How To Turn On Surround Sound On Windows 10 And Xbox One

Saanvi Araav - Jul 25, 2019

We all know that surround sound is fantastic. However, getting the speakers capable of delivering that is quite expensive.

We all know that surround sound is fantastic. However, getting the speakers capable of delivering that is quite expensive. Plus you also need to get an A/V receiver. Or you could save money for a pair of surround sound capable headphones such as Audeze Mobius. However, what if I tell you that you could actually get surrounded audio just with your current headphones?

Back in 2017, Microsoft added 'spatial sound' support for Xbox One and Windows 10. That opened up the surround sound capabilities for headphones, from the very cheap one to your high-end favorites. With it, we have the options between Microsoft's technology ‘Windows Sonic’, and Dolby Atmos with over Rs 1,000. There is also a DTS Sound Unbound coming up later.

They work by leveraging the auditory system's peculiarities.

Audeze-Mobius-headphones-1 — Audeze Mobius headphones

The way it works

The sound that comes to our eardrums must pass our bodies first. Our brain is capable of interpreting the timing of the sounds getting to each ear. It can also tell how our head, torso, and earlobes modify the sound to locate the source. The way that sound changes when it passes our body is referred to as HRTF (head-related transfer function).

The-system-of-virtual-sound-tries-to-imitate-the-HRTF-2 — The system of virtual sound tries to imitate the HRTF to trick the brain that sounds come from multiple directions

Because earbuds and headphones are so close to the ears, our ears do not modify those sounds the same way as to sound from live music or speakers. So the system of virtual sound would try to imitate the HRTF to trick the brain that sounds come from multiple directions (different than the usual feeling of sounds coming from your head of earbuds/headphones).

To see how spatially our headphones could be imitating our HRTF, you can try out "binaural" recordings. In those recordings, they placed microphones in ears - of a real person or in the head of a dummy. That way, you will listen to a record that been modified by a head already.

Listening to the demo of the virtual barbershop was a fantastic experience. Using your best earbuds/headphones for the best effect - it doesn't work with speakers though.

However, the sounds in these demos wouldn't be perfect because they didn't place the microphones in the head. Despite that, the effect should still be convincing than old stereo audio on an average pair of headphones.

The systems of virtual surround sound use average earlobes and heads based algorithms. Therefore they wouldn't sound perfect. But they can still improve your movie experience.

Set-up instruction

To turn on Windows 10's spatial audio is pretty easy and straightforward with just a few clicks. Point the mouse to the small audio icon on the taskbar, right-click on it, hover on "spacial sound", then choose 'Dolby Atmos' or ‘Windows Sonic'.

How-to-turn-on-spatial-audio-in-Windows-10-3 — How to turn on spatial audio in Windows 10

For Xbox One, just go to the audio settings of the console, by going System > Settings > Display&Sound > Audio output. From there, choose one of the spatial audio technologies.

Enabling-surrounding-audio-technologies-on-Xbox-One-4 — Enabling surrounding audio technologies on Xbox One

You will need to pay Rs 1,036 if you choose Dolby technology, though you can try it for free in 30 days. DTS technology might also appear too, but at the publication time of this article, the App Store on Windows doesn't have it yet.

Remember that this surround audio feature won't do much to improve the stereo audio. For an immersive experience, you will need to look for Atmos or surround content. Check your games and movies to make sure that the audio output is actually surrounding signal.