What 8D audio is
There is no eighth dimension. "8D audio" is a stereo track panned slowly in a circle around the listener using binaural cues: the far ear gets the sound a fraction of a millisecond later, slightly quieter and slightly darker, which is exactly what your ears use to locate a real source. Add a touch of reverb so the space has walls, and the song appears to orbit your head. On headphones, the effect is strong. On speakers, the cues blur in the air and it disappears.
How MP95 does it
8D in MP95 is modelled on the classic YouTube versions and runs in real time on any file:
- Orbit: 0.09 revolutions per second, about eleven seconds per lap. Faster gets nauseating; slower loses the effect.
- Interaural time difference: up to 0.62 ms of delay to the far ear, through a fractional-delay line so it moves smoothly.
- Head shadow: a low-pass filter on the far ear that darkens as the source moves behind you.
- Level: equal-power panning with a small dip when the source is behind.
- Room: a light decorrelated reverb for presence.
It is a switch on the sound desk next to EQ, slowed and the analog chain, and it combines with all of them. Store the combination in a memory slot and it is one tap next time. The Apple Watch remote adopts the phone's setting.
Steps
- Put on headphones. Any headphones or earbuds.
- Play a track in MP95.
- Open Settings → Sound (on the Mac, pull up the desk) and switch on 8D.
- Optionally add Slowed for the slowed-and-8D combination, or the cassette chain for warmth.
What works best
Tracks with a wide stereo mix and sustained elements (pads, vocals, reverb tails) orbit most convincingly. Dense mono-ish mixes move but with less drama. Anything with a long intro is a good demonstration: the orbit is audible before the beat arrives.
Spotify and Apple Music
MP95 processes audio it plays, and streaming services do not allow third-party playback. 8D works on your own files: MP3, FLAC, ALAC, AAC, WAV and AIFF. 8D is part of MP95 Pro.
Frequently asked questions
Does 8D audio work without headphones?
No. The effect is made of timing and level differences between your ears, and speakers blur them in the room.
Can I make a Spotify song 8D?
Not in a third-party app. MP95 applies 8D to the music files you own.
Is 8D bad for hearing?
It is ordinary stereo processing at ordinary levels. Keep the volume where you would keep it anyway.