AuroMasters — the immersive, high-resolution streaming platform powered by AURO-3D — has launched in India, following earlier rollouts in the US, Europe, and Japan. Billed as “the world’s first immersive music jukebox,” the service aims to deliver ‘studio-quality’ immersive sound using AURO’s proprietary format. Its arrival in India, however, raises questions about where high-end streaming fits in markets dominated by free, ad-supported platforms.
What the service offers
- Streams music in native AURO-3D up to 24-bit / 192 kHz, rather than up-mixed stereo.
- Users buy credits, which AuroMasters likens to buying songs on a jukebox, rather than subscribing to a standard plan. Artists reportedly keep around 80% of revenue.
- Playback flexibility: stereo systems play in stereo; 5.1 and 7.1 layouts deliver surround sound; AURO-3D-capable systems unlock full immersive playback — all powered by the AURO-CX adaptive streaming codec.
- The catalogue at launch is modest, including international material and select Indian repertoire.
- Apps for both iOS and Android are available, allowing users to stream immersive content directly from mobile devices. A list of supported devices can be found at https://www.auromasters.com/supported-devices, and a listening setup guide can be found at https://www.auromasters.com/listen-at-home.
AURO-3D — The technology behind AuroMasters
Developed by Auro Technologies in Belgium, AURO-3D expands traditional surround sound by adding a height layer for a genuine three-dimensional field.
- Supports native immersive mastering rather than up-mixing.
- Uses AURO-CX adaptive streaming to maintain resolution across bandwidths.
- Compatible with headphones or stereo speakers via binaural rendering, so no specialist setup is required.
- AuroMasters claims AURO-3D allows them to deliver the same audio fidelity as Blu-ray with adaptive bitrate streaming — giving audiophiles full-resolution playback even at lower data rates.
India: A test of premium appetite
India is one of the world’s fastest-growing digital music markets — but also one of the most price-sensitive. Most consumers use free or ad-supported tiers on services such as YouTube Music, JioSaavn, Wynk, and Spotify. Against that backdrop, AuroMasters’ premium positioning and pay-per-stream model may find only a niche audience.
Pricing and value
On its European website, AuroMasters promotes a credit-based pricing structure that it claims ‘lowers the cost of an album from around €1.99 to as little as €0.50 — the same quality as Blu-ray at just 1% of the cost.’ Frequent streaming of the same album earns additional discounts, free album plays, and free listening of most-streamed tracks.
Single tracks start from €0.19 and can drop to €0.02 per stream, equating (in their words) to ’20 to 100 times more Immersive Music for the same cost of a Blu-ray disc.’
Those figures sound impressive until you remember that listeners are renting, not owning the music. Even at a few cents per stream, the economics make sense mainly for dedicated immersive audio fans — not casual listeners accustomed to unlimited access on mainstream platforms.
Other Immersive Formats — Dolby Atmos, DTS:X and More
AuroMasters joins an already crowded immersive landscape:
- Dolby Atmos dominates streaming, available on Apple Music, Tidal, and Amazon Music.
- DTS:X remains largely cinema-focused but operates on similar object-based principles.
- Sony 360 Reality Audio targets music directly but has grown slowly.
Each format requires unique production tools and mastering, leading to fragmentation — and some scepticism among audiophiles who view many immersive releases as marketing-driven up-mixes rather than true spatial recordings.
Catalogue and expansion goals
AuroMasters says its goal is ‘to have more than 10,000 AURO-3D albums (100,000+ titles) available by the end of 2027, each carefully vetted through our quality-control process. At AuroMasters, it’s all about quality, not quantity.’ That ambition underscores the company’s focus on curated growth over mass catalogue volume — a stance likely to appeal to audiophiles but perhaps limiting wider adoption.
A cautious outlook
Audiophile commentators remain divided on whether immersive audio enhances realism or simply broadens the soundstage. For AuroMasters, the challenge is two-fold. Not only will it have to demonstrate artistic value beyond novelty — and justify its pricing in markets conditioned to free, all-you-can-eat streaming — but it also faces AURO-3D-based competitors. Pure Audio Streaming, another premium immersive music platform which launched earlier this year competes in the same niche at $25/month.
Still, its emphasis on high-resolution masters, creator-friendly economics, and AURO-3D engineering pedigree gives it credibility within the specialist niche; whether that niche can sustain multiple premium immersive platforms remains the open question.
