With Immersive Audio, the listener is surrounded by sound coming from all directions: Front-Back, Left-Right and Up-Down. This is what we call 3-dimensional sound and this is exactly what we experience in our daily life and for example when we listen to a live concert. Sounds from the performing artists are reflected in different surfaces and objects and reaches our ears from all possible directions and defines the acoustic environment.
In the late 50s, the audio industry traversed from mono to stereo recordings in an attempt to create a richer listening experience. 5.1 surround was invented already in the 70s, but became available to a broader public in the 90s when movies were distributed on DVD. In a 5.1 system, five speakers are placed at ear level (three in front, two in the back), surrounding the listeners. Fairly soon, even music was produced for 5.1, but the response from the audience has so far been quite reserved. One reason for this might be that most music enthusiasts are listening to music in headphones.
Immersive Audio is the Next Generation Audio (NGA) where height information is added with speakers in the ceiling and sometimes also on the floor. However, Immersive Sound can also be listened to and experienced in headphones! On streaming sites such as Apple Music and Tidal, music produced in Dolby Atmos can be listened to in headphones, provided that the settings in your device are set properly. Look for the Dolby Atmos.
Dolby Atmos is one implementation of Immersive Audio that is restricted to the half sphere from earlevel and up. Sony 360 is another, that allows full sphere immersion. Immersive sound over headphones is called Binaural Audio (see below) and is a simulation of sound reaching our ears from any direction. Binaural Audio can be produced in many different ways, including from a format called Ambisonics, invented in the 70s.
The advantage with NGA is that when played over a loudspeaker system, it is rendered to fit the loudspeaker setup being used, provided that the sound system is compatible with the chosen NGA implementation. Most AV-Receivers on the market today are compatible with Dolby Atmos.
Please note that the Binaural versions available in our shop, labeled Headphone Version, are already rendered to Binaural Audio format from the Dolby Atmos mix. They are not Dolby Atmos files that can be re-rendered to any loudspeaker setup. If you are interested in downloading Dolby Atmos files to be played over a loudspeaker system, please contact us and we can assist you.
See also Binaural Sound