OPINION : There ’s so much hoopla in the sound and technical school diligence that when I discover about something that could revolutionise this or change that , I lean to downplay it . Most of the metre , the stuff that truly transcends is way above the budgets that most can afford .
During a demo session held in The Shard however , I heard a soundbar that could live up to its hype . The only other soundbar where I ’ve feel a standardized ‘ wow ’ factor was from theSennheiser Ambeo Max , which is a £ 2000 colossus .
This special soundbar cost £ 400 and goes by the name of the Razer Leviathan V2 Pro . It ’s have some secret sauce in the form of spacial audio processing from Audioscenic that left me very , very intrigued .
The Razer Leviathan V2 Pro was first show at CES 2023 , and you may readour first impressions of it here . It ’s been available to buy for a few month now – and having now listen it myself I ca n’t believe that no - one is gush about its spatial sound .
This speaker employ AI - powered beamforming applied science to make the sense of practical ( or apparition ) speakers around you . speak to Dr Marcos Simón , CTO of Audioscenic , the origin of this idea was the notion that not everyone has the elbow room for a surround sound system in their home plate . Not everyone can yield a liberal house , flats are more uncouth and on top of that , citizenry rip . Who wants to be hauling big , monolithic boxes every clock time they move ?
So Audioscenic has created this virtualised spacial phone effect , one that uses a television camera implant within the soundbar to track your header / eyes . From there it can work out where your ears are and create a soundfield to fox your genius into consider that these phone are decent next to your headland or off to the side . It ’s very clever and it work impressively well . You must hear it and once you do , you ’ll become a convert .
Playing through a Doom - esque demo plot that Audioscenic make to show off the technology , the first metre I pick up a knock I thought someone was knocking on the door to the elbow room I was sit in – I could take heed it right at my spike story even though the soundbar was below me and the laptop silver screen was in front . It attain a sense of spacial audio that ’s possibly more telling than a couple of phone because there is a real sense of astuteness , width and space , rather than the audio source being glued to your head .
grant , with a dedicated pair of headphones likeSony ’s Inzone headset , a similar essence is achievable – one that ’s even more vivid because you ’re sealed in with the earcups . At the commencement of April , I render the Resident Evil 4 remake with Sony ’s Inzone headphones in3D audioand I was terrified in the scene with the Garrador – the sense of immersion was fantastic .
So while there ’s not that same sense of being lock in like there is with a duo of headphone ( and perhaps ignoring your environment ) , the Audioscenic demonstration was more heroic – almost like a wizardly prank was being perform . Tonally it vocalize proficient and there ’s plug to the phone as well , and while the proximity of these sounds lacks the scale of a Dolby Atmos environs system it perhaps works as effectively because it ’s close by . All it need is a camera to scan the space in front , which open up it up to being used with all type of gadget .
There are limitations , of course . Move about and the camera will stop tracking you and the 3D effect becomes less effective . This also means that the sweet spot is n’t particularly large , though Audioscenic is working on expanding it to being able to track two people . There ’s also the question of how close you call for to be for the tv camera to track you , if you ’re using the soundbar with other devices than a laptop .
Another aspect I had n’t thought of is battery life with portable devices . phone with head - trailing like theYamaha YH - L700Asuffer from big battery drain when 3D aduio is used , and the same might use to Audioscenic ’s technology .
Nevertheless , this finger like the beneficial writ of execution of a raw musical theme in a long time , avoiding the motive for multiple speakers or a pair of headphones . What ’s always rag me about Dolby Atmos audio recording in tv set is that it does n’t needs lead in 3D audio , simlpy that the TV is equal to of better processing with compatible audio tracks . With Audioscenic ’s trailing engineering , it amply pull in that 3D conception with amazing prowess . trust the ballyhoo , it ’s justified with this one .
