Spatial Audio, which was initially announced as a feature of the Pixel Buds Pro, is now available on Pixel 6 and 6 Pro for all headphones in the most recent Android 13 beta, but it isn’t very functional yet.
Making music, movies, and video games “spatial” is one of the most well-liked contemporary developments in audio. It will essentially sound like the audio moves in 3D as you swivel your head, immersing you in the experience.
With the help of the new “Spatializer” APIs that were introduced with Android 13, Google has been working hard to bring 3D audio to Android. Additionally, Google mentioned that a future update will add support for spatial audio to the Pixel Buds Pro when they were first released earlier this year.
Now fast forward to this week, when Google published the first beta of the first quarterly update (QPR1) for Pixel phones for Android 13. Not just the Pixel Buds Pro, but all Bluetooth headsets now include a new “Spatial Audio” toggle in the settings when the update is applied.
In addition, a new setting in the Settings app’s “Sound & vibration” section lets you enable Spatial Audio for wired headphones. Given that the Pixel 6 series lacks a 3.5mm audio jack and that this toggle is absent from all other smartphones, including the Pixel 6a, this must be a reference to USB-C headphones. It’s unclear whether head tracking information would be transferred over the USB connection in this wired version of Spatial Audio or whether it’s just an effect.
