How to get 8D audio on Mac

What you need

• Headphones. Any kind: wired, Bluetooth, AirPods, in-ear or over-ear. On speakers the effect mostly disappears, because both speakers reach both ears.
• A Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 15 or later for TONO. Pre-made 8D songs play on any Mac.

Option 1: play a pre-made 8D version

Search for “8D audio” plus the song title on YouTube or in your music app. It costs nothing and needs nothing installed. The catch: someone rendered that one song once, with a fixed path and speed, often re-encoded at streaming quality – and your favorite song may not exist in 8D.

Option 2: make anything 8D, live

1. Download TONO, open it and switch the sound on. macOS asks once for the permission it calls “Screen & System Audio Recording”.
2. Put on headphones and play anything – Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, a game.
3. Open 3D & Space and choose 8D Orbit – or press Control Option Command 8 from any app.
4. Choose a path: circle is the classic 8D, pendulum swings from ear to ear, figure 8 passes behind your head, drift wanders slowly.
5. Set the speed in seconds per round. Slower is calmer and easier to listen to for a long time.
6. Set the distance and a room – near and dry sounds intimate, far with the Concert Hall sounds big.
7. Hold HEAR ORIGINAL to hear the difference, and save what you like as a preset.

Settings that sound best

• Start slow. A round of 8 to 12 seconds feels like movement without making you dizzy; speed it up for drops.
• Pick the right music. Electronic, ambient and vocal-driven songs work best. Spoken podcasts are more tiring in 8D – try 3D Surround instead.
• Try the presets: 8D Slow Dream, 8D Pendulum and 8D Figure 8 are ready-made starting points.
• With AirPods Pro or Max, switch on head tracking: the circle stays put in the room while you turn your head.
• Mind the volume. Movement makes music feel louder; TONO’s free Hearing Guard keeps an eye on your daily dose.

Try it without installing anything

The demo on TONO’s landing page runs in your browser: put on headphones, press play, switch on 8D and drag the source around the stage.

Questions