[raband]

Anything you've learnt in the last year that you wish you knew earlier?

Has becoming a rep/sponsor limited some stuff you can comment on?

You've always been (and still are) one of those I know I can trust and rely on for honest opinions and discussion. Are you still allowed to be critical of products, or is it "if you haven't got anything nice to say, don't say anything"?

 

[Evshrug]

Haha, I really appreciate your appraisal!

I actually had a good idea that takes some of the things from this thread and some other stuff I haven’t written yet, looking for a way to package it up with a pretty bow Figuratively speaking, of course... or am I?

The way I can post on Head-Fi definitely has changed since becoming a freelance member of the trade, and honestly some of it crept up on me as a surprise because there’s a lot of overlap between being a contributing member of the community and a member of the trade. I still buy stuff and explore around, but I’ve had to have a few posts taken down because some things I thought were neutral or observations apparently were not. It’s easier to say nothing... but that crushes the spirit of what has kept me on Head-Fi for all these years! I need to change a bit how I contribute... and as my resources grow, you’ll see me providing content in whole new ways!

One example... all those Sennheiser Q&A’s? I wrote those, trying to anticipate the questions people ask. I’ve got a final draft of another one I’m waiting for Sennheiser’s graphic design department to spiffy up. I got approval for another Sennheiser project that I’m VERY excited to announce on the Sponsor Announcements and Promotions forum soon... that should be cool , something for you to watch out for. I’m also attending more CanJams; I got to help Sennheiser at CanJam NYC this year (I wonder if that interview with Jana will ever surface, since she got that great promotion with Stereophile!), and either Dekoni or Sennheiser will be endorsing me to go to RMAF this year. In New York, I actually helped out some other companies pack up and move stuff after I finished packing up the Sennheiser booth, and it’s cool to hang out with friends and community at dinners and events around the CanJams. Dekoni wants to do some Polls and small giveaways, that should be fun to set up! Hopefully I’ll be exploding Dekoni’s instagram @DekoniAudio soon, as I learn more and more about how to do cool stuff on Instagram and Facebook, and get to use my camera some more.

Of course, there’s also some stuff I didn’t know then, but I can’t tell you now Like the HD 660 S I got to hear at Sennheiser Headquarters when we had a “Charlie and the Headphone Factory” kind of tour and the focus group of guests also shared what mattered most to them in audio, or the HD 820 prototypes I heard back when they were yellow 3D printed stuff and glued together, I couldn’t talk about that before but now I can say those were super exciting moments!

I was also playing with the idea of doing a follow-up video to my headphone leak video on YouTube, but this time with all the Sennheiser headphones I have at my home office right now. I was surprised how many views I got to that video... it was intended to show one guy how quiet a particular headphone leaked, compared to normal speaking volume. I got a lot of feedback that people didn’t intentionally understand why I was talking throughout the video... If I did it again, I could explain that all headphones leak if you have a sensitive enough microphone and turn the volume high enough, so viewers should adjust their volume to make it sound like I was speaking at normal volume, and compare the leak to that. I could post that video here... think that’d be a good idea?

 

[raband]

Thanks heaps for the detailed reply.

Obviously a new line drawn that you have to work out the best way to traverse.

Definitely made me jealous as to some of the inside knowledge of upcoming product you get.

Looking forward to the upcoming releases.

 

[Evshrug]

Sorry to make you jealous!

 

[Evshrug]

Why Use Sidetone?

Sidetone, or “Mic Montoring,” is a feature that allows the wearer of a headset or user of a standalone microphone hear a live feed of what the microphone is picking up. It is used by gamers, but also often by musicians, voice talent (voice actors, audiobook narrators, etc), and broadcasters.

Recently, I engaged in a debate on another thread with people that wanted to turn the feature off, and it got me wondering... what would the benefits be of always having it on, especially for gamers?


Bad Sidetone giving a Bad Rep
Have you ever tried testing your mic’s gain setting in Windows, buy turning on “monitoring” in the audio properties control panel? You say “Hi” and Windows says “Hi” back, like an echo in a cave or gym. That lag makes it VERY difficult (for me at least) to form longer sentences because it sounds like you are interrupting and talking over yourself.

Years ago, I had some option for mic monitoring while gaming, and the lag was so bad that teamspeak was like trying to sing in rounds with myself, and it was so distracting that I turned it off and wrote off the feature pretty much for good. I thought there always would be SOME audible lag, but now I’ve learned that hardware playback options (most soundcards and most gaming headphones with DSPs) really are able to have imperceptible lag, and the experience is much more like when you naturally hear yourself with open headphones or talking with no headphones at all.

