The very first Academy Awards was held in 1929.
The best picture in that inaugural show was won by a movie called "Wings", which was a silent film about World War I fighter pilots. Interestingly this was the ONLY silent film to ever win the Best Picture award.
Why is that?
Rumour has it that this is because as of the 2nd Academy Awards the Academy began requiring that all films submitted for the award be accompanied by a sound recording.
Regardless as to whether this is factual, what is undeniable is that the difference sound can make to a movie is stunning.
The time, effort and expense that goes into the sound in all of our movies, television shows and even video games is beyond most of our comprehension.
Thankfully there is now technology that can help deliver this in the way the creative folks want us to hear it.
Enter Sony’s 360 degree spatial sound mapping system.
Basically the Sony Spatial Sound technology creates a 360 degree sound field or put another way, perhaps a 3 dimensional sound bubble. Which ever way you choose to envision it this technology allows sound to be positioned in specific locations within the field/ bubble.
So long story short, it creates a truly immersive and real sound experience that can greatly enhance anything you watch.
This is arguably a home audio experience that offers sound about as close as you are going to get to perfection.
What Sony has done is nothing short of stunning. Using as little as 4 physical speakers the system actually creates 12 phantom speakers.
You don’t even have to position the speakers in any particular locations or ranges from one another. You simply place the 4 physical speakers where they fit best in your home, and Sony’s system identifies where each one is and correspondingly adjusts their output to provide the three hundred and sixty degree sound.
Thanks to the fact that you are now effectively surrounded by 12 phantom speakers, the sound isn’t just coming at you from your television but from all around and even above you.
Say you are watching a movie, you could be hearing the dialogue itself coming at you from the front, rain from above and ambient noise like traffic from behind and to the side.
Music fans are blown away by the spatial mapping system. Not only does your favourite music now sound exactly like the artist wanted you to hear, you now also here details and nuances that you may have never noticed before. Its like hearing your favourite song or even playlist for the first time again!
To say that Sony’s 360 system completely transforms your viewing and listening experience is no exaggeration.