Netflix Extends Spatial Audio Support For Immersive Sound Experience; How To Enable

Netflix has added one more quality feature to its streaming service across the devices. The OTT platform has extended the support for 'Spatial Audio' to deliver an immersive sound experience to its 222 million subscribers worldwide. Developed in partnership with the German audio specialist- Sennheiser, the new audio technology works with the Netflix app on TV sets, stereo systems, headphones, tablets, or laptops that use standard stereo equipment.

If you have a dual-stereo speaker setup on your smartphone, you can now start streaming shows and movies on Netflix with a better sound experience. "Spatial audio will roll out across our catalogue beginning today", said Netflix in a statement.

Netflix viewers watching on a stereo system will automatically receive an improved and enhanced spatial experience. Users will not have to make any changes in the app. However, you can look for media content that supports Spatial Audio by simply typing "spatial audio" into the search bar of the app on TV, smartphones and tablets. The select TV shows and movies that support Spatial Audio will appear in the search results.

Dubbed as 'AMBEO 2-Channel' the Spatial Audio technology employs directional audio filters, giving a surround sound experience on select TV shows and movies. The AMBEO 2-Channel Spatial Audio renderer translates original immersive mixes into 2-channel audio with a spatial experience far beyond stereo. Stranger Things Season 4 benefits from the new audio experience as the AMBEO 2-Channel Spatial Audio will serve as a default stream for any two-channel usage.

The audio technology is said to have no impact on the mix or tonal balance of the source audio. As per Sennheiser, the AMBEO rendering respects the original mix, tonal balance and dialogue integrity. Sennheiser further mentioned that the rendering software runs in the streaming service's cloud-based encoding pipelines and produces AMBEO 2-Channel Spatial Audio from existing ADM or IAB files, both industry-standard, open formats.

Notably, Netflix is the first streaming platform to extend the support for AMBEO 2-Channel sound technology. A better audio experience should help Netflix regain some of its lost users. During its Q2 2021 earning report, the popular streaming platform Netflix announced that it has officially lost over half a million users, in its key stronghold North America.

The OTT platform also faces difficulty retaining subscribers in India, where price-conscious consumers dominate the market. Netflix lowered the prices of its subscription plans in India to gain a bigger market share. Prices for Netflix subscription plans in India start from Rs. 149 and go up to Rs. 649 per month. If you are a Reliance Jio customer, you can get a free subscription to Netflix for a year. Read our detailed feature on 'Netflix Subscription with Reliance Jio Postpaid plans' to avail the offer.