Watching Netflix on your phone is soon going to sound a lot better
When you listen to music on your headphones, most of the time it’s in stereo, meaning that sound comes from the left and right side of the headphones, but Netflix wants to change that by upgrading its entire catalog by introducing support for spatial audio across all devices.
This is thanks to a partnership with Sennheiser where Netflix will be utilizing Sennheiser’s AMBEO technology, where the stereo sound that you’re so familiar with will be augmented to help create a spatial audio effect without needing new or expensive equipment.
For those unfamiliar, spatial audio is like stereo on steroids. Instead of sound coming in from just the left and right, it can come from the front, the back, at an angle, and so on. So for example in a movie where the character hears footsteps in the floor above, spatial audio helps to recreate that effect so that the viewing experience feels more immersive.
What’s neat about this partnership is that it brings spatial audio support to devices that do not normally support it., which once again brings us back to our earlier point about users not having to purchase new, fancy equipment in order to enjoy it. For users who already have devices that support spatial audio, nothing really changes for you, but for those who don’t, this will be a brand new experience.
Netflix says that they are in the process of rolling the feature out across its entire catalog, so if you don’t see support for it yet for some of the shows you’re watching, give it time and it should eventually find its way there.
Source: Netflix