It's actually a nice feature that has been available on Airpods Pro as well. The feature makes it feel like the sound is actually coming out of the iPhone / iPad / etc. When you turn your head, the sound source stays the same.

Note that the Airpods don't actually know where your device is located. It simply sets a "base orientation" when the sound is started. This base orientation is updated when you keep your head in a new position for a longer time ("resetting" the approximated position of your device).

But why? Surely the point of headphones is that the sound is right in your ears and not coming out of a small device in a specific direction

When you play back Dolby Atmos material, this feature sort of emulates having a surround sound system. So, even though you only have two earbuds, sounds do seem to be around you (coming from behind etc.) And if you move your head, the sound source stays the same, enhancing the illusion that there are 5 speakers around you and if you move, the sound changes.

The emulation is convincing and well executed, but it is still just a gimmick that only really works when playing back Dolby Atmos movies.

What "the point" of headphones is, is of course subjective. But I'm going to guess that for most people, the point of using headphones is have their audio portable and/or to not disturb other people. I don't think many people use them because they explicitly like the experience of audio playing "between the ears".

As to "why", people might actually prefer the (emulated) experience of a point sound source, as it could closer resemble talking to someone physically present (calls) or listening to a live performance.

Imagine wearing them, watching a tv show on your ipad. When you turn your head, it still seems like the sound is coming from the direction of your ipad.

Also used for surround sound, so if you turn your head, the "center channel" still is focused on the screen, and surround sound is where it would be if there were actual speakers behind you.

It sounds like an unnecessary overengineered feature to me.

Could be something Apple is testing and "pre-staging" for the future though. VR/AR?

Could be fun playing a gyroscopically controlled video game on an iPad. You'd turn your body to the right, the in-game camera would pan to the right, and so would your ear's position within the sound scape. I'd imagine that could have quite an immersive effect.

I just presumed it was existing work from the AR goggles that shipped early because the goggles are not ready yet.

No idea why you'd create it otherwise.

Reading this I imagined that if you start listening somewhere and move, it simulates distancing from the imaginary sound source (which of course doesn't make any sense). So if you go out of the room with your headphones on, you won't hear the music anymore haha

It will sound like the band is physically located in front of you even when you turn your head.

The same way when you’re outside and you hear a car, and you turn away from the car the sound dampens. The same will be true of music played through these headphones.

I believe the spatial audio feature is only for supported video playback (eg. some content from Disney+, Apple TV+). It’s surprisingly immersive actually.

I think it means that if you move your head within a 3D sound space it'll sound as though you've turned your head relative to the source. The source being some sound emitter on the sound stage (not the iPhone).

They have it on the AirPods Pro as well, basically it makes it seem that the audio comes from your iPhone or audio source, even when you move.

It’s cool but I’m not sure why it exists.

The direction from which you perceive the audio to originate will be based on the orientation of your head.

It means surround sound in headphones

No, surround sound is a different thing.

This actively makes it seem like the sound is coming from a certain place, even though you have headphones on.

> This actively makes it seem like the sound is coming from a certain place

vs surround sound:

> able to create the sensation of sound coming from any horizontal direction

Having been using spatial audio for a few days, the effect is surround sound. What’s clever is it works regardless of where your device is

Spatial Audio also emulates having more than just stereo headphones. So, if the 5.1 soundtrack dictates that a sounds starts behind you and moves forward, SA will emulate that using software tricks.

It's a well executed feature with a extremely limited scope/use case. I would not base headphone purchasing decisions on its availability.

Sounds super useful for VR/AR