Sonos Inc. goes for 3D audio over Apple Music

Sonos Inc. now announces that it will soon support 3D audio via Apple Music. This is a significant expansion of the offering, as music lovers will be offered particularly intense sound experiences with content in immersive 3D Surround. As of March 28, 2023, 3D audio will be available via Apple Music, at least if you own one of the supported systems from Sonos Inc.

It must be openly stated that for the time being, there are not too many systems from Sonos Inc. that can actually play content in 3D audio via Apple Music.

Sonos with immersive 3D surround sound

3D audio, in Sonos Inc.’s view, is a multidimensional, immersive sound experience that is quickly becoming a primary recording format among leading artists, producers and engineers, as evidenced by developments in recent months alone, which it sees as just the beginning of this trend.

Therefore, it is crucial to make this sound experience accessible to customers in the simplest way possible, and that is exactly what they are now doing at the end of March with the support of 3D Audio via Apple Music.

Foto © Sonos Inc. | Sonos Inc. relies on 3D audio via Apple Music

“It’s an exciting time in the music industry as 3D audio – and the creativity of artists that comes with it – continues to grow. Sonos continues to focus on the sound experience of all listeners:making sure they have access to transformative experiences like 3D audio with Dolby Atmos through Apple Music so they can enjoy more of the content they love.”

Giles Martin, Grammy Award-winning producer, songwriter, composer and VP Sound Experience at Sonos Inc.

Only a handful of Sonos Inc. solutions suitable for 3D audio

As mentioned at the outset, there aren’t really all that many solutions from the Sonos Inc. rabbit that can actually play content in 3D audio for now.

The company currently only lists the Sonos Arc and Sonos Beam (Gen. 2), as well as the latest Sonos Era 300 smart speaker system, of course.

Pricing and availability

For existing Sonos Inc. customers, 3D audio integration via Apple Music is of course free, but requires a corresponding paid subscription to that streaming service. Available should be the integration from March 28, 2023.

Getting to the point

It remains to be seen whether solutions such as those from Sonos Inc. can actually be used to perceive what immersive 3D surround sound is all about, especially since the focus here is solely on smart speakers such as the new Sonos Era 300, which probably plays music in mono rather than stereo, let alone in room-filling 3D sound. However, Sonos Inc. promises access to 3D audio content via the Apple Music streaming service from the end of March 2023.