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New Radio Format

kfbkfb

kfbkfb


Headphone (Stereo) Radio (Sony claims that their 360 reality system works best w/headphones)

Use a very short sounder whenever a 360 reality version of a song is played on the radio.

The tag line could be:
360 reality sounds perfect thru your radio speakers and even better thru stereo headphones!


Kirk Bayne
 
kfbkfb said:

Headphone (Stereo) Radio (Sony claims that their 360 reality system works best w/headphones)

Use a very short sounder whenever a 360 reality version of a song is played on the radio.

The tag line could be:
360 reality sounds perfect thru your radio speakers and even better thru stereo headphones!


Kirk Bayne
Click to expand...
Alrighty, this one left me with more questions than answers, but it sounds way cool!
First of all, though, radio format would refer to a genre of music. You're looking for audio format, which defines the type of file that the music is inscribed to. Even that is not really accurate for what you have here.
--
Moving on:
So, how does the 360 headphones work? How do they "control and place sound anywhere in the room"?
The idea of surround sound has been in practice for a while now. How is this different? (Perhaps it's a truly immersive experience?)
Is this a proprietary standard that comes through the air, or some sort of tech that Sony is selling individually?
I'm intrigued, but weal need more answers, please. Otherwise, I have reason to be skeptic .
 
TheBigA said:
So what's the format?
Click to expand...
Exactly. I was expecting to hear about how they actually came up with a new subset genre of something. But Kirk's post makes no sense to me
 
TheBigA said:
So what's the format?
Click to expand...
The new stereo radio format is:
A 360 reality (remixed) song (some currently available songs are being remixed into 360 reality format) is played (and ID'd) from time to time, that's all.

(the claim is that 360 reality provides near surround sound w/any stereo headphones)


Kirk Bayne
 
kfbkfb said:
A 360 reality song (some currently available songs are being remixed into 360 reality format) is played (and ID'd) from time to time, that's all.
Click to expand...

But it's not a radio format. It's a type of hardware. It's designed for the home, not radio stations. And like HD radio, it's trademarked and controlled by Sony. We have no idea if this can be transmitted via radio waves. And then, it's limited to the songs that are available. So the hardware is controlling the music. We went through this 40 or so years ago with SQ,

This article explains it simply:


The home stereo fad was back in the 70s and 80s. Even with all the excitement about home stereo, Quad fell on deaf ears. Today, people listen using earbuds. The excitement for this kind of thing is limited to a small group.

Radio stations have no reason to be involved in this unless Sony pays them to promote and sell their hardware.
 
Well...did FM stereo radio stations "sell" the idea to advertisers that stereo would draw listeners (I don't know)?

I just bought 2 360 reality remixed songs from Amazon, w/(Sony brand) headphones, they do sound closer to surround sound than stereo, I'll get out my earbuds and see how it works with them.

AFAIK, the 360 reality process/format works with nearly any stereo technology - Radio, CD, YouTube etc.


Kirk Bayne
 
kfbkfb said:
Well...did FM stereo radio stations "sell" the idea to advertisers that stereo would draw listeners (I don't know)?
Click to expand...
They did in the early 60's when it was new and up to when every FM was stereo and much had moved from AM to FM.
 
Sort of like surround-sound? I didn't look at the literature, but that's what it reminds me of. Probably cool, but limited applications.
 
I don't have any listener data, but from my casual observations, a lot of people use headphones/earbuds for listening, 360 reality remixes give those listeners something unique that, IMHO, could be promoted by radio stations.

The existing (stereo) terrestrial radio broadcasting infrastructure works fine for broadcasting 360 reality remixes.

A radio format is the type of songs played, at times, a special radio version is prepared (in the past, a shorter, ~3 minute version, now, removing certain words), 360 reality remixes are just another version of a song, it still would have to fit the radio station song type format.

IIRC, stereo audio dates from the late 19th century...


Kirk Bayne
 
kfbkfb said:
I don't have any listener data, but from my casual observations, a lot of people use headphones/earbuds for listening, 360 reality remixes give those listeners something unique that, IMHO, could be promoted by radio stations.
Click to expand...

But they would have to buy the exclusive Sony product to be able to "decode" the remix. This isn't shareware.
 
No decoding needed, just use a stereo broadcasting system and stereo headphones/earbuds for listening, the nearer to surround sound effect appears "for free".


Kirk Bayne
 
kfbkfb said:

Headphone (Stereo) Radio (Sony claims that their 360 reality system works best w/headphones)

Use a very short sounder whenever a 360 reality version of a song is played on the radio.

The tag line could be:
360 reality sounds perfect thru your radio speakers and even better thru stereo headphones!


Kirk Bayne
Click to expand...
I listened to this in mono. It does not mix down to mono well. Broadcasting this format would probably violate FCC rules because it's not mono compatible.
 
kfbkfb said:
No decoding needed, just use a stereo broadcasting system and stereo headphones/earbuds for listening, the nearer to surround sound effect appears "for free".
Click to expand...

That's not what the article says:

To experience Sony 360 Reality Audio, you'll need the right kit and compatible software.

To experience 360 Reality Audio on a pair of headphones, you’ll first need to download the iOS/Android app for a compatible streaming service. At the moment, these are Deezer, Tidal, Amazon Music HD and nugs.net.

Sony is also licensing the key technologies involved in 360 Reality Audio, meaning we should see more compatible devices come to market. In April 2021 it was suggested that Sony and Google could be joining forces to bring 360 Reality Audio to Android and make it compatible with more devices through the Android Open Source Project.
Click to expand...
 
frankberry said:
I listened to this in mono. It does not mix down to mono well. Broadcasting this format would probably violate FCC rules because it's not mono compatible.
Click to expand...
Just like what binaural headphones used to do back in the 90's. They play around with phase to create a faux surround experience. As you heard, playing with phase doesn't play well with mono sources.

Definition of a nothing sandwich.
 
I listened to this on reasonable Sennheiser headphones. The "before" on the video seems to be deliberately processed to sound fairly poor, so that you're then impressed with the amazing 360 surround sound from the new Sony technology.

There's nothing new or interesting here - I can listen to pretty much any pop track on YouTube and feel the same "stereo" effect as this video - and I don't get the relevance to radio.
 
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