Some Xbox One Insiders May Test DTS:X Audio for Headphones

A limited portion of Xbox Insiders belonging to the Alpha Skip-Ahead group can try out the DTS Sound Unbound app. This makes the DTS:X for Headphones function available, which should give the sound through headphones a spatial 3D effect.

Normally, a license is required to use the DTS Sound Unbound app, but Microsoft says it’s free to use during the current trial period. In January last year, Steven Wilssens, who then worked at Microsoft’s audio division, said the arrival of DTS support to the Xbox One would be just a matter of weeks. It is not known why it will not be available for the limited test group until a year and a half later.

Once the app is widely available to everyone, it will probably have to pay a price, just like it is now the case for the competing Dolby Accces app in combination with headphones.

DTS:X and Dolby Atmos are object-based sound formats in which the sound is not shaped by the speaker data, but by objects. This makes it possible to make the sound sound more spacious. These formats are especially suitable for receivers that support it, in combination with, for example, 5.1.2 speaker set-ups, but Dolby Labs and DTS make the more spacious sound via the aforementioned apps also available to headphone users, even if it actually always works. for stereo headphones.

The arrival of the DTS Sound Unbound app on the Xbox One probably also means support for DTS:X sound reproduction with receivers and soundbars that support it. The Dolby Access app also does this for Dolby Atmos, which can be used for free in combination with a receiver and a speaker set-up; you only have to pay to use Atmos for headphones. Since April 2017, there has been support for DTS:X and Dolby Atmos via bitstream when a Blu-ray movie is played on the Xbox One.