Sound from every angle
360-degree audio puts the loudspeaker at the front, right and centre, writes
The market for loudspeakers has been reinvented in the last few years, with Apple, Sonos, Amazon and now Huawei supplanting more traditional brands like Wharfedale and Harman Kardon. These new-age speakers connect to your music player wirelessly via Bluetooth or wifi – and most have something else in common: they no longer come in pairs.
Conventional wisdom has always been that you needed at least two speakers to get a stereo effect. In recent years, the advent of cinema-like surround sound has increased the count to five or seven, plus a strategically placed subwoofer.
But the latest innovation turns that thinking on its head. Instead of placing the listener at the centre of a circle surrounded by speakers, 360-degree audio places the speaker at the centre. The sound – all one channel of it – emanates from all directions because the speaker units contain an array of woofers, tweeters and midrange drivers mounted on a circular chassis, some pointing up, others down.
But how does a single unit – in some cases a very expensive one – compare with a conventional set-up?
That’s hard to answer conclusively because no one speaker sounds like another. It all depends on the design and the quality of the components. But what is beyond question is that most 360-degree speakers have been built for convenience first and quality second.
That’s not to say that many of them are not extremely good – but they can never be a match for speakers many times their size.
It’s not entirely the point, though. The
You can create a network of them to stream music to different
parts of the house.
This VR headset comes with 27 built-in VR games and supports multi-player games, so you can play with your friends too. It supports 3DoF, and comes with a motion controller, which also supports 3D. £287, from www.banggood.com
Samsung Gear VR: With this virtual reality headset, you can play amazing games and watch Hollywood’s best movies in your own private cinema. The Gear VR drops you right into the action and, while you’re journeying through uncharted lands, the strap keeps it secure and the foam cushioning helps prevent too much light from seeping in. £30, from www.amazon.co.uk