Pioneer announced the Sphera, an innovative aftermarket in-dash receiver supporting premium CarPlay with Dolby Atmos and Spatial Audio, designed to upgrade existing vehicles with immersive sound and wireless connectivity, available from Spring 2026 at a starting price of $1,300.
To get the most out of your new Sony WH-1000XM6 headphones, download the Sound Connect app, connect your device, customize spatial audio and EQ settings, enable DSEE Extreme for high-quality sound across devices, and adjust ANC modes for optimal noise cancellation based on your environment and routine.
The Google Pixel Buds 2a are a compact, stylish upgrade with ANC and spatial audio, offering good comfort and integration with Android devices, but they are priced higher than their predecessors and have some flaws in touch controls and sound quality, making them a decent but not outstanding choice in the midrange earbuds market.
The Sonos Era 300, a spatial audio speaker known for its immersive sound, is currently available at its lowest price ever, offering a 20% discount, making it a great time to purchase for enhanced home audio experiences.
The Sonos Era 300, a top-rated smart speaker known for its impressive spatial audio and Dolby Atmos support, is currently available at a discounted price of £249 at Amazon, down from £349, making it an excellent choice for audiophiles seeking high-quality sound and smart features.
Nothing has launched its first over-the-ear headphones, the Headphone (1), designed in collaboration with KEF, featuring adaptive noise cancelling, spatial audio, tactile buttons, and a long battery life of up to 80 hours, priced at $299 and available for preorder starting July 4, 2025.
Apple Music celebrates its 10th anniversary by launching a new state-of-the-art studio in Los Angeles, designed to foster artist creativity, innovation in audio, and deeper fan connections, along with special radio programming to mark the milestone.
Sonos has released a major software update for its Ace wireless headphones, adding TrueCinema mode for improved spatial audio, expanding TV Audio Swap to support two headphones simultaneously, and enhancing active noise cancellation and call quality features.
The Sonos Era 300 smart speaker is currently on sale for $359, offering high-quality sound, easy setup, and features like Trueplay tuning and stereo pairing, making it a notable deal despite its premium price, alongside discounts on other Sonos products like the Beam Gen 2 soundbar.
Apple has added Apple Music Classical to CarPlay, enhancing its utility for users who enjoy classical music. This service, based on the Primephonic platform acquired by Apple in 2021, offers the world's largest classical music catalog with over 5 million tracks. The update also includes support for Spatial Audio, Announced Notifications, and new accessibility features in iOS 18. Apple Music Classical is available with an Apple Music subscription, providing a rich, immersive listening experience for CarPlay users.
Sony has unveiled its new ULT Wear headphones, featuring booming bass, reliable ANC, wear detection, and Spatial Audio, all for $199. The headphones come with the V1 chip for robust active noise cancellation and wind reduction technology, as well as features like wear detection and 360 Reality Audio tech. With 30 hours of listening with ANC and 50 hours without, the ULT Wear headphones also offer multi-point Bluetooth connectivity and ULT sound modes for enhanced audio experience. Despite their large size, these headphones offer great value and sound quality, making them a compelling option for those seeking affordable over-ear headphones.
Spatial audio, such as Dolby Atmos, is gaining popularity in music streaming services, offering a 3D-like listening experience through headphones. This is achieved through binaural rendering, which uses psychoacoustic models to simulate sound direction and distance. Each person's unique head-related transfer function (HRTF) affects how realistic spatial audio sounds, and while some companies offer personalized HRTFs, most use generic ones. Artists face challenges in optimizing their mixes for different platforms and listening experiences, as spatial audio continues to evolve.
Apple has released its first sports film shot in Immersive Video format for Apple Vision Pro users, featuring highlights from the 2023 Major League Soccer Cup playoffs with Spatial Audio. The film is available for free in the TV app and joins other Immersive Video content like documentaries. Apple Vision Pro, launched in the US in February, is expected to be available in other countries later this year.
Indie labels are unhappy with Apple Music's decision to offer higher royalties to artists who release spatial audio tracks, arguing that it will divert potential earnings to larger companies and take money away from them. The increased royalties come from the same fixed pool of money used to pay artists who do not offer the format, and the production costs for spatial audio are significantly higher. Executives from indie labels representing artists such as Vampire Weekend and Phoebe Bridgers are concerned about the impact on their revenues and plan to discuss the issue with Apple.