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

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'.

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.

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.