How to Listen to Spatial Audio on Your Mac

Spatial audio is a relatively new technology that allows for an immersive 3D sound experience. It provides an incredible sense of depth and directionality to audio, making it feel as if you’re surrounded by the sound. This technology is available on many Mac devices, including the new MacBook Pro laptops and AirPods Pro earbuds. Here’s how to listen to spatial audio on your Mac.
1. Ensure Your Device is Compatible
Before you can listen to spatial audio, you’ll need to make sure your device is compatible. Currently, spatial audio is available on the following Mac devices:
– MacBook Pro 2018 and later
– MacBook Air 2018 and later
– Mac mini 2020 and later
– iMac 2019 and later
– iMac Pro
– Mac Pro 2019
2. Connect Your AirPods Pro
Spatial audio is primarily designed to be experienced through Apple’s AirPods Pro earbuds. So, if you don’t already have a pair, you’ll need to invest in them. Once you have your AirPods Pro, make sure they’re properly connected to your Mac.
3. Enable Spatial Audio
To enable spatial audio on your Mac, you’ll need to do the following:
– Open the “System Preferences” app on your Mac.
– Click on “Sound”.
– Click on the “Output” tab.
– Select your AirPods Pro from the list of available output devices.
– Tick the box beside the “Spatial Audio” option.
4. Start Listening to Spatial Audio
Once you’ve enabled spatial audio, you’re ready to start listening. Fire up your preferred audio streaming service and select content that’s compatible with spatial audio. You’ll find that many movies, TV shows, and music albums are now explicitly labeled as being spatial audio-ready.
5. Adjust Audio Settings
Finally, you can adjust the audio settings to suit your preferences. To do so, simply click on the volume control in the Mac’s menu bar and select “Spatial Audio” from the dropdown menu. Here, you can customize the angle at which the sound is coming from and choose between two options for how the audio is presented.
In conclusion, spatial audio is an incredibly immersive audio technology that can completely transform the way we experience audio content on our Macs. By following the above steps, you can quickly and easily start enjoying spatial audio on your Mac device. It’s the perfect way to get fully immersed in your favorite movies, TV shows, and music.