Meeting Topic: SPATIAL AUDIO
Moderator Name: Terry Nelson
Speaker Name: Erich Meier - Amoenus Audio & Tom Ammermann - New Audio Technology
Meeting Location: Hotel Ador, Laupenstrasse 15, Bern
The meeting dealt with Audio over Headphones and this is a subject that has seen a regain of interest over recent years.
Erich Meier of Amoenus Audio presented his headphone amplifier system that sets out to recreate the aural experience of listening over high quality loudspeakers.
The basic premise is that the sound from headphones is perpendicular to the ears, whereas the sound from speakers is configured in a 60 degree configuration (in an ideal situation). The effect of this is that the audio content des not correlate very well and this was borne out by listening tests. Mr. Meier installed three listening stations to allow attendees to compare the response with and without processing and it was found that results varied quite noticeably with different types of programme material. These differences were often between traditional stereo techniques and multitrack recordings.
The second half of the meeting was with Tom Ammermann of New Audio Technology and the meeting took on a decidely ´high tech' aspect ! As Mr. Ammermann was recovering from a medical intervention on his foot, he was not able to attend the meeting in person but via a Skype AV call. The files for his presentation were sent ahead and put on a computer to be played back via a distributed headphone system for each attendee. The presentation thus alternated between the Skype linkup and programme content.
The audio for the examples was in a virtual multichannel format and the programme material consisted of extracts from films and the video game « Doom 3 ».
The use of virtual immersive — or surround -- sound opens up large possibilities for personal entertainment and is definitely a leading subject in today's audio world.
Attendees enjoyed the traditional "apéro" offered by the AES Swiss Section and lively discussions continued afterwards during the optional dinner at the Tre Fratelli restaurant.
Written By: Terry Nelson