After getting used to it, learning to appreciate and rely on mic monitoring, it’s actually difficult for me to think of any time you might use a mic where it isn’t important to consider what audio the mic is picking up – with one exception.


Why use it: the Social Contract

Kinect Mics. AAAAAH!

The microphone itself isn’t all that bad, obviously it is intelligible enough for voice commands, and visiting at a friends house it served in a pinch as a microphone when I moved it and sat it on the couch near my head. But any console gamer knows what the problem is: there’s often that one guy, who leaves his mic on, you can hear his fans, you can hear his parents fighting in the other room, and you can hear someone singing in the shower. Don’t be “that guy,” it drives everyone else nuts and eventually they mute him, even if the gamer is actually trying to talk in the game.

Many gaming microphones try to prevent all that background garbage by being short-range boom mics, uni-directional or beamforming, or even active noise cancelling, and those things help, but even then the wearer doesn’t know if they’re breathing into the mic, picking up a buzz from some bad electrical grounding issue, or simply self-aware that they’re shouting into the mic.

If optimized microphones and sidetone were not optional, but the default option just like the Kinect was the default microphone for early adopters of the XBox One, imagine how much easier it would be for each person to engage in enjoyable teamspeak? It’s being socially responsible. Sidetone is like the sense of touch: it helps give you a feel for if you can be heard well, or if there’s a problem that needs fixing.


Why use it: Improving Performance & Clarity

When you go out to lunch with our friends, you hear your voice in two ways: through the air, and conducted through your jawbones. With closed headphones and headsets, you mostly hear your voice through bone conduction: a muffled, nasally, very resonant version of what you actually sound like. Our brains either try to overcompensate and we over enunciate everything, or the opposite and mush up the little nuances. It’s like being partially deaf.

Great musicians have great ears, listening to themselves helps to calculate adjustments to prevent from their sound from falling flat or sharp. People who rely on their speechcraft also sound more natural or dynamic when they can hear themselves, it affords them better control over their performance. And gamers... it can help us be mindful against shouting, or if we start breathing into the mic, or if we’re mumbling. Nice audio is more pleasant to listen to and makes it more likely that someone will listen.

Plus, with closed headphones, a sidetone can be more pleasant and natural sounding to the wearer than just hearing the honky muffled version of their voice.


The One Exception

Feel free to tell me something I don’t know (that’s KIND OF THE POINT of this thread!), but I can literally only think of one instance where a well implemented sidetone could be a detriment. That would be with an open headset, where the sound leaks so bad that the microphone picks it up and you start a feedback loop (BUZZZZ!!). Even then, I could argue that would not be a “well-implemented” sidetone, as turning the sidetone feature on (at full “++” volume) with my Sennheiser GSX 1000 USB sound processor and my Sennheiser PC37X headset, which is an open-backed set with a short-distance cardioid Mic on a boom arm, doesn’t cause me any feedback issues.

Thanks for reading!

 

[Evshrug]

@Vader2k, you’re the best!
I realized I was derailing the other thread, but there was something in it worth exploring, and general enough that I could write about it despite being a freelance “Industry Insider.” Thanks for reading/the like!

 

[Vader2k]

@Vader2k, you’re the best!
I realized I was derailing the other thread, but there was something in it worth exploring, and general enough that I could write about it despite being a freelance “Industry Insider.” Thanks for reading/the like!

Oh wow, you expanded since I saw it around... 2 AM, I think. It's even better now! You're welcome, though. It's a solid topic and worth discussing the merits even if the feature can seem off-putting initially.

I love your guide here and think it's a great companion to MLE's thread, and a good touchstone for both newbies to the hobby and seasoned people who might just need a refresher on a specific aspect.

Happy to see you're still adding to it!

 

[Evshrug]

Oh wow, you expanded since I saw it around... 2 AM, I think. It's even better now! You're welcome, though. It's a solid topic and worth discussing the merits even if the feature can seem off-putting initially.

I love your guide here and think it's a great companion to MLE's thread, and a good touchstone for both newbies to the hobby and seasoned people who might just need a refresher on a specific aspect.

Happy to see you're still adding to it!

Thanks bud! Every once in awhile.
I had to finish typing the post out in my notes app, Head-Fi often does this thing where it doesn’t let me scroll when I type with my phone. And, for some reason, I don’t get writer’s block when I type on my phone, haha!

