New ‘Pure Audio Streaming’ Service Promises Lossless Immersive Audio via AURO-3D

In a recent video about the Munich High End audio show, Audioholics president Gene DellaSala spoke with Cristian Tolbaru, who attended the show and described the incredible sights and sounds. Cristian mentioned the Kii Audio demo, which was one of the few to focus on immersive audio (the show is typically dominated by high-end two-channel playback). Led by audio savant Bruno Putzeys, Kii Audio makes high-performance active speakers for both home and studio use. At the show, Kii Audio teamed up with a new streaming service that I was not familiar with previously, called Pure Audio Streaming. I decided to do some digging, and found that Pure Audio Streaming is “built for purists who demand uncompromising fidelity” according to the company’s website. Pure Audio Streaming is reportedly designed to deliver “hardware-optimized playback for high-end AV systems and exclusive high-resolution content, positioning itself as the ultimate streaming solution for discerning audio enthusiasts.” The big thing that sets Pure Audio Streaming apart from the competition is the promise of lossless, high-resolution music delivered in immersive and surround-sound formats. The service is set to launch on July 25th, 2025.

These days, the streaming of lossless and high-resolution stereo music has become commonplace, and audiophiles are spoiled for choice. At one time, Tidal was the only name in the lossless game, but now there are audiophile niche competitors like Qobuz and Deezer alongside big names like Apple Music and Amazon Music Unlimited, all of which stream stereo content in lossless and high-res quality. Only Spotify still streams all of its stereo music using lossy compression (and the rumor mill suggests that a lossless tier of Spotify is finally coming soon). But when you stream immersive multichannel audio (e.g. Dolby Atmos) via a service like Tidal or Apple Music, the music is delivered using lossy compression. Although better than the MP3 technology of yesteryear, the lossy codecs used to deliver Dolby Atmos via streaming services still discard audio data in the name of shrinking file sizes and reducing bandwidth requirements. At the moment, if you want to experience lossless Dolby Atmos, you need to get your hands on a Blu-ray disc or Kaleidescape download. There are even some companies producing music-only Blu-rays specifically for this purpose. The Pure Audio Blu-ray disc format, founded by Stefan Bock, was one such example. The Pure Audio Blu-ray disc was originally introduced “to provide an unmatched audio experience that brings music to life in a way that has never been possible before,” according to Bock. Pure Audio Blu-ray is now transitioning to a streaming model, promising to carry on its mission of delivering lossless, immersive audio directly to your home “to create a deeply emotional musical experience,” according to the company.

So, the premise of Pure Audio Streaming is definitely compelling, but questions remain. At launch, it will be the only streaming service offering “lossless, uncompressed, and uncompromised immersive audio,” delivered both to mobile devices and to home theater systems. But how long will it be until one of the more mainstream services begins to offer something similar? In my mind, Pure Audio Streaming will need to get up and running very quickly in order to build a subscriber base before Apple Music or Tidal comes knocking. And here is where we get to the first wrinkle. Although Pure Audio Streaming claims to offer “way more than just classical music,” working with labels that “produce a ton of different genres,” the service is launching with a catalog of just a few hundred albums — “over 300 notable recordings beloved by audiophiles — such as Grammy-winning LUX by 2L Records,” according to Pure Audio Streaming. If the streaming service has any chance of making it, it will need a vastly larger catalog of immersive audio or binaural offerings. That’s obstacle number one.

Obstacle number two has to do with technology and audio formats. Most streaming services that deal in spatial audio use Dolby Atmos as the container for delivering immersive audio. There are other options, such as Sony 360 Reality Audio, but Atmos is by far the most widely used, and it has become the de facto industry standard. Pure Audio Streaming will not be using Atmos, nor Sony 360 Reality Audio, choosing instead to embrace high-resolution AURO-3D for immersive audio. This marks the first time that high-resolution Auro-3D content will be streamable. And as of the time of writing, many of the most popular streaming devices in the home theater space, such as Roku and Apple TV, do not support AURO-3D. There are also many home theater receivers that support Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, but not AURO-3D.

It’s possible, of course, that things will begin to look up for AURO-3D. This is the first major news we have heard about AURO-3D since the technology and all related IP were purchased by the large Chinese company Goertek Inc. in December of 2024. Goertek has owned Dynaudio since 2014, and also produces audio components for Apple and other large tech companies. Both AURO-3D and Dynaudio are now part of the newly-formed Goer Dynamics B.V. company, a Belgium-based operation that will spearhead the advancement and global deployment of the AURO-3D technology platform. At the time of the acquisition in December of 2024, Goer Dynamics B.V. said that its goal was to deliver live concerts via streaming in high resolution, and to deliver immersive sound for automotive and next-level extended reality applications for gaming and entertainment. With such a large and well-funded company behind a push for the adoption of AURO-3D, might we see it emerge as a real contender in the immersive audio space? Maybe, but the road for AURO-3D has been rocky so far, and Dolby Atmos will not go down without a ferocious fight. 

Pure Audio Streaming capitalizes on the growing consumer demand for superior audio quality, offering not just high-resolution sound but also immersive audio formats. What sets Pure Audio Streaming apart is its ability to deliver lossless, uncompressed, and uncompromised immersive audio to both mobile devices and home theater systems, making it a pioneer in the industry. In contrast, other services provide immersive audio in a lossy format, which suffers from significant signal degradation.

— Pure Audio Streaming

Pure Audio Subscription Tiers

At launch, Pure Audio Streaming will offer two subscription tiers: a “stereo” plan that will provide high-resolution stereo and binaural audio for mobile-focused listeners to enjoy via headphones, and an immersive plan that will deliver up to 7.1.4 AURO-3D in resolutions up to 24-bit/96kHz, to be played back over home theater systems. The immersive tier will also offer 5.1-channel PCM. Both tiers will offer stereo PCM up to 24-bit/192kHz and AURO Binaural as PCM at 24-bit/48 kHz. You can experience lossless binaural audio on any headphones using a computer or mobile device. (If you’re using an iPhone, make sure to turn “spatial audio” off in order to hear AURO Binaural as intended).

At this point, you are probably wondering about pricing for the two different tiers. This leads us to the third and final obstacle facing Pure Audio Streaming. As of the time of writing, the service has not revealed the cost of the subscriptions, but during the Munich High End show, Pure Audio Streaming offered early adopters the chance to sign up for a full year of the immersive tier for $300, which works out to a fairly hefty $25 per month. Given the very limited catalog of music on offer, that sounds pretty steep. One reason for the relatively high pricing is that Pure Audio Streaming uses a user-centric payout system, which reportedly ensures that artists are paid based on actual listener engagement rather than the pooled revenue model used by Spotify and other mainstream streaming services. The user-centric payout system is generally seen as a fairer approach, and it directly connects fan support to artist earnings, just like an album sale in the days before streaming. While most music-lovers agree that artists deserve this kind of compensation, it remains to be seen how many people will be willing to pay extra to make it happen.

If you’re thinking about giving Pure Audio Streaming a try, you might be wondering what hardware you’d need. At the moment, the only streaming devices that will deliver Pure Audio Streaming’s AURO-3D content to your AVR (via HDMI) are the NVIDIA SHIELD TV Pro, the Fire Stick 4K (2023), Windows PCs using the chrome browser, or Macintosh computers (2021 or newer), also using Chrome. Fire Cube support is coming soon, according to Pure Audio Streaming. To see a comprehensive list of compatible AV hardware, visit https://www.auro-3d.com/hardware/.

Pure Audio Streaming is scheduled to launch on July 25th, 2025.

More information: Pure Audio Streaming