There's a new Dolby Atmos rival in town – and it has its eyes on soundbars

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

UK-based firm Audioscenic has unveiled a new Amphi Hi-D® spatial audio standard to take on Dolby Atmos and DTS:X.

The new standard was unveiled earlier this week and will initially focus on the computer monitor and laptop market, with Audioscenic claiming it will offer full-fat spatial audio on everything from three-speaker ultrathin notebooks to six-channel gaming displays.

For movie fans, it has confirmed plans to expand into home cinema hardware, starting with soundbars at an unspecified point in the future.

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Amphi Hi-D® reportedly works using the firm’s "position-adaptive" technology which it claims uses machine learning-powered tracking to deliver "consistent 3D audio regardless of the listener’s movements."

Details about how the machine learning technology actually works haven't been given, but head tracking at this level is a staple feature on many platforms, including Apple Spatial Audio – which is powered by Dolby Atmos and works on the firm's AirPods Max headphones.

Dolby Atmos has also been a regular feature on laptops for years, though as we have noted before our experience with it has been mixed.

Based on our testing, even soundbars, including the five-star Sonos Arc Ultra, which has up-firing speakers bespoke designed for Atmos, struggle to deliver the same sense of height and “dome of sound effect” as a proper 5.1.2 multi-speaker setup.

Amphi Hi-D logos — (Image credit: Audioscenic)

Audioscenic claims its standard will partially get round this by offering superior control over 3D sound reproduction using advanced cross-talk cancellation to optimise performance between speakers.

This will, according to the firm, also let it deliver a variety of benefits including more uniform frequency response, a wider cancellation spectrum, increased loudness, and reduced reflections.

Marcos Simon, CTO and Co-Founder of Audioscenic claims these optimisations and Amphi Hi-D®’s focus on smaller products will let it carve a niche in the already crowded surround sound standard market, where Atmos is currently top dog.

"As consumer expectations for immersive experiences grow, Amphi Hi-D® offers a distinctive user experience that will set products apart in the crowded consumer electronics market. People love the enveloping experience of immersive sound, and Hi-D® multichannel deepens and heightens that experience to the next level," said Simon.

We at What Hi-Fi? can’t comment on the standard’s performance or its chances, as we haven’t yet heard Amphi Hi-D® or seen any hardware supporting it.

Audioscenic has in the past worked with numerous gaming hardware manufacturers, including Razr, Acer, MSI, Cirrus Logic, and Zylux, however, and is working to “expand this list” with Amphi Hi-D®.

The technology is set to make its physical and sonic debut at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas at the start of January 2025. We will have people on the ground covering the event who will endeavour to have a first listen and report their findings then.

MORE:

Dolby Atmos vs DTS:X – what’s the difference?

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These are the best Dolby Atmos soundbars we’ve tested

Alastair is What Hi-Fi?’s editor in chief. He has well over a decade’s experience as a journalist working in both B2C and B2B press. During this time he’s covered everything from the launch of the first Amazon Echo to government cyber security policy. Prior to joining What Hi-Fi? he served as Trusted Reviews’ editor-in-chief. Outside of tech, he has a Masters from King’s College London in Ethics and the Philosophy of Religion, is an enthusiastic, but untalented, guitar player and runs a webcomic in his spare time.