 

[Evshrug]

Something special arrived in the mail, after a long, 3 year wait... I have a feeling it's going to be worth it though!
Unboxing video:
I probably won't be able to "review" it with opinions, but I might be able to still film setup and describe it's functions.

Gameplay in the 2019 Modern Warfare beta
Initial impressions about the game as I come to grips with the gameplay, and a highlight moment within the last 10 minutes!

 

[Evshrug]

Is Bluetooth as Good as a Wired Connection?

Back when I visited CanJam NYC in 2016, I got to talking to the two founding members of Bluewave, and after some extended conversation and demo of their soon-to-release Bluetooth receiver/DAC/Amp, the GET. They argued that the quality of Bluetooth has reached a point where the internal components used had a bigger impact on the final sound quality than the fact that it was wireless, and their device would have better sound quality than the headphone jack in my smartphone. I thought this was an interesting challenge, and I had to research and rethink my perspective on Bluetooth audio.

You see, Bluetooth is a digital transmission, so it bypasses capacitance and EMI factors of headphone cables. Then, the Bluetooth receiver must then use a DSP (like a computer) to decode and decompress the transmission, a Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) and an Amplifier before outputting to the headphone transducer (speaker). When you buy a Bluetooth receiver, you’re also buying a DAC and an amp! With a made-for-Audio Bluetooth receiver, all the components inside have the opportunity to be built to higher spec than what is included in a smartphone or laptop.

The current state of Bluetooth audio is different than most people realize, and better than the stigma. There are advantages and disadvantages, besides not having a cord coming from your pocket.

Shortlist of +Pros and -Cons
+High res Bluetooth codecs (aptX HD, LDAC, LHDC) don’t have to re-compress Spotify Premium streams and have little to no compression added to FLAC streams close to CD quality (TIDAL HiFi, Qobuz high res).
+Bluetooth can extend further than most wires included with headphones.
+Wires (especially longer wires) can affect the sound reproduction, but Bluetooth is transmitted digitally with error correction, and the BT receiver, DSP, DAC, Amp, and headphone transducer/speaker are either point-to-point soldered together or have very short signal paths.
+The DAC and Amp can also be tailored to match the headphone.

The downsides:
-Latency is reduced but still present.
-While Bluetooth range is pretty long, sometimes it can be blocked by walls or subject to interference when many Bluetooth signals are blasting nearby.
-Bluetooth headsets are limited by battery life, and the source (I.E. your phone) drains battery a little faster than a wired connection.
-A battery and other electronics in a headphone/headset mean more weight and bulk, which is often the reason behind neckbands or short battery life in True Wireless IEMs.
-Bluetooth audio can only be sent to one device, so no silent discos.

Bluetooth 5 and 5.1
Back when the Sony Xperia XZ Premium, iPhone 8/X, and Samsung Galaxy S8 were coming out with Bluetooth 5 in 2017, I got really excited about its increased power that could be used for range or data transmission rate. Figures like 2 Mbit/s burst transmission at short range or lowering the transmission rate to achieve over 300 feet of range boggled my mind, and had me thinking Bluetooth could become an alternative for WiFi in some cases. However, I later learned that those high figures were only possible with two “class 1” Bluetooth devices (both transmitter and receiver), and that in a more practical sense these Bluetooth codecs would mostly affect advertising and “Internet of Things” devices. Bluetooth audio would remain mostly the same as the 4.2 era, with about the same 30 foot range and the audio bitrate determined by the Bluetooth codec.

Codec Conundrums
Want to stream Spotify Premium, Apple Music, or a social service like YouTube and Facebook? Bluetooth that supports AAC or aptX will be enough to transmit the audio without further compression. Want to stream TIDAL or Qobuz Hi Res tiers of service? Qualcomm’s AptX HD, Sony’s LDAC, and Savitech’s LHDC can carry higher bitrates, and at short range in a good environment LDAC and LHDC can “carry” most of a CD-quality FLAC amount of data, but they’ll probably need to compress the data just a little. AptX Low Latency and similar codecs interest me the most for gaming, because lag is always our enemy!

Wireless Options
We’re seeing many releases now for Bluetooth. There are the traditional on-ear/over ear headphones, neckband IEMs, what I’ll call neck-wire IEMs, and True Wireless IEMs, as well as Bluetooth Receivers.

