What is spatial audio, and how will it make the audio experience on Android 13 better?
Spatial audio is one of those innovations that really make the music listening experience that much better. When you’re listening to music with regular headphones, the audio is streamed right into your ears. Spatial audio strives to make the listening experience more immersive by putting you in a 3D sound space. This is to make you feel like you’re sitting with the band or orchestra with the players around you. This technology only gets better when you add in head tracking. With this technology, the audio will actually change based on the direction your head is facing. These technologies work together to really put you in the middle of the sound stage. Android 13’s Audio HAL v7.1 adds some new APIs for controlling the audio. Specifically, they affect the output stream variable latency mode. These APIs are key for the feature because having latency control is required to enable spatial audio with head tracking. The technology will use the headphones’ gyroscope and accelerometer in order to detect which way the user’s head is facing. Right now, even though the code is in the software, we can’t be sure that this feature is coming to Android 13. It’s possible that it can be taken out at any point. But, since we have spatial audio in some capacity on Android 12L, chances are that Android 13 will have full support.
You can get the latest developer Android 13 preview
Right now, we’re on the second Android 13 developer preview. It’s available to install if you’re using a supported Google Pixel device (Pixel 4 and up). Installing the developer preview has certain risks associated, so you’ll need to be careful. For starters, you’re not going to want to get it if you’re not tech-savvy. Getting the preview will require you manually flashing the software to the phone. That’s an involved process that needs to be done correctly. If you don’t do it correctly, you run the risk of rendering your device unusable. Also, if you manage to get the version onto your phone, the software will be extremely unstable. This is pre-release software; less stable than the beta. You don’t want to get it on your main phone, as it’s only for testing purposes.
