Gamers are largely responsible for the crisp, deep, and rich visual experiences we have come to expect when watching any sort of video on the myriad devices we own.

So it stands to reason that perhaps podcasters can lead the charge in making devices capable of high-quality audio reproduction in or on our ears every bit as common.

Here are three trends I’m seeing that could indicate a coming shift in how all of us experience sound in our everyday lives. Not just podcasting!

The Rise Of The Smart Listening Device

I don't only mean smart speakers. Today’s headphones are getting smarter. Apple’s AirPods Pro, for example, have chipsets installed in each earbud dedicated to processing audio. Imagine how much more room Apple’s engineers have to work with on their new over-the-ear-model rumored to come out in a few weeks. Once earbuds and headphones with APUs become commonplace, you can bet savvy content creators and developers will find ways to make content that shows off the upper limits of that tech. 

Superior Streaming Audio

Big streaming audio platforms - Amazon, Spotify, Pandora, Apple, & others - are busy developing new compression algorithms that can work in conjunction with the chipsets in smart listening devices to push out higher quality files without impacting bandwidth. I haven’t done a full audio test of this, but I feel like the audio quality of some songs played on Spotify’s new “shows with music” actually sounded better than the track from the album also streamed on Spotify. (Or I’m just projecting what I want to be true.)

Binaural and Spatial Audio

Many wireless earbuds are already giving listeners a chance to hear what innovative creators are creating. And shows presented in binaural or spatial audio tend to be backward compatible. So even if a listener still uses the wired earbuds their phone came with back in 2007, they can still hear the content, just not in its full glory. But they can hear it!

As these trends increase, listeners will demand more and better sound. Content creators will create content that meets that demand, which in turn will spur engineers and developers to come up with new ways to not only capture better sound, but to better reproduce it for the listeners. 

And not just extreme audiophiles. Like anything, the tech will come down in price to the point where it’s almost harder to exclude a chipset than include it, making smart listening devices that can make amazing streaming audio - and podcast - listening experiences a commodity.

There are three things you can do (or start doing) right now to ensure that when this hi-fi world comes to pass in podcasting your content is a near-perfect fit:

1. Save your build/project files.

If you have the uncompressed audio files saved in your DAWs structure, it’s a low-effort job to re-export all of your previous episodes’ .mp3 files in a higher quality format. No, it won’t be fun, but it will be rather straightforward to ensure your show provides a sound-rich environment. Yes, even if it’s just your voice. 

2. Upgrade and reject mediocre sound.

If you know your sound quality could be better, fix it. Bouncing down to .mp3 hides a lot of sins, but those sins come raging back when you start upping the quality. If you’re using cheap equipment because you can only afford cheap equipment, I understand. You’re just going to have to spend more time doing more work to make it not sound like it was recorded with cheap equipment. 

3. Stop exporting to mono. 

Mono files aren’t any smaller than stereo files unless you start cutting bit rate, and cutting bit rate is the opposite direction you want to go if you want your show to sound good in the future. If spatial sound is best, with binaural second, then stereo is third. Mono is an incredibly distant fourth place, and you...