On/Over-ear headphones were the first type of Bluetooth Headphones, but these days some manufacturers are beginning to experiment with Hi-Res Bluetooth headphones that are meant for serious listening.

Accessory neckbands that add Bluetooth to existing IEM models or are hardwired to rereleases of earpiece capsules (for example, the IE 80S BT or the CX 7.00bt from Sennheiser) add flexibility, and put the weight of the battery, remote controls, and electronics on your neck instead of hanging on your ear, and they often use the extra space for larger batteries and sometimes dual microphones for noise cancellation. Neckbands are also an easy solution for how to share one Bluetooth connection between the left and right channels. Neck-Wire Bluetooth IEMs, such as the Sennheiser Momentum Free, have an in-line “pod” hanging from the ear with the electronics, a shorter battery life, but they are flexible and easier to fold up into a small pocket-sized case.

True Wireless IEMs deserve their own paragraph here! They may be the newest, hottest thing, but they’re tricky to do well. First thing people realize is the earpiece battery life is shorter than we’re used to, and almost all of these come with a “charging case” that is essentially a battery bank... but I only use IEMs for one or two hours at a time before needing a break, and I recommend thinking about how long a typical IEM session comfortably lasts. These are intended as everyday carry devices, so charging at night or after long-term storage is to be expected. Second, how to sync and share audio between the left and right ear pieces? I’ve had different engineers tell me that basically the best way to go is NFMI, or Near Field Magnetic Induction. Bluetooth has difficulty transmitting through water or dense materials – like our bodies – so magnetic induction is better because it can go through or around the head to keep the earpieces in sync. One earpiece has to be the “Master,” so that’s why usually there’s one earpiece that drains battery faster than the other side. Thirdly, they’re a bit heavier than wired IEMs.

Bluetooth Receiver devices are a new category, and shouldn’t be overlooked. You could also call them a wireless adapter, because what you do is plug regular wired headphones or IEMs into this (usually little) device, and the device does everything from streaming the audio to powering your headphones. That way, if you already have a headphone with a sound you like, you can have your favorite flavor and get it in Wireless too. There are also a number of Digital Audio Players (DAPs) that also have a 2-way Bluetooth function, so they can also act as wireless adapters in addition to being their own source of audio.

DLNA servers or Airplay over WiFi are still going to be our uncompressed digital wireless solutions for now, and RF Wireless is still going to be the lag-free solution that should appeal most to gamers, though RF options are fewer now than they once were.

Wireless and Gamers
Well, the biggest issue I’ve seen is lag. Bluetooth receivers have work to do before they can playback sound. Furthermore, if Chat with a microphone channel is meant to send audio back to the gaming device, that cuts into the total available bandwidth and only certain audio codecs support an audio return channel. Games like PUBG Mobile switch to audio codecs usually meant for phone calls, which leads to noticeable drops in the game audio quality. That’s why Turtle Beach, Astro, and other gaming headset makers have often made “headset and base” combo units, using RF instead of Bluetooth. Sennheiser’s new GSP 670 and GSP 370 use a USB dongle that acts as an 2.4 GHz RF transmitter instead of using a big base station, and the GSP 670 only has Bluetooth 5 as a secondary transmission option for mobile devices. Lastly, wireless bandwidth, whether Bluetooth or RF, is usually only enough for stereo playback... so if you want a true binaural “Surround Sound” mix, the processing has to be done before transmission, otherwise the two channels of information are only really suitable for emulating two speakers in front of you.

However, I see some hope! Again, AptX LL helps a lot with the latency issue. And I don’t know what codec is supported with Call of Duty Mobile on my iPad, but I have a certain Planar Magnetic Bluetooth Gaming headphone that performs much better in the new game than PUBG, essentially with playable latency and much better audio quality!

Conclusion
Personally, I’ve observed huge advancements in Bluetooth audio over the years. Much of the old stigmas have been addressed, and I’m excited to see where the future takes us. As always, feel free to comment, correct, or add to the info here

 

[KING DRANZER]

Is there any better recommendation around $200 than ASUS XONAR STRIX STX II for surround gaming as well as extremely neutral stereo audiophile experience.

 

[Evshrug]

Oh! I just realized something!
Since Sennheiser spun off their entire gaming division and EPOS Audio is a whole different company (and their partnership has basically ended, amicably), I can finally talk about PC gaming soundcards and DSPs again!

