back to article Audio playground: How does an Oculus Rift with surround sound sound?

Wi-Fi music streaming and virtual reality both just received audio boosts, with news from Bose, DTS and Oculus. Bose has done a music streaming supply deal, like Sonos, with Deezer, but for Deezer's Premium Plus service, not the higher-rated lossless Elite service Sonos is involved with. It's a US region-specific deal and …

  1. Tom 7

    Boost?

    Or lock-in?

  2. Frankee Llonnygog

    Streaming is the new radio ...

    except radio is free.

    Streaming will be the new radio when plod is raiding streaming pirate stations in Hackney tower blocks

  3. Fuzzysteve

    www.extremetech.com/computing/190619-oculus-reveals-crescent-bay-vr-headset-with-360-degree-head-tracking-and-headphones

    The Crescent Bay prototype has integrated headphones.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I like that sound placement tech

    I know the principles of this have been around for quite some time - I recall that, years ago, the London Science Museum had a demo of it installed in the lift hall next to the rockets and moon landers section (just before you got to the trains and vehicles bit). It's gone now, though :(.

    If someone has managed to make this work properly without the need to have a million speakers around I'd be very interested - gaming with that must be truly awesome.

    1. Dave Bell

      Re: I like that sound placement tech

      Stereo was never much good, though a binaural recording played back through headphones was better, if you had hearing loss. But we've had digital surround sound for a long time now, and that can pay off big. My late father had bad hearing problems, but just getting background noises coming from a different direction than the speech, and not the volume faking of most ordinary stereo, made a big difference for him.

      But how do you fake it through headphones? And can people who can hear the results properly ever be able to afford the hardware?

      1. phil dude
        Pint

        Re: I like that sound placement tech

        Pink floyd? or is that an urband legend about having a head with microphones in the ear holes...?

        P.

        1. pjalsta
          Windows

          Re: I like that sound placement tech

          I've an old JVC ghetto blaster with a 'binaural stereo' feature.

          An article at the time said you could make your own recordings by using two

          directional microphones pointing away from each other and a head-sized piece

          of wood in between them - to simulate ears on either side of a head.

          If you played the demo through the speakers it was amazing.

          If you played it through headphones all the sounds came from behind you!

  5. streaky

    "Rift prototype headset. Surely it should have integrated over-the-ear headphones."

    Sure, if they want nobody to buy it - either way they're detachable and you're paying extra for something you don't want or they're not and you have to deal with whatever crappy kit they give you.

    I'm happy with my Tiamat 7.1 thanks..

  6. N13L5

    There are so many gullible people that are Bose fans... But Bose's business is built on using the cheapest of drivers and then electronically fixing their crappy frequency curves.

    I wouldn't touch Deezer or any other proprietary nonsense with a 10 foot pole, given that there's DTS' Play-Fi with loss less 3D audio and even Bluetooth can now stream loss less music in stereo.

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