Sony launches spatial audio microphone to capture on-location sound in smartphone videos

[Financial News] A microphone that can capture the sounds and sense of space at a scene in smartphone-shot videos has hit the market. Sony Korea plans to target demand for mobile video production with a spatial audio microphone that captures sounds coming from multiple directions and recreates a sense of distance.
Sony Korea said on the 16th that it would launch the ECM-AX10, a spatial audio microphone for smartphones. It is the world’s first smartphone spatial audio microphone to receive certification for the 3D audio technology Eclipsa Audio.
The ECM-AX10 is equipped with four omnidirectional microphone capsules that pick up surrounding sounds from multiple directions. It also uses Sony’s spatial audio processing technology and is designed to reproduce the direction and distance from which sounds are heard, as well as the atmosphere of a space. Sony says it helps viewers feel as though they are at the filming location, even when watching smartphone videos.
The main target users are people who record their everyday lives on smartphones, vloggers and mobile content creators. The microphone is small and lightweight for easy portability, and can be connected to compatible smartphones through a USB Type-C (USB-C) port for recording.
Users can also choose a recording mode according to the content’s intended use and how it will be listened to. The microphone supports three modes: Ambisonics, suited to producing spatial audio content; Binaural, which enhances a sense of three-dimensionality when listening through headphones; and Stereo, which can be used for everyday videos and social media content.
The dedicated Spatial Audio Video Tool app supports everything from filming to editing on a smartphone. Users can shoot video, review recorded clips or make simple edits, and export content with spatial audio applied. The app is designed to let users produce spatial audio videos without separate, complicated equipment.
The price is 299,000 won. More information about the product is available on the Sony Store website.
A Sony Korea representative said, “The ECM-AX10 was developed to make it easy to capture the immersive sound and sense of space at a scene using only a smartphone.” The representative added, “We hope users who record their everyday lives and creators who produce a variety of content will make even more vivid videos with the ECM-AX10.”

[email protected] Yoon Hong-jip Reporter