For 7.1 Surround, easiest to “place” sounds and sometimes trick me into thinking something is happening IRL instead of the game, in my experience:
Yamaha’s “Silent Cinema” < NX Waves < Dolby Headphone <= CMSS3D <SBX <GSX1000 <Smyth Realiser’s default (uncalibrated) HRTF.

I honestly feel the GSX1000 makes a strong showing in surround realism, though YouTube videos sometimes sound weirder and echoey compared to in-game, and while it’s perfect with a Game One/PC37X (almost like its made for it, hmmmmm!) and great with an HD 599 or HD 58X Jubilee, a harder to drive headphone like the HD 650 or a T50RP is going to suffer from the limits of a USB powered device... but it’s a clean enough headphone output for double amping!

I would really like to try Creative’s new Super X-Fi stuff... one thing I’ve learned is that how close or far your head and ears are from the generic “head” used in most Spacial Audio DSPs can make or break the Spacial illusion, and Super X-Fi allows some degree of customization using photos and an app.


For 7.1 Surround with Headtracking... that’s a different story! Seems to be a major boon for a “VR-like” experience without motion sickness, even looking at a stationary screen all the minute “trembles” of your head and natural inclination to cock your head occasionally really helps “recalibrate” your brain’s sense of position. Think about it... with speakers, there is a bit of a crossfeed effect to both of your ears (which any spacial processing provides), and your head occludes and filters the sound a bit (HRTF, also should be included in any spacial audio processing), but also we’re free to slouch and lean and shift our position in our seat, changing our relative position to the speakers, and head-tracking is one of the last major ingredients in recreating that “speaker like” sound.

I think the NX Waves starts to pull ahead of the static spacial audio solutions when it comes to placing a sound as coming from a certain direction... but it loses some points because it still is a bit smeared and distance is a bit less natural. NX Waves is DEFINITELY helped by entering your head width, and the headtracking of motion, but it just doesn’t quite have the same level of performance and clarity as the others.

Hands down, the Smyth Realiser is the treasure of my collection. Head tracking, accurate customization based on microphones listening inside your ears (only needed during setup... but setup is a pretty involved process), a powerful processor dedicated to running their sophisticated algorithm, compatible with pretty much any computer or game console with USB or HDMI... it was always the best of show and a must-demo when Smyth was at a CanJam or other trade show. It’s amazing not only because of the peerless positional imaging, but also because of its ability to transform extremely transparent headphones (like a Stax or HD 800) to sound indistinguishable from the speakers you calibrated from. Once you get used to it, the only difference from a perfect Dolby Atmos or Ambisonics speaker setup is the lack of air pressure against your chest and skin... but hook up a subwoofer, and you can be transported to the AIX Recording Studio in Los Angeles even if you are only in a small bedroom trying to pub-stomp people in the latest shooter There are a few major caveats though: price and availability. I got in on the Kickstarter Early Bird, but last I read the retail price is $4000. I had to wait four years to get my unit after I paid them, and the last update I got from Smyth (now one year after launch) they have only shipped 255 of the backers orders so far. There are also some smaller caveats as well. The reliance on speaker-standard surround formats like 7.1 LPCM or Dolby Atmos does give it great compatibility, but ultimately it’s emulating a 7 or 16 speaker setup without pure a binaural ability for sound to come from any arbitrary angle. That’s a small complaint, I mean Atmos is pretty good, but it’s not quite as much freedom as 3D audio in VR (but VR audio doesn’t customize based on your head shape... ah well!). There is also competitive-breaking lag when gaming with Dolby bitstreaming – Smyth may be able to fix that some day, but since most games are limited to 7.1 anyway, I just use the LPCM setting from my PS4 Pro (and 7.1 over USB with my PC) and that works fine. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Redscape Audio’s solution seems to work better than NX Waves, and I enjoyed several auditions at two CanJams (before and after the show was open to the public! Not crowded or noisy!), however I couldn’t actually play games, just listen to music and play videos. The interaction from playing games, the control over direction, usually makes games sound way more “spacial” and “3D” to me than watching movies with a spacial DSP (not to mention most movies make hardly any use of rear channels anyway, because they want to focus your attention on the shot shown on screen, while games have constant ambient noise and freedom of perspective), but the headtracking helps somewhat to provide me some interaction with the media (including with some prerecorded gameplay). You can’t take measurements from real speakers, but I believe you could enter the width of your head. I think it has the potential to be almost as good as the Smyth Realiser A16, and far more affordable and obtainable. I don’t know how much performance the software borrows from your PC to run, but I’d gladly trade a bit of shadow quality and resolution for Sonic immersion.


