Hi, Eddy
Binaural and Ambisonic are very huge topic. It won't hurt to do some preparation phase and read about it (if you have not already).
about HRTFs:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head-r...nsfer_function
simply put, when you listen music on headphones your sound field is unique and separate for each ear, but if you listen on monitors your sound field is connected - each ear hears the signal of each monitor (with headphones is not like that).
To start with Binaural
free plugins:
http://anaglyph.dalembert.upmc.fr/ (uses .sofa file format which can be downloaded free of charge)
I see you know about Ambeo, but check out one of the best in the game and VR development Oculus Ambisonic it is free:
https://developer.oculus.com/downloa...-starter-pack/ beware this is 5GB download!!!
More from Oculus:
https://developer.oculus.com/downloads/audio/
The best for binaural mixing is Oculus Spatializer, but you might be interested in Oculus Ambisonics Starter Pack, Oculus Audio Loudness Meter, Oculus Audio Pack 1, Oculus Audio Profiler for Windows as well.
Take a pick at myBino.
It is phenomenal free plugin:
http://www.cmap.polytechnique.fr/xaudio/mybino/
audio-video demo:
https://youtu.be/HdC4RfZKOOo
The
not so expensive plugins: Panagement, TB Isone
The expensive suspects: Harpex, dearVR, Waves Nx, Blue Ripple, Spatial Audio Designer, etc.
Ambisonic explained:
https://www.waves.com/ambisonics-exp...ound-engineers
To start with
free plugins for Ambisonic:
http://www.blueripplesound.com/products/o3a-core
http://www.matthiaskronlachner.com/?p=2015
Standard stereo mixes (and surround) achieve that with Reverb (although it is used mostly as an acoustic simulation of real environment). Thus they sound plausible on headphones as well if done right.
4-channel installation (quad) or First order Ambisonic (or B-format).
Binaural is usually 2-channel (microphone pair to represent the pair of ears we all have).
Binaural is ideal for real environment recordings where real objects produce the sound. Ambisonic is better used for virtual environment simulations like VR, 3D sound design, video games, 360 video renderings. Although nothing stops you from recording real objects with Ambisonic (good luck though, it is not cheap).
After all at the end of the day we all put our pair headphones and try to enjoy the mix.
Good luck!