In anticipation of CES 2025 in Las Vegas, Samsung revealed that its partnership with Google for spatial audio would feature prominently in its upcoming 2025 TV and soundbar lineup. While the announcement sparked interest, specific details regarding the platform were notably scarce. The company mentioned that the 3D Eclipsa Audio system would be accessible this year for YouTube content creators. According to their press release, this platform is designed to allow creators to manipulate audio elements—such as sound source locations and intensities—as well as spatial reflections, ultimately crafting an immersive three-dimensional auditory experience.
For those drawing parallels with Dolby Atmos, it appears Samsung and Google are indeed aiming for a similar immersive audio standard. Their journey began back in 2023 when they unveiled their aspirations surrounding spatial audio technology. Samsung disclosed that its research team had been developing 3D audio solutions since as early as 2020, culminating in the creation of the open-source Immersive Audio Model and Formats (IAMF), which was embraced by the Alliance for Open Media (AOM) later that year.
An important point to note is Samsung’s decision to exclude Dolby Vision support on its televisions; instead opting for HDR10+, an open-source alternative that does not require licensing fees for HDR metadata encoding. WooHyun Nam of Samsung Research noted during their announcement regarding audio innovation that it was essential for this new approach to remain accessible: “An all-encompassing open-source framework from creation through to playback will offer richer and diverse experiences regarding audio content,” he stated.
Despite supporting Dolby Atmos across various models of soundbars—including its flagship Q990 series—Samsung seems determined to explore alternatives outside of Dolby licensing costs. Through collaboration with Google, they are endeavoring to establish Eclipsa Audio as a competitive standard in immersive sound technology. It’s noteworthy that AOM includes influential players such as Amazon, Apple, and Netflix among its members; they introduced the AV1 video format back in 2018 which has since found application on platforms like Netflix and Twitch.
The intrigue surrounding Eclipsa Audio compounds when considering Samsung’s lack of engagement about it during various events I attended recently. When queried about further specifics on multiple occasions, responses varied from ”I’m unaware” to “Let me check if someone can provide information,” but inevitably left me without answers or follow-ups from representatives who could address my queries about readiness for discussion.
The most informative insights observed came from Arm—the chip manufacturer also involved in developing Eclipsa Audio alongside both Samsung and Google—who described it as a multi-channel surround sound framework grounded on IMAF principles. This innovative setup intends both vertical and horizontal channel configurations designed specifically towards enhancing user experiences while watching films or listening to music at home—that mirrors functionalities currently offered by systems like Dolby Atmos.
Additionally, Arm elaborated on how Eclipsa Audio can adaptively fine-tune sounds based on specific scenes while providing users customization options over playback settings; bitstreams may handle up to an impressive array of 28 channels encompassing fixed inputs like musical instruments or microphones along with dynamic choices reflecting scene-specific elements like vehicles—all seamlessly integrating codecs such as LPCM, AAC, FLAC alongside Opus formats compatible even with binaural headphones or earbuds destined toward casual listeners engaged through portable devices throughout creative workflows.
Currently limited exclusively within YouTube offerings tied directly under this initiative signals constrained reach; if confronted against competitors such as Dolby Atmos—with already established marketplace presence—it remains imperative not only strategize timely expansions but emphasize consistent advocacy prior customers until pertinent libraries matter materialize fully sufficient enough warrant substantial attention at any relevant future points offering compliant hardware support showcasing inherent value underlying advancements expected beyond mere announcements made thus far before CES commencement arrives upon us next week!