The Future of Spacial Audio looks interesting, but it’s a little up in the air. We’re seeing a convergence of object oriented sound tech like Dolby Atmos and Windows Spacial Sound, as well as more devices supporting playback, but we’re still waiting on widespread developer adoption and mainstream user awareness and demand.

Both Xbox and PlayStation have announced headphone spacial audio support out of the box for their upcoming consoles... but they said that for the PS4 and XBox One as well, with TrueAudio (PS4/AMD) and Sphere Audio (Xbox One), but developers didn’t take advantage of it, and surround audio output was limited to (bottom of the barrel crappy) controller headphone outputs, optical (which got cut from Slim models), and HDMI. Full USB support with 7.1 surround was possible with both consoles, but DSP makers like Astro/Turtle Beach/Platronics and anyone else interested had to pay about a $37 license fee PER UNIT MANUFACTURED... that cost would be passed on to the consumer or taken out of the budget for sound quality, and I just can’t think of a single good product that took advantage of this, including PlayStation’s own Gold wireless headsets. Will next gen overcome these limitations??? Maybe... there’s slightly more manufacturer promotion and press coverage about it this time, but we’ll have to see if game devs actually use it and we get quality audio components to use with it. I don’t see myself selling my Realiser

Another piece of the future of spacial Audio is in the VR space. By its nature, the audio HAS to be in 3D for VR. And headtracking is assumed. My VR experience is with the PSVR, and though it doesn’t allow for head shape customization, the algorithms aren’t as sophisticated as the Realiser, nor can you upgrade to an external DAC/amp, I still feel my PSVR provides a compelling sound (and visual) experience. I would rank it above the NX Waves with headtracking, even though the PSVR can’t calibrate based on head width. It really gives me hope that at least Sony has the chops to do spacial Audio well, and I imagine the experience with a Vive is even better because maybe you can use it with external DAC/Amp components (can you??). For anyone that can’t use VR due to motion sickness, have hope that headtracking spacial audio might be able to give you that immersion without the nausea!

Here’s to looking forward to the future, and enjoying the now!

 

[KING DRANZER]

Recently one of my friend was renewing his 5Yrs old Setup. With RTX3090 Coming Soon things are getting interesting. For Audio setup this is what I recommended.

Sennheiser HD660S
ASUS Supreme FX + Dolby Atmos For Headphones > Monolith THX AAA 788 [For Movies]
Sennheiser GSX1200Pro > Monolith THX AAA 788 [For Games]
Monolith THX AAA 788 [For Music]

For Movies Onboard Audio Chip-set with Dolby Atmos For Headphones connected through Rear 3.5mm Headphone port to Balanced XLR Input of Monolith AMP.
For Gaming USB output connected to GSX1200Pro and its 3.5mm headphone output connected to RCA Input of Monolith AMP.
For Music USB output connected directly to Monolith DAC.

Is there anything better that can be done.

 

[Evshrug]

There’s always a better setup, but what you listed is very good.

Two things to note though:
1.) the GSX1200 is exactly the same as the GSX1000, except the more expensive model has analog connections to daisy chain chat to another GSX1200 positioned at a computer right next to you. The GSX1200 is for LAN tournaments, if your friend is just playing at home he won’t use that and he would save money by just getting the GSX1000 (which is what I have).
2.) The GSX1200 (and GSX1000) don’t have a balanced output. In fact, connecting the single-ended output from the GSX to the balanced input of the Monolith might cause electrical damage, so don’t try to do that.

 

[Evshrug]

Mark Cerny does an incredible job of explaining 3D audio, and it's massive leap in quality in the upcoming PS5. Just a heads up: He uses "Locality" in a similar fashion to how we use "Imaging," though to be honest "locality" makes more intuitive sense and I might start using that from now on, haha. But yeah! The last thing I heard was that Headphone spacial audio was going to be available on the PS5 upon release, that either at release or soon after there will be 5 HRTF profiles to choose from (with the potential that they might in the future expand options with a photo or video submitted to Sony so they can use machine learning to match your ear with their 1000 HRTF profile database, or have the gamer play a little "mini game" to determine which profile "scores" closest to your ears), and spacial audio expanding the capabilities of stereo or surround speaker systems would be forthcoming over the next few years (it's harder to recreate spacial positions that come from places where your speakers aren't, whereas with headphones they can control exactly what your ear hears)