I’ve come across the 8D audio just a few weeks ago. One of my friends sent me a message that I have to check out this new music trend. That it is really awesome and there is hype over it. So I did. I opened Youtube and played the first 8D audio songs that have been available.
And how was it? Did I actually like it? Was it a positive experience or a disappointment? How does it actually work? Should you start to listen to 8D audio straight away?
Let’s find it out.
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What is 8D audio and how does it work?
When you usually listen to music you have 2 speakers in your room or headphones with 2 speakers on your ears. The music comes from 2 directions and it is called a stereo sound.
Once you upgrade your sound system and add the effect speakers and a subwoofer you will get surround sound. Depending on the final amount of the speakers you will either get the 5.1 or a 7.1 sound system. This kind of sound system is usually used in theaters or home theater systems.
When you use some kind of music software and add a special effect to it, you can create a so-called spatial sound. This is sometimes called a 3D sound.
The most popular spatial sound solutions are Windows Sonic and Dolby Atmos.
The 8D audio is actually a spatial sound built with an effect called panning. It makes your brain think that there is more space around you and the music is coming from all the directions.
More precisely you will have a feeling that you are in the middle of an empty stage and the music is floating around you.
The technology is nothing new and it has been here for some time already. But it got really popular when it got the “8D audio” name.
There might be some rumors that it has a negative impact on your brain, but I doubt that. It is actually just a way of how the sound is distributed to you so it can’t damage or rewire your brain in any way.
So nope, 8D audio is not dangerous to you.
Where you can find and how you can listen to the 8D audio?
As the 8D audio is getting more popular there are many various artists playing with this new trend. For example, Coldplay wanted to bring their music closer to their fans so they recorded some songs with the Dolby Atmos.
If you want to listen to more 8D audio songs there are many of them on Youtube or Spotify. The amount of songs is growing each day so you will for sure find your favorite one.
Besides the music platforms, you can also experience the spatial sound (8D audio) in a few games on Xbox.
If you want to listen to it straight away, below are some examples.
Billie Eilish & Khalid – Lovely (8D AUDIO)
Pentatonix – Hallelujah | 8D Audio
To listen and fully enjoy the 8D audio you should use stereo headphones. This way you will be really in the middle of the music. Just FYI, if you use 1 Apple AirPod it will not work.
Conclusion.
Some people would love to believe that this is the future of music. That 10 years from now this will be the only way how we consume music. To be very honest, I am not so sure about it.
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In my opinion, the 8D audio is just another tech gimmick and it does not have a huge future. To me, it was really annoying to listen to any song until the end. It reminded me of my teenage times where I was sitting in a car with my friends and we were playing with the car radio settings. We were just moving the sliders from left to the right and from the front to the back every two seconds.
If you like to experience new things I really recommend checking it out. The first 10 to 15 seconds are really interesting. But as I say, I am not sure if you will wanna listen to 2 hours concert like that.
