Apple Music's Spatial Audio spreads to Mercedes-Benz vehicles

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in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV
The Spatial Audio feature of Apple Music is expanding beyond earphones, with Mercedes-Benz adding support for it to the car manufacturer's infotainment system.

A Mercedes infotainment system playing Apple Music. [Apple]
A Mercedes infotainment system playing Apple Music. [Apple]


The partnership, announced on Sunday, has Mercedes-Benz adding Spatial Audio with support for Dolby Atmos as a native experience to its infotainment systems. Rather than relying on motion-tracking hardware in headphones like AirPods Max, it instead uses the speaker system installed into the vehicle.

It is available as part of the MBUX infotainment system in Mercedes-Maybach models, the EQS and EQS SUV, and the EQE and S-Class vehicles.

The first vehicle to offer the feature to owners is the limited edition Mercedes-Maybach by Virgil Abloh, which shipped in September. It uses a Burmester high-end 4D sound system which includes 31 speakers, with six 3D speakers playing from above, four near-ear speakers in the front seats, eight sound transducers in the seats, two amplifiers, an 18.5-liter subwoofer, and 1,750 watts of power.

Spatial Audio will be rolled out to other models "soon," according to Apple.

To use the feature, drivers also have to subscribe to Apple Music, which includes a growing catalog of Spatial Audio tracks. Apple Music also includes curated Spatial Audio playlists, including Driving in Spatial Audio.

"Sound quality is incredibly important to Apple Music, which is why we are so excited to be working with Mercedes-Benz to make Spatial Audio on Apple Music available natively in the car for the first time," said Oliver Schusser, Apple's vice president of Apple Music and Beats. "Spatial Audio is revolutionizing the way artists create and fans listen to music, and it's an experience that is impossible to explain in words; you have to hear it for yourself to appreciate it."

Mercedes-Benz Group AG's chief technology officer Markus Schafer calls the addition "a benchmark music experience unparalleled in the industry." Proud to be selling the first non-Apple product to support Spatial Audio, Schafer claims "This seamless experience shows how in-car entertainment can reach exciting new levels by perfectly integrating hardware and software."

Read on AppleInsider

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 16
    Was in Europe during last big Apple presentation. Normally would watch it live at home on AppleTV. So watched it on my iPad with AirPods Pro. Was shocked at the audio quality. I literally asked my wife if the iPad speakers were on instead of my Pods, because the audio sounded as though it were in front of me, not in my ears. Spatial audio is amazing! Where else can I experience this?
    doozydozenwatto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 16
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,152member
    These infotainment systems are very expensive. I suspect spatial audio is for the people in the back seat, not the chauffeur. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 16
    jimh2jimh2 Posts: 611member
    I don’t know who wants audio manipulation that is nothing but a gimmick like the various surround sound modes (stadium, game, orchestra, etc). Hopefully they will not take away the audio option of listening to music as the artist intended it to be heard. 
  • Reply 4 of 16
    jimh2jimh2 Posts: 611member
    Of course even a modest (sub-$1000) system can easily outperform any car stereo, no matter the cost if the goal accurate reproduction. 
  • Reply 5 of 16
    If it’s not upgradable to current vehicles with Apple Music for those that already have a Mercedes what’s the point offering this article? It’s not like everyone can afford a MB EQS. From what I’ve seen they start at $110K. Not everyone that enjoys Apple products can afford a $100k plus car. Not everyone is so fortunate. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 16
    This bugs me! I just got a new Nissan Kicks with Bose Personal Plus sound system with two speakers that are actually imbedded in the drivers headrest. It’s really cool, and I love it, but I don’t think it works with Apple’s spacial audio. Which sucks. It would be the PERFECT implementation for it. 

