Vector-Base Amplitude Panning (VBAP) and Ambisonics are commonly used in 3D audio reproduction via loudspeakers. While research has been investigating their properties using psychoacoustic test signals, there is only a small number of investigations employing musical material. Considering the musical application of these spatialization methods, we present an experimental study characterizing quality aspects using excerpts that belong to three different musical genres (popular, classical, and contemporary spatial music). The study compares seven configurations of vector-base and Ambisonic amplitude panning in a hemispherical listening environment that is permanently installed in the IEM CUBE. Four configurations thereof used 24 loudspeakers, and the others used a subset of 12 loudspeakers. In pairwise comparisons, participants rated each configuration pair on a quasicontinuous scale in terms of preference, envelopment, spatial clarity, sound quality, and stability. Perceptual scales were constructed which revealed how configurations ranked in terms of each attribute. The ranking of the tested configurations on the perceptual scales was dependent on the musical material. In the case of the popular and the classical music piece, results were relatively consistent and participants tended to prefer the configurations that used 12 loudspeakers. Results indicate that preference judgements are correlated to envelopment, sound quality, and spatial clarity.
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