Pioneer Sphera lets you add Dolby Atmos to your car

"I fully believe that once someone hears Dolby Atmos music in their car, they won't want anything else. The sonic envelopment turns your car cabin into an immersive, engaging experience. Every time I hear a demo - be it in a Rivian, Cadillac, or Mercedes - it leaves me energized and excited. But up to this point, Dolby Atmos has only been available in luxury vehicles that have a whole array of speakers."

"The Pioneer Sphera head unit fits in a single-DIN or double-DIN slot in your car's dash. Once installed, initial setup involves placing an included mic at the driver's headrest and leaving the car for about five minutes to allow Pioneer's processing to calibrate the system to your car's interior. Once complete, you can select your listening sweet spot on the screen as driver, passenger, or the whole cabin."

"Pioneer's virtualization does an impressive job properly filling the cabin using just four speakers. While listening to the opening of "Money" from Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon, the cash register sounds were placed in their appropriate positions throughout the cabin, and when the full band came in, the interior felt bigger than it was. Similarly, the oohs and aah s in the chorus of "Rocket Man" blossomed and surrounded Elton John's vocals."

Pioneer Sphera is an aftermarket in-dash receiver with a 10.1-inch capacitive screen that enables Dolby Atmos playback in Apple CarPlay. The unit fits in single-DIN or double-DIN slots and uses an included microphone placed at the driver's headrest for about five minutes of calibration to adapt processing to the car interior. Users can select a listening sweet spot—driver, passenger, or whole cabin. Sphera creates an Atmos environment through virtualization with as few as four speakers plus a sub. In a 2017 Toyota Highlander with four Pioneer A-Series speakers and a sub, the system placed sounds throughout the cabin and expanded perceived space. Imaging lacked the pinpoint specificity of larger multi-speaker systems, but the presentation remained rich, enveloping, and engaging.

Read at The Verge