What is Sony 360 Reality Audio?

Before music is beamed into our brain via infrared laser beam, we’ll have to make do with the current next evolutionary step in headphone audio. That’s spatial audio, the listening experience that looks to make music more immersive, encapsulating and rich.

Spatial audio is a way of creating and listening to sound in 360 degrees. It’s designed to mirror how we hear sound in everyday life, where planes fly overhead and buses rumble past you. It’s the audial equivalent of virtual reality, but when it comes to the major players and what they offer, it can be a bit difficult to decide what, or even if spatial audio works for you. For that, we’re here to help.

What is it?

360 Reality Audio is the name given to Sony’s spatial audio technology. Introduced in 2019, it offers more lifelike listening experiences, and gives producers the opportunity to create music with more immersion. When you play a track mapped to spatial audio, the music creates a spherical soundscape effect that envelopes the listener. Imagine a concert hall or professional studio where sound envelopes the listener, but inside your headphones.

Vocals, instrumentals or drum beats can be mapped to various sound sources in different positions. This gives the impression that frequencies are being beamed in from several angles, and creates an audial soundscape. Sound can also be mapped to a specific angle and distance, and mapped within the space to create swooshing effects from a single stem.

The tech was built using MPEG-H 3D audio coding. This audio standard is built to support up to 64 speaker channels, more than enough for even the most finely tuned home system.

How does it work?

For sound to be listened to in spatial audio, it needs to be mixed for spatial audio. Record labels and distributors are forever expanding their catalogues to make tracks available in 360 sound. That’s partly down to a spatial audio arms race between Apple, Dolby Atmos and Sony, with each company looking to promise more than the last.

Sony’s 360 Reality Audio tech doesn’t stray too far from its competitors in this regard. But in the hands of creators, it’s a way to produce object-based audio through Sony’s 360 WalkMix Creator plug-in for digital audio workstations (DAWs).

Soundscapes are built by placing and moving individual sounds within a 360-degree spherical sound field. Creating in 360 audio also only requires a standard speaker system or headphone monitors. That means there’s no need for complicated speaker setups or overly expensive equipment.

Does it work with my equipment?

You don’t need much kit to listen in 360 audio, but you do need some. For headphones, download the iOS/Android app for a compatible streaming service. From there, you can listen with any headphones. You can also listen through the smartphone speakers themselves, but it needs to be certified to work.

To listen to 360 Reality Audio with a wireless speaker, you’ll need a smartphone and a 360 Reality Audio compatible music streaming app. Connect the device to the same Wi-Fi network as the smartphone, select 360 Reality Audio compatible music, and then cast it to the device.

Unsurprisingly, Sony has a range of compatible speakers that are ideally suited to 360 Reality Audio. The SRS-RA5000 and RA3000 wireless speakers are designed specifically for room-filling sound in mind. Sony’s HT-A9 surround system offers everything you need for an at-home, immersive setup, but at £1600 it comes at a hefty price.

Is there a catch?

There are a few to consider, yes. Sony only works on specific streaming services. That’s currently Amazon Music Unlimited, TIDAL and nugs.net. Competing services also play a factor in how you can listen. For you, that means that speakers such as the Apple HomePod and the forthcoming Sonos Era 300 don’t support Sony 360 Reality Audio.