New Delhi: On Friday, Netflix announced that “Spatial Audio” will soon be available on all devices. Users who don’t have multi-channel speakers can only enjoy surround sound with stereo speakers. According to GSM Arena, the feature can convert a stereo audio track from a non-Apple device to 3D spatial audio. To achieve this, Sennheiser and Netflix have worked together to add the same 3D audio technology found in the Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar.
As long as you access the stereo track, spatial audio will work on any non-Apple device, including smartphones, tablets, and TVs. Because all processing is done within the Netflix app, no special functionality is required on the playback device. (ALSO READ: Ashneer Grover Starts Work on Another Startup, Launches New Company)
Only a small portion of the content is currently offered in spatial audio. You must type “spatial audio” in the search bar to find all supported content. Netflix is currently the only source of content. (ALSO READ: Gold Prices Today, July 9th: Gold Prices Remain Unchanged)
Make sure there is no 5.1 or Dolby Atmos logo on the title screen to see if the content is playing in spatial audio. For example, you won’t hear Netflix’s spatial audio on most TVs because the device automatically plays the surround soundtrack with no manual switching option. Instead, you hear the TV’s internal audio processing.
Luckily, using Apple devices is much easier. In this case, Netflix only uses the built-in spatial audio of iOS, iPadOS, macOS and tvOS devices.
This feature is compatible with any content that contains 5.1 or Dolby Atmos titles. All you need are compatible Apple headphones like the AirPods 3, AirPods Pro, AirPods Max, and some Beats models, and a modern device that supports spatial audio, as reported by GSM Arena.
You can access spatial audio content by searching for “spatial audio”, it is currently available for all subscription levels worldwide.