Netflix adds a shiny new audio option for premium subscribers

Charging $20 a month for a streaming subscription is a tall ask. That’s probably why Netflix is rolling out a new audio option to sweeten its highest-paid tier. Starting today, premium-plan subscribers will have access to the feature, and no, you don’t need any additional equipment to get it to work. “Spatial audio” — basically a kind of high-definition sound in which the crystal-clear tones track around you, as opposed to at you — will be available on Netflix’s self-proclaimed top 700 titles, such as Stranger Things, Glass Onion, and Wednesday. Think of spatial audio as getting to hear Wednesday dance all around you on the dance floor. It will be added to all upcoming “popular” titles, like season four of You and Your Place or Mine. For better listening, the audio feature is best used on laptops and tablets with headphones with stereo speakers. Optimal immersion.

Netflix is also adding an additional two devices to its downloading guidelines, upping the current four permitted download devices to six. That’s a good way to transfer your account from laptop to iPad to your phone, and to password share before the crackdown on shared accounts begins. Vulture