Spatial Mix: Let Sound Surround You

An ordinary sleep sound is a single looping track: one stretch of rain, spread flat against your ears from start to finish. Spatial Mix is different. It's a multi-track spatial soundscape where you drag elements like rain, ocean waves, and insect song to different spots on a circular canvas, creating a sense of sound distributed all around you.

The Spatial Audio Toggle: Two Ways to Listen

Spatial Mix's spatial effect is controlled by a device-level toggle (Settings → Audio → Spatial Mix), off by default:

• When off: every source sits centered, and distance is expressed only as volume. Dragging an element changes loudness only. Works with all headphones and speakers, with zero extra power cost.
• When on: sources produce true directional panning based on their position on the canvas, with a real sense of left, right, near, and far. Dragging moves the direction in real time.

Once on, you'll hear the effect clearly with headphones. Spatial audio is designed as an enhancement rather than something forced on everyone, which is why it lives behind a toggle for you to turn on if you want.

Head Tracking: Sound That Stays Put

If you use AirPods (Pro, Max, 3rd generation) or Beats with an H1/H2 chip, turning on spatial audio also brings head tracking: when you turn your head, each sound holds its position in space, just as a real-world source stays fixed, creating the immersive feeling of being out in nature with sound all around you.

After you settle for about 3 seconds, the soundstage automatically recenters your current facing as "straight ahead." This is designed for relaxing and falling asleep, eyes-closed situations with no screen to anchor to: you don't have to keep facing one direction.

With other headphones, wired headphones, or speakers, head tracking silently steps down: no head tracking, but the directional panning stays, with no error and no popup.

Why a Spatial Soundscape Helps You Relax

Monotonous, static sound is easy for the brain to filter out. A soundscape with direction and depth is closer to a real natural environment: rain overhead, a stream to your left, insects in the distance. That spatial spread makes it easier for the brain to sink in, lower its guard, and ease from wakefulness into sleepiness.

About Power

There's no extra cost when it's off by default. When on and playing, spatial audio rendering draws some steady CPU, an inherent cost of true spatial audio, but within a reasonable range. When paused or idle, the system automatically powers down the audio hardware. In testing, sitting idle uses almost no power and doesn't stop your device from sleeping normally.