QSound
From Sega Retro
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QSound is the original name for a three-dimensional audio technology created by QSound Labs. Following the release of a second revision, the technology is often referred to as Q1.
QSound "widens" the range of stereo sound and is best utilised with a pair of stereo speakers spaced apart from the television, otherwise the difference is minimal. For video games, the benefits were more significant in arcade environments, where speakers would be mounted to arcade cabinets in the correct position to ensure the best quality audio.
While primarily backed by Capcom, which held a stake in the technology and used it in all of its CPS2 arcade boards, Sega began using the technology in 1993 for its Sega Mega-CD game library[1], starting with Ecco the Dolphin[2].
Nintendo used a competing system, Dolby Surround, in many of its SNES games around this period, however this requires audio equipment with a Dolby Surround decoder and is only fully realised by a set of speakers behind the user (i.e. it is "surround" sound). Both technologies have been superseded by more advanced surround sound setups.