or softer as you move away). Also in terms of decoders only Dolby and Dolby Atmos is working currently (even though the data sheet mentions DTS, DTS:X, Auro 3D etc. Those are "coming").
I added the Oculus Rift VR stuff because it does have 6DOF, but it's not really practical for just listening to music. None of the VR theater's seem to have Atmos or DTS:X decoding yet. I guess there are some ways to do multi-channel playback, using VR Game development frameworks, but not anything user friendly for surround at this time.
What I have done is use 12 instances of the FaceBook 360 VST in Plogue Bidule, each one panned to a 7.1.4 speaker position, to play 7.1.4 mch wavs. Inside the VR you see a grid pattern with glowing balls for each channel, that get bigger with louder sounds. You can walk around physically or, using the touch controllers, virtually. You can also grab a sound and move it...
Waves NX is also more a production tool than a casual playback device, and you do need DAW software to run it as it is a plugin, but as far as capability you can feed it 5.1, stereo, or Ambisonics in and get binaural (headphones) or Ambisonics out. It has Presets for some common headphones and settings for the distance between your ears and the circumference of your head.
You can buy it with a wireless head tracker, or use a webcam as shown above. I actually found that the webcam worked better than the wireless module, so I could have saved money on that. Either tracking solution has a limited range, compared to the A16, however. You can really look behind you, for instance.
As I mentioned above, Waves NX was the first thing that worked for me AT ALL, but I can't see it as really being good enough to mix/produce surround music with out any speakers, which is its purpose.
Continued...
Last edited: