Bang & Olufsen will create premium audio equipment for the future Microsoft console. It is designed to offer unique features created exclusively for Xbox. I really hope that these will not only be headsets.
Bang & Olufsen and Microsoft announced the establishment of cooperation aimed at "launching audio equipment for unprecedented high-class players". This equipment will be designed for the Xbox Series X console and will be labeled Designed for Xbox . Of course, B&O sound devices are to work with any sound emitting equipment - but they also have a special integration layer with the new Microsoft console. Although it is not clear what it actually means.
We do not know yet what equipment Bang & Olufsen should actually create. So far, this company has not dealt with the gaming market at all, focusing primarily on premium speakers and headphones. It will probably end with a nice headset and that's it. However, I dream of something more.
Bang & Olufsen home cinema for Xbox Series X. With WiSA, Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision support.
Enthusiasts of playing on high-end equipment have been ignored by sound producers until now. Televisions of various manufacturers have many amenities for players who lack the high-class sound system - optimized mainly for watching movies. And what would these improvements be?
Just supporting standards alone would help a lot. Hardly anyone with a large TV and home cinema connected to it has the latest equipment with HDMI 2.1 and eARC. These people usually connect the console to the home cinema so that after taking over the sound it would give the signal with the picture to the TV. Why so?
Unfortunately, connecting the console and home cinema directly to the TV causes that we come across a barrier of limitations of the ARC standard, which does not provide sound in a higher standard than Dolby Digital. Only eARC (only on the latest and expensive TVs and sound system) or a direct connection to the home cinema console will allow you to get full, spherical Dolby Atmos surround sound in games. This, however, raises further problems.
Most home theaters and soundbars are unable to provide the full signal received from the console. Some even add up when trying to send a 4K image with HDR at 60 fps. Almost none will give the image signal in Dolby Vision format that I will not mention such goodies as ALLM (automatic game mode) or VRR (dynamic image frequency). A high-end class set - and B&O is famous for such products - taking into account the needs of a modern enthusiast player would be a dream product for me. Although I try not to get excited, because I will probably end up with a regular headset.
Fortunately, there is some hope for enthusiasts of premium home cinema vision for players.
Xbox since 2017 is one of the promoters of the WiSA standard, which was developed, among others, by Bang & Olufsen. Xbox consoles support it, though not with built-in hardware - it is possible to achieve WiSA compatibility by an additional USB dongle. Xbox Series X will probably support this standard already with a built-in solution.
WiSA allows wireless sending of an uncompressed 24-bit 7.1 audio signal with a delay of less than 5 ms. Xbox Series X and a dedicated home theater would be a sensational advertisement for this standard. Especially since Microsoft's console will probably be able to do a lot in terms of sound: the new Xbox will include a dedicated sound processing processor, using ray-like technology to accurately position sound sources in space, including in the Dolby Atmos format.
Xbox establishes cooperation with Bang & Olufsen. I dream of gaming home cinema
Comments
Post a Comment