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Apple‘s true wireless AirPods Pro earbuds and recently-released AirPods Max headphones have a special feature that aims to provide users with a more immersive movie watching experience.
Spatial audio, as it’s called, uses the headphones’ sensors to track the user’s head, in order to create an effect similar to a home theater system. Basically, any movies or shows that were produced in the 5.1 or 7.1 surround format should indeed sound wider and appear to be coming from fixed positions in 3D space, which becomes even more noticeable if the user moves their head. In our AirPods Max review we found the feature highly impressive, though not quite a game changing experience.
In any case, according to an anonymous insider (via SlashGear) the Netflix app may soon add support for this spatial audio feature. It’s worth noting that the feature is already supported by the Hulu and Disney+ apps. And in addition, of course, it’s supported by Apple TV.
The source claims Netflix has been working on adding support for the feature since December and it could be launching in Spring, though for a small catalog of movies and shows at first. In addition to having to own AirPods Pro or Max to enjoy it, users will likely have to also pay for Netflix’s Ultra HD subscription, as that’s the one that also supports Dolby Atmos surround sound.
During Samsung‘s recent Galaxy S21 Unpacked event, the Korean giant too launched a pair of earbuds – the Galaxy Buds Pro – which come with their own similar feature to spatial audio, named 360 audio. It uses Dolby Head Tracking to also simulate a surround sound system.
