An apparatus for spatial audio signal encoding comprising: means for determining, for two or more audio signals, at least one spatial audio parameter for providing spatial audio reproduction, the at least one spatial audio parameter comprising a direction parameter with an elevation component and an azimuth component; means for scalar quantizing the elevation component to give a first indexed elevation value from a codebook comprising indexed elevation values and indexed azimuth values, wherein the first indexed elevation value is associated with a plurality of indexed azimuth values, and means for scalar quantizing the azimuth component to give a first indexed azimuth value, wherein the first indexed azimuth value is drawn from the plurality of indexed azimuth values associated with the first indexed elevation value; means for scalar quantising the elevation component to give a second indexed elevation value, wherein the scalar quantisation of the elevation component is limited to an indexed elevation value whose index is next to the index of the first indexed elevation value from the codebook, wherein the second indexed elevation value is associated with a further plurality of indexed azimuth values, and means for scalar quantizing the azimuth component to give a second indexed azimuth value, wherein the second indexed azimuth value is drawn from the further plurality of indexed azimuth values; means for determining a first distance between a point on a sphere given by the elevation component and the azimuth component and a point on the sphere given by the first indexed elevation value and the first indexed azimuth value; means for determining a second distance between a point on the sphere given by the elevation and the azimuth component and a point on the sphere given by the second indexed elevation value and the second indexed azimuth value; and means for selecting one of the first indexed elevation value and the first indexed azimuth value or the second indexed elevation value and the second indexed azimuth value as an indexed elevation component and an indexed azimuth component dependent on a minimum of the first distance and the second distance. means for determining, for two or more audio signals, at least one spatial audio parameter for providing spatial audio reproduction, the at least one spatial audio parameter comprising a direction parameter with an elevation component and an azimuth component; means for scalar quantizing the elevation component to give a first indexed elevation value from a codebook comprising indexed elevation values and indexed azimuth values, wherein the first indexed elevation value is associated with a plurality of indexed azimuth values, and means for scalar quantizing the azimuth component to give a first indexed azimuth value, wherein the first indexed azimuth value is drawn from the plurality of indexed azimuth values associated with the first indexed elevation value; means for scalar quantising the elevation component to give a second indexed elevation value, wherein the scalar quantisation of the elevation component is limited to an indexed elevation value whose index is next to the index of the first indexed elevation value from the codebook, wherein the second indexed elevation value is associated with a further plurality of indexed azimuth values, and means for scalar quantizing the azimuth component to give a second indexed azimuth value, wherein the second indexed azimuth value is drawn from the further plurality of indexed azimuth values; means for determining a first distance between a point on a sphere given by the elevation component and the azimuth component and a point on the sphere given by the first indexed elevation value and the first indexed azimuth value; means for determining a second distance between a point on the sphere given by the elevation and the azimuth component and a point on the sphere given by the second indexed elevation value and the second indexed azimuth value; and means for selecting one of the first indexed elevation value and the first indexed azimuth value or the second indexed elevation value and the second indexed azimuth value as an indexed elevation component and an indexed azimuth component dependent on a minimum of the first distance and the second distance.