In versions past 1.20.1 the HRTF directional audio is stuck being "ON" even when the toggle is set to "OFF".
I prefer playing without it because it sounds clearer whereas the HRTF directional audio is very loud and gives off the impression of a lower quality than standard stereo.

1.20.1 demonstration: https://streamable.com/dxr7t4

1.21-pre4 demonstraion: https://streamable.com/k3g03k

This was fixed once in 1.19.1, see here: MC-252546 but has somehow re-manifested itself in 1.20.2 and all future versions, including snapshots and pre-releases with currently no fix in sight.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Load MC 1.20.1
2. Set the directional audio toggle to "OFF"
3. Play for a bit to get an idea how the game is supposed to sound like
4. Set the directional audio toggle to "ON"
5. Play for a bit again and pay attention to how much different the game now sounds and how it's much louder than before
6. Load MC 1.20.2 or any subsequent version like 1.20.6 or 1.21 Pre-release 4
7. Set the directional audio toggle to "OFF" if it's not set already
8. Now that we have a good idea on how the game sounds with the toggle set to "ON" notice how it still sounds exactly the same even when it's set to "OFF"

Expected behavior:

• The audio should sound identical to MC 1.20.1 when the HRTF directional audio is set to off