    watto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 16
    danoxdanox Posts: 2,804member
    ptexidor said:
    If it’s not upgradable to current vehicles with Apple Music for those that already have a Mercedes what’s the point offering this article? It’s not like everyone can afford a MB EQS. From what I’ve seen they start at $110K. Not everyone that enjoys Apple products can afford a $100k plus car. Not everyone is so fortunate. 
    All those lower end SUV’s that flood the market will get it very soon.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 16
    MadbumMadbum Posts: 536member
    Was in Europe during last big Apple presentation. Normally would watch it live at home on AppleTV. So watched it on my iPad with AirPods Pro. Was shocked at the audio quality. I literally asked my wife if the iPad speakers were on instead of my Pods, because the audio sounded as though it were in front of me, not in my ears. Spatial audio is amazing! Where else can I experience this?
    All programming Apple TV + supports spatial audio and atmos , you just need a Apple TV 4 k and some atmos sound bar 
    doozydozenwatto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 16
    How frustrating... bought a MY20 GLE with MBUX and despite the promise of software updates/new features being added over time... there aren't any. That being said mine only came with the regular Burmester surround sound system upgrade (and not the 3D/4D models of the flagship lines).
    doozydozenwatto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 16
    Spacial audio is a really good application for cars, much more so than lossless audio. Most luxury and new luxury cars have at least a dozen speakers in them and sometimes over 30. Dolby Atmos by itself can be mapped to take advantage of this but Apple Spatial Audio is the glue to take advantage of it. It should be fun when more vehicles come with Dolby Atmos standard or an available option.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 16
    jimh2 said:
    I don’t know who wants audio manipulation that is nothing but a gimmick like the various surround sound modes (stadium, game, orchestra, etc). Hopefully they will not take away the audio option of listening to music as the artist intended it to be heard. 
    Have you actually tried it? I’ve only experienced it with buds, but it was a game changer for watching TV. Hoping that if I invest in an Atmos soundbar I’ll have the same experience. 
    doozydozenwatto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 16
    jimh2jimh2 Posts: 611member
    jimh2 said:
    I don’t know who wants audio manipulation that is nothing but a gimmick like the various surround sound modes (stadium, game, orchestra, etc). Hopefully they will not take away the audio option of listening to music as the artist intended it to be heard. 
    Have you actually tried it? I’ve only experienced it with buds, but it was a game changer for watching TV. Hoping that if I invest in an Atmos soundbar I’ll have the same experience. 
    I do not need to try as it is manipulating the audio to something that is not what was recorded and approved by the artist (I am referencing two-channel listening with speakers or headphones). I will say that Spatial Audio is just like the other altered audio methods in that is sounds different which is not necessarily better and that in time the original presentation will sound better than the manipulated one until your ears grow tired of it. I'll admin that TV and movie watching are different though and they do benefit from some manipulation though no home theater can match a commercial theater.
  • Reply 13 of 16
    mknelsonmknelson Posts: 1,120member
    jimh2 said:
    jimh2 said:
    I don’t know who wants audio manipulation that is nothing but a gimmick like the various surround sound modes (stadium, game, orchestra, etc). Hopefully they will not take away the audio option of listening to music as the artist intended it to be heard. 
    Have you actually tried it? I’ve only experienced it with buds, but it was a game changer for watching TV. Hoping that if I invest in an Atmos soundbar I’ll have the same experience. 
    I do not need to try as it is manipulating the audio to something that is not what was recorded and approved by the artist (I am referencing two-channel listening with speakers or headphones). I will say that Spatial Audio is just like the other altered audio methods in that is sounds different which is not necessarily better and that in time the original presentation will sound better than the manipulated one until your ears grow tired of it. I'll admin that TV and movie watching are different though and they do benefit from some manipulation though no home theater can match a commercial theater.
    Spatial audio/Dolby Atmos is only available if it has been encoded into the track. That means on some level it has been "approved by the artist".
    muthuk_vanalingamwatto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 16
    zimmiezimmie Posts: 651member
    jimh2 said:
    jimh2 said:
    I don’t know who wants audio manipulation that is nothing but a gimmick like the various surround sound modes (stadium, game, orchestra, etc). Hopefully they will not take away the audio option of listening to music as the artist intended it to be heard. 
    Have you actually tried it? I’ve only experienced it with buds, but it was a game changer for watching TV. Hoping that if I invest in an Atmos soundbar I’ll have the same experience. 
    I do not need to try as it is manipulating the audio to something that is not what was recorded and approved by the artist (I am referencing two-channel listening with speakers or headphones). I will say that Spatial Audio is just like the other altered audio methods in that is sounds different which is not necessarily better and that in time the original presentation will sound better than the manipulated one until your ears grow tired of it. I'll admin that TV and movie watching are different though and they do benefit from some manipulation though no home theater can match a commercial theater.
    Spatial Audio is just Apple's branding for Dolby Atmos. You can't get it from just stereo. It's a whole different audio format with up to 128 separate streams which have both sound and positional information (including the ability to change position over time). It is an explicit mastering intent by the artist and studio, so it is exactly "what was recorded and approved by the artist".

    This is like saying Super Audio CD or DVD-Audio tracks are manipulated up from stereo. Or, for that matter, like saying ProLogic or other matrix encoding standards work by accident. Nonsense. Most are explicit mixing targets, and all are explicit mastering targets.
    muthuk_vanalingamwatto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 16
    jimh2 said:
    I don’t know who wants audio manipulation that is nothing but a gimmick like the various surround sound modes (stadium, game, orchestra, etc). Hopefully they will not take away the audio option of listening to music as the artist intended it to be heard. 
    Many artists when creating new music mix it in spatial audio, so that can be the way the artist intended for it to be heard. Time will tell if this is a passing fad or not.
    watto_cobra
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