Modern encoders (especially Opus) are indeed impressive at preserving the stereo image at high quality settings. If you are on a stable connection getting the full 192kbps+ stream, the phase error is likely negligible.
The issue is that we can't control the delivery.
Streaming platforms use adaptive bitrate. If a user's bandwidth dips on mobile, the player might switch to a lower tier where the model starts aggressively quantizing the Side channel (L-R) to
save space.
Since the binaural effect relies entirely on that Side channel difference, I wanted to remove the variable entirely.
By generating it client-side with the Web Audio API, we get mathematical certainty regardless of the user's connection speed.
The issue is that we can't control the delivery.
Streaming platforms use adaptive bitrate. If a user's bandwidth dips on mobile, the player might switch to a lower tier where the model starts aggressively quantizing the Side channel (L-R) to save space.
Since the binaural effect relies entirely on that Side channel difference, I wanted to remove the variable entirely.
By generating it client-side with the Web Audio API, we get mathematical certainty regardless of the user's connection speed.