Sony’s more recent headphones come with spatial audio tech, though your mileage may vary as to whether it actually improves your listening experience. That being said, the hardware that makes the feature work can also be repurposed for a degree of PC gaming functionality. As Reddit user NSlattery43 showcased, the hardware that enables spatial audio can also be used to add head-tracking to your games.
A bit more specifically, applicable audio hardware can be turned into a head tracker for the OpenTrack software. The user has made the tool available on GitHub, and has personally tested it with the Sony WH-1000XM5 and XM6, as well as both WF counterparts. As a bonus, the ULT Wear WH-900N has also been tested and confirmed to work. Some LinkBuds may also work as they feature spatial audio, but the user has not personally tested them.
As for games that this feature works with, the ones named specifically are Microsoft Flight Simulator, Elite Dangerous, and Assetto Corsa. Extrapolating from that, NSlattery43 says that the tool should work with other games that support TrackIR or FreeTrack as well. This expands the compatible PC games list to over 200, including Star Citizen and DCS World.
On one hand, there is no doubt that this is a very nifty feature, and almost certainly not something that Sony expected its headphones and earbuds to be used for. It also being distributed for free and open-source is just the cherry on top. But on the flip side, it seems pretty impractical if your setup has the one standard 16:9 monitor.
I made Sony headphones work as a free head tracker for 200+ PC games
byu/NSlattery43 inpcmasterrace
To make this practical, you’ll likely need a very large curved ultrawide monitor, a multi-monitor setup, or a pair of XR glasses or headset. With these, when you move your head to change your in-game POV, your eyes can still be pointed straight ahead and still see what’s on screen. Or, as PC Gamer suggests, using standard controls for larger camera movement, and using the head tracking for finer adjustments. That could work if you’re a static gamer that doesn’t get animated when the intensity dials up, but pretty impractical otherwise.
