A method comprising: obtaining, by an audio encoder, a decomposition of spherical harmonic coefficients, SHCs, the decomposition comprising a set of vectors, V, representing spatial characteristics of a first sound field and a set of vectors, US, representing temporal and energy characteristics of the first sound field, characterized in that the method further comprises: obtaining, by the audio encoder, a first set of energy compensated ambient SHCs that describe an ambient component of the first sound field, wherein obtaining the first set of energy compensated ambient SHCs comprises: selecting a subset of vectors, V BG, from the set of the vectors, V, representing spatial characteristics of the first sound field, the subset of vectors, V BG, representing spatial characteristics of the ambient component of the first sound field, wherein the subset of vectors, V BG, is determined based on background channel information; performing energy compensation on the subset of vectors, V BG, to compensate for energy loss due to the removal of various ones of the set of vectors, V, in selecting the subset of the vectors, V BG; and multiplying the set of vectors, US, representing temporal and energy characteristics of the first sound field by the energy compensated subset of vectors to give the first set of energy compensated ambient SHCs; and crossfading, by the audio encoder, between the first set of energy compensated ambient SHCs and a second set of energy compensated ambient SHCs that describe an ambient component of a second sound field to obtain a first set of crossfaded energy compensated ambient SHCs, wherein the first set of energy compensated ambient SHCs correspond to a current frame, and the second set of energy compensated ambient SHCs correspond to a previous frame; and encoding each of the energy compensated SHCs. obtaining, by the audio encoder, a first set of energy compensated ambient SHCs that describe an ambient component of the first sound field, wherein obtaining the first set of energy compensated ambient SHCs comprises: selecting a subset of vectors, V BG, from the set of the vectors, V, representing spatial characteristics of the first sound field, the subset of vectors, V BG, representing spatial characteristics of the ambient component of the first sound field, wherein the subset of vectors, V BG, is determined based on background channel information; performing energy compensation on the subset of vectors, V BG, to compensate for energy loss due to the removal of various ones of the set of vectors, V, in selecting the subset of the vectors, V BG; and multiplying the set of vectors, US, representing temporal and energy characteristics of the first sound field by the energy compensated subset of vectors to give the first set of energy compensated ambient SHCs; and crossfading, by the audio encoder, between the first set of energy compensated ambient SHCs and a second set of energy compensated ambient SHCs that describe an ambient component of a second sound field to obtain a first set of crossfaded energy compensated ambient SHCs, selecting a subset of vectors, V BG, from the set of the vectors, V, representing spatial characteristics of the first sound field, the subset of vectors, V BG, representing spatial characteristics of the ambient component of the first sound field, wherein the subset of vectors, V BG, is determined based on background channel information; performing energy compensation on the subset of vectors, V BG, to compensate for energy loss due to the removal of various ones of the set of vectors, V, in selecting the subset of the vectors, V BG; and multiplying the set of vectors, US, representing temporal and energy characteristics of the first sound field by the energy compensated subset of vectors to give the first set of energy compensated ambient SHCs; and crossfading, by the audio encoder, between the first set of energy compensated ambient SHCs and a second set of energy compensated ambient SHCs that describe an ambient component of a second sound field to obtain a first set of crossfaded energy compensated ambient SHCs, wherein the first set of energy compensated ambient SHCs correspond to a current frame, and the second set of energy compensated ambient SHCs correspond to a previous frame; and encoding each of the energy compensated SHCs.