Sennheiser’s Ambeo headphones put directional surround sound in your ears

Anyone who’s ever strapped a VR headset to their face knows that visuals are just one part of the immersive virtual reality experience – the other being, of course, sound. After all, you’re not going to feel like you’re in the middle of a zombie-infested house if all you can hear is the traffic outside your actual house. Sennheiser’s Ambeo headphones (£TBC, out second half of 2017) are aiming to be the go-to earbuds for VR, thanks to their ability to replicate directional audio via nifty trickery. If a recording has been made using binaural sound – basically, how the human ears perceive audio – then listening through these ‘phones will put you right in the centre of the sound. The real boon here is that it also features binaural mics, so you can create your own super-immersive directional recordings.

Sam Kieldsen Contributor

About

Tech journalism's answer to The Littlest Hobo, I've written for a host of titles and lived in three different countries in my 15 years-plus as a freelancer. But I've always come back home to Stuff eventually, where I specialise in writing about cameras, streaming services and being tragically addicted to Destiny.

Areas of expertise

Cameras, drones, video games, film and TV