They didn't sound more pleasing to me; they sounded weird in an unpleasant way.
 
But if you listen to a few of the HRTF processed samples I linked to above - which are all the same 3D panning but processed for different people - some of them sound really weird at different pan positions vs. others.
 
So anything processed using various 3D techniques probably won't sound as weird and processed to some as it does to others.
 
The HRTF's are based on the shape of one's ears, head and body and how they affect sound arriving from different directions. Personally I've never had much luck with such things, but my explanation is that it must be because the shape of my ears, head and body are so far above average. 

bapu
Did Lurssen write that?

Who?

drewfx1
They didn't sound more pleasing to me; they sounded weird in an unpleasant way.
 
But if you listen to a few of the HRTF processed samples I linked to above - which are all the same 3D panning but processed for different people - some of them sound really weird at different pan positions vs. others.
 
So anything processed using various 3D techniques probably won't sound as weird and processed to some as it does to others.
 
The HRTF's are based on the shape of one's ears, head and body and how they affect sound arriving from different directions. Personally I've never had much luck with such things, but my explanation is that it must be because the shape of my ears, head and body are so far above average. 

I'll definitely check it out at home Drew (it's a blocked site at work).......very interesting stuff here (although I'm ignorant on the details/theories), I find it fascinating. :)) 

The basic idea is something like things arriving at each of our ears from different locations (and distances) varies not just in the time and level it arrives at each ear, but also things like frequency response based the shape and size of, and reflections off of, or having to travel around our outer ear, head and body. HRTF stands for Head Related Transfer Function.
 
It's a little bit different for everyone and apparently we learn how to figure out where a sound is coming from by experiencing how those things affect sounds coming from different directions.
 
Unfortunately it's different for different people and how well it works for someone depends on how close one's own HRTF is to the HRTF actually used. It also doesn't really work with speakers.
 
 
Something that a number of us who try to understand how the audio works in the real world lament is that the audio industry's endless focus on trying to repeatedly sell almost complete bogus "HD audio" stuff is effort they could better spend on spatial processing technology suitable for average consumers. But I suspect that most of the progress in this area will have to filter down from the gaming industry instead.

I don't need any holophonic sounds.  Mushrooms work just fine. 

 was worried, thought you said *homophobic sounds*

After reading up on it and listening to the Dream Weaver sample, I think it's safe to simply call bullsh!t on Holographic sound. 
 
"Zuccarelli states that the human auditory system is a sound emitter, producing a reference sound that combines with incoming sound to form an interference pattern inside the ear. "
 
Even if that were true, and I doubt it is, it fails to explain how an interference pattern might aid in localization, or why it would be needed. Curiously, the inventor has filed a patent but has never actually described his method publicly. The patent simply describes using a dummy head between two microphones.
 
Here's a guy showing how to build a holophonic microphone, which consists of two mikes stuffed into a mannequin head. Otherwise known as binaural recording, but that's been around forever so he had to invent "holographic sound" to convince some clueless patent examiner that the idea was new and novel.
 
In any case, the sample I listened to sounded just awful on both headphones and speakers. Even if there is anything to the theory, if that's an example of what to expect then I'm not interested. (Actually, I suspect it was just a very bad recording.)

bitflipper 
In any case, the sample I listened to sounded just awful on both headphones and speakers. Even if there is anything to the theory, if that's an example of what to expect then I'm not interested. (Actually, I suspect it was just a very bad recording.)

In this case I find it a bit hard to believe that the folks who don't hear what you and I are hearing are being "tricked" or imagining things. Because it sounded really bad to me too.
 
My guess is that it's just processed using traditional binaural (with perhaps magic sprinkles on top that do nothing), but the HRTF used for the binaural processing is just a really, really bad match for some of us.
 
 
The Zucarrelli stuff was actually used by Roger Waters back in the early to mid eighties and didn't sound like this. I distinctly remember a live radio broadcast he did back in the day in which he touted it in an interview beforehand. I suspect the reason he bought into it so much was that the binaural part really can work but he was probably unfamiliar with that stuff. And most of the time when people believe in magic it's because they happen to be (sometimes understandably) ignorant about certain pertinent things about reality.
 
And I think the fact that this hasn't made a dent in the 30+ years since Roger was touting it speaks for itself.