'Spatialize Stereo' Feature in iOS 15 and macOS Monterey Simulates Spatial Audio for Non-Dolby Content

Am I the only one who finds that stereo sounds better than spatial audio? I played a song, then went into the music settings and switched it between “off” and “always on” as the track was playing and found stereo to be so much better. I’m using AirPods Pro btw.

As a music producer who spends a lot of time and effort mixing to get just the right stereo sound field and 'wall of sound,' putting this kind of crap on top of one of my tracks would make me cry. lol. Please don't dishonor the work of many audio engineers and technicians, mastering experts, etc. by applying this junk to their tracks.

My 1997 Winamp memory is coming back.
That surround sound plug-in turned every MP3 into broken surround music ?

“Winamp… it really whips the llama’s ass”

Am I the only one who finds that stereo sounds better than spatial audio? I played a song, then went into the music settings and switched it between “off” and “always on” as the track was playing and found stereo to be so much better. I’m using AirPods Pro btw.

You're not alone. The thing is: Those headphones don't do real surround even if the the track is a native surround file. You just have left and right. What they do are audio effects that try to mimic the timing difference depending on the sound origin relative to your head.
For that purpose, a "reference head" is taken and measurements are based on that. The more your head differs from that, the worse it works. Our ears are all slightly different and our brain is used to our own ears.

In the end, Spatial Audio is just a fancy name for "virtual surround" which exists since many years. It will and can never be on the same level as true surround with speakers in a room. It will always cause some distortion to the track.
Also: Some headphones are better than others to playback virtual surround.

Err... Why? Putting on fake effects on regular audio files never sound good to me.

In the end, Spatial Audio is just a fancy name for "virtual surround" which exists since many years. It will and can never be on the same level as true surround with speakers in a room. It will always cause some distortion to the track.
Also: Some headphones are better than others to playback virtual surround.

One massive difference with "native" Dolby Atmos tracks on Apple Music is that the source has been mixed with Dolby Atmos in mind from the getgo.

Sure, you are virtualising when playing back on headphones as you only have two speakers. But comparing this to the age-old surround virtualisation we have had for years isn't fair.

If you are using a Windows PC and run old surround virtualisation tech like Dolby Headphones or Creative CMSS:3D that have existed for a very long time, you apply it to music from iTunes or whatever. You are taking a 2-channel source and apply algorithm/DSP, trying to map it to 7-channels, and that is then being played back and simulated by your 2-channel headphones.


With Dolby Atmos tracks on Apple Music, Apple receives new masters from the record labels where Dolby Atmos is already in the source. How much time and attention the labels and producers have put into their Dolby Atmos mixing will differ. But Apple is receiving source material directly with Dolby Atmos metadata attached.

There is no algorithm/DSP trying to redefine how this 2-channel source should be upsampled to 7-channels. The labels and producers themselves have worked directly and attached the metadata telling Dolby Atmos what should be played where within Dolby Atmos 360-degree sphere of sound.

Obviously, when being played back on a pair of 2-channel headphones, you are still faced with simulated playback. But the whole idea behind Dolby Atmos is to have a reference format used by the creators and throughout the entire playback chain. When using headphones supporting Dolby Atmos, the headphones are supposed to follow the Dolby Atmos spec and be capable of interpreting and handling the Dolby Atmos metadata. So even though it's still simulations, the source and the simulation being done are talking the same language, providing a much more cohesive and better experience overall. The source contains the metadata telling the headphones exactly where in this 360-degree sphere the audio is supposed to come from, and Dolby Atmos capable headphones are supposed to simulate this with decent precision. It's not pure guesswork like it was with things like Dolby Headphones etc., back in the day.


Dolby Atmos is not like your regular surround either. Dolby Atmos doesn't limit itself to the old static notion of 5-channel, 7-channel surround. With Atmos, you have this 360-degree sphere, and you can mix your playback to have sound coming from any point within this sphere. You can have up to a total of 128-channels per track. Even if you have 12-channels in your home theatre, a Dolby Atmos track will most likely contain metadata that exceeds the number of static channels you have in your setup. But if your home theatre supports Dolby Atmos, it should read this metadata and apply simulation using all the channels you have available to try to do whatever it can to achieve best the playback information contained in the metadata.

If it was just virtualisation there would be no need to have Dolby Atmos tracks on Apple Music. Apple could just implement the spaceilised setero feature and virtualise all the 2-channel tracks into "Spatial Audio".