Sony has announced that from 6th April, customers in the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain can enjoy 360 Reality Audio content on Sony’s premium home wireless speakers via Amazon Music HD.
360 Reality Audio is Sony’s proprietary spatial sound technology and a rival to Dolby Atmos or Apple's Spatial Audio. The two models that will be able to receive the tech via Amazon Cast are the RA5000 and RA3000 – Sony's high-end immersive wireless home speakers launched in January this year.
Sony's 360 Reality Audio tracks can be streamed over wi-fi through Amazon's premium streaming service, and will incorporate three-dimensional sound location data and boast an "all-encompassing sound" when played on the RA5000 or RA3000.
In addition, Immersive Audio Enhancement, a unique algorithm from Sony, promises to enhance the audio experience of any two-channel stereo track to create ambient room-filling sound.
Introduced in 2019 with 1000 tracks, Sony’s 360 Reality Audio now boasts approximately 4000 songs from artists such as Megan Thee Stallion, Noah Cyrus, Zara Larsson, Paloma Faith and more.
Sony 360 Reality Audio makes it possible for artists and creators to produce music by mapping sound sources such as vocals, chorus and instruments with positional information and placing them within a spherical space. Powered by Sony’s spatial sound technologies, the company says 360 Reality Audio will evoke feelings of being in a music studio or live concert venue.
Don't have an Amazon Music HD account? 360 Reality Audio is also available to stream using Tidal, Deezer (from this summer) and the streaming service for live gigs, nugs.net on the RA5000 and RA3000 speakers.
We haven't yet tested Sony's premium wireless home speakers, but the RA5000 boasts Alexa and Google Assistant built-in, three upfiring speakers, three mid-drivers and a subwoofer and retails for £499 (about AU$749), the RA3000 is priced £299 (AU$449). For more information, visit Sony's website.
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