Momentum is building for spatial audio in music. The 3D surround sound format got a boost last week with the launch of the Sonos Era 300 speaker. That’s the third manufacturer to have a spatial audio speaker after Apple (HomePods) and Amazon (Echo Studio). Both Amazon and Apple have selfish reasons to push spatial audio — their music services offer spatial audio. Meanwhile, Sonos believes that spatial audio is the next big thing. CEO Patrick Spence has said that this shift from stereo will happen, but not overnight.
But is spatial audio really the future of music (and not another flop like 3D TV)? The numbers would suggest that. The exact number of spatial audio tracks available in Apple Music, which is in Dolby Atmos, is unknown. But Apple says monthly plays in spatial audio have grown by over 1,000 percent in 2022. There are at least tens of thousands of songs. Amazon Music also offers spatial audio in Dolby Atmos, and Sony’s 360 Reality Audio formats.
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