Microsoft has been always at the front of the game when it comes to features while its Sony counterpart has been passive. It has been made clear when the Xbox One lineup is receiving new Xbox audio innovations which are the support for DTS:X spatial sound and recently, the Dolby Atmos surround sound format.

However, at the recent CES, Sony revealed its new feature, the 360 Reality Audio that can be utilised by both speakers or headphones to transform music or audio into a surround sound experience. Essentially, it’s Sony’s flavour of Dolby Atmos.

Speaking to Forbes, Kichiro Kurozumi, the Head of the Branding and Product Planning Division at Sony Video and Sound Products, stated that Sony is bringing the feature into their gaming consoles.

Kurozumi said, “We’d like to start very, very simple, so we can make a good foundation, a strong core, for a future-proof technology,” when referring to the wide usage of 360 Reality Audio.

“But of course, we are thinking about two or three directions in the future. One, obviously, is applying 360 sound to video. But also we’re thinking about what it would be like applying to games. Especially in an interactive capacity.”

A Sound Plan

At this point, it seems like Sony is playing ball in the surround sound audio court. It was speculated that Sony didn’t want to support Dolby Atmos on its console simply because they had their own solution planned down the line.

The Xbox One is making leaps of advancements in the audio department. That could be thanks to its Windows division too, as the feature was already implemented on their Windows platform.

Hopefully, Sony can strike while the iron is hot, or risk lagging behind in the audio game.