Sony introduces 360 Reality Audio for ‘three-dimensional music experience’

Sony announced 360 Reality Audio at CES in Las Vegas. It is a new coding technology that should give listeners the feeling that the sound is coming from all directions.

The new codec is based on MPEG-H 3D audio. By supporting Sony’s object-based audio technology, elements such as vocals, instruments and effects are fully audible in three dimensions, claims the Japanese electronics giant. To build an ecosystem around 360 Reality Audio, Sony works with music labels and distributors, among others. The company also provides the necessary equipment to enable artists and producers to produce content.

With 360 Reality Audio, elements such as the position, distance and angle of, for example, instruments in the studio are included in the sound recordings. According to Sony, this results in a music experience that feels like attending a live concert. Existing multi-track audio recordings can be converted to a format compatible with 360 Reality Audio. The technology is suitable for both headphones and speakers. With wireless speakers, the focus is on reproducing a three-dimensional music experience through a single speaker. Other audio product manufacturers can also use the new audio codec.

For the distribution of 360 Reality Audio content, Sony partners, among others, with Fraunhofer IIS, the largest European organization for applied research into MPEG-H 3D Audio. In addition, there are partnerships with streaming services to offer content via a premium package. To mark the launch of 360 Reality Audio, Sony captured a series of concerts by the likes of The Wombats, AJR, Good Charlotte, Chris Lane, Jesse McCartne and Kodaline.

It is not the first time that Sony has developed its own sound format. Just think of the atrac compression first used in minidisc devices and later in Sony’s Walkmans. A more recent example is ldac, an encoding technology for streaming hi-res audio wirelessly.