SPATIAL AUDIO RELATIONS

Ears-on with Apple Music’s new Atmos offerings

- 

Intro: AL GRIFFIN

Reviews: MIKE METTLER

BACK IN MAY 2021, Apple significantly boosted the appeal of its Apple Music streaming service with the addition of two new features: Lossless Audio (including high-res versions for some albums and tracks) and Spatial Audio. While the term “Spatial Audio” might indicate that Apple has created a completely new surround sound music format, it’s essentially Dolby Atmos—the same immersive, object-based mixing technology used for movie soundtracks. Atmos for music isn’t a new idea; Dolby has conducted demos of its new technology applied to the musical realm since day one, and Atmos-mixed tracks have been available on the Tidal and Amazon Music services since late 2019. But Apple is clearly aiming to take Atmos music acceptance to the next level with its Spatial Audio offerings, which are far more numerous than what could previously be mined on those other services. At launch, thousands of tracks were available in the format on Apple Music, and more are being added on a weekly basis.