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[PurePlatinum]

Clearly during the development of PS5, Sony decided to start chasing technological advances that weren’t just graphics because it’s harder to market purely on just that in our world of ever diminishing returns.

So they decided to focus on developing DualSense and 3D audio to engage your other senses. Dualsense has been a big success.

Can’t say the same for 3D audio. It has never to me sounded like more than “Stereo+•. Doesn’t matter which headphones I use or which profile I select in calibration. It just sounds like stereo to me.

So now Sony introduces this new calibration tool where you can make a profile specific to yourself…”great!” I thought.

Nope. Can’t hear the height. The swooshing sounds that are supposed to be coming from above or below you are impenetrable to my ears.

Now I have to go without a custom profile because I’m not going to just guess and let it calibrate itself based on a bunch of phony data. What gives Sony? Can I just send mark cerny the photos of my ears already?

 

[Unknown?]

It barely works for me. Sometimes I can hear it but usually I can't hear it above or below.

 

[Magic Carpet]

The games with Dolby Atmos sound great. Too bad few games use it.
Japan is all about Stereo. From Anime to Games 2 channel audio is where the buck stops.

 

[kevboard]

it's all not really worth it. especially since you always get audio lag which outweighs the slight improvement in quality.

just run stereo

ever since I played HiFi Rush on PS5 (double dipped on both consoles), I turned it off for good. because in that game specifically the 3D audio made it basically unplayable due to the audio lag

 

[Three]

Above and below are naturally not places we can geolocate sound very well to begin with. If a certain calibration gives you the greater illusion that a sound is coming from above or below you just go with that.

it's all not really worth it. especially since you always get audio lag which outweighs the slight improvement in quality.

just run stereo

It's worth it for games where you need to locate enemy footsteps or sounds (like CoD). The lag is near nonexistent vs the spatial awareness that you gain.

 

[kevboard]

It's worth it for games where you need to locate enemy footsteps or sounds (like CoD). The lag is near nonexistent vs the spatial awareness that you gain.

I never felt like it's useful in any games.
playing Apex Legends with 3D audio or at stereo is pretty much the same. it's a tiny difference due to the very limitations of the headsets people typically use.

the vast majority of headsets are not actually surround sound headsets... they are stereo.
this includes the Pulse 3D headset from Sony.

so the "3D audio" is simply a software based trick to fake surround sound.
the thing is, many games do that themselves already, just maybe not as detailed. but footsteps from in front of you usually have a different pitch than ones behind you. you can get used to that and locate enemies that way.

3D Audio does the same thing just slightly more sophisticated. in the end however, locating a specific position of any given sound is done by getting used to the specific fakery that any given audio system uses.

the only way to get true 3D sound is to have a 7.1 speaker system or a true surround sound headset, which most people don't have as they are often $200+ for even low end models.

 

[fastest finger]

They had 3D audio since PSVR launched back in 2016.

It was great then, it’s even better now.

 

[fastest finger]

I never felt like it's useful in any games.
playing Apex Legends with 3D audio or at stereo is pretty much the same. it's a tiny difference due to the very limitations of the headsets people typically use.

the vast majority of headsets are not actually surround sound headsets... they are stereo.
this includes the Pulse 3D headset from Sony.

so the "3D audio" is simply a software based trick to fake surround sound.
the thing is, many games do that themselves already, just maybe not as detailed. but footsteps from in front of you usually have a different pitch than ones behind you. you can get used to that and locate enemies that way.

3D Audio does the same thing just slightly more sophisticated. in the end however, locating a specific position of any given sound is done by getting used to the specific fakery that any given audio system uses.

the only way to get true 3D sound is to have a 7.1 speaker system or a true surround sound headset, which most people don't have as they are often $200+ for even low end models.

It uses binaural sound.

It’s designed to be used with any stereo headphones.

You don’t need “surround headphones” to use it.

You have 2 ears. You only need 2 sound inputs to create 3D audio from a fixed location source (ie headphones).

For speakers, then yes, if a free that a multi-channel speaker setup is necessary.

 

[Three]

so the "3D audio" is simply a software based trick to fake surround sound.
the thing is, many games do that themselves already, just maybe not as detailed. but footsteps from in front of you usually have a different pitch than ones behind you. you can get used to that and locate enemies that way.

3D Audio does the same thing just slightly more sophisticated. in the end however, locating a specific position of any given sound is done by getting used to the specific fakery that any given audio system uses.

it's not just slightly more sophisticated it's much more sophisticated. locating a specific postion is trying to replicate exactly what your ears would hear from that position and making it physically correct.

the only way to get true 3D sound is to have a 7.1 speaker system or a true surround sound headset, which most people don't have as they are often $200+ for even low end models.

That's not true. Our ears are naturally just two point listening devices. binaural audio is what gives us the sense of spatial audio. The shape of our ears/head determine how that reaches the eardrum (what's attenuated) and with what delay between the two ears, that's how we get a sense of direction. nothing else. when we "fake" this we do the exact same. we delay sound to each ear and distort it the way our head and ear shape would depending on the position of that sound. You cannot do this with simple stereo sound without support for 3D audio. Surround sound systems sure (which does't require simulation of 3d audio in the first place) but simply stereo no. So when you say "just run stereo" you've pretty much lost spatial information.

The pulse 3D headsets and most headsets playing 3D audio arent the same as simply hearing in stereo. So when you say they're stereo yes they are 2 speakers but your ears are just 2 eardrums. Binaural audio (3D audio) isn't the same as simply recording in stereo, it's designed to give you spatial information that stereo doesn't give you, and it works . It's worked since the early days of 4D cinema experiences at theme parks. except now instead of recording binaural audio we can generate it based on a head related transfer function (HRTF) and move the source of the sound to where we like giving the listener spatial awareness. even cheap in-ears would offer you good spatial awareness as long as you have a good HRTF that simulates your head and ear shape.

 

[kevboard]

it's not just slightly more sophisticated it's much more sophisticated. locating a specific postion is trying to replicate exactly what your ears specific ears would hear from that position making it physically correct.

That's not true. Our ears are naturally just two point listening devices. binaural audio is what gives us the sense of spatial audio. The shape of our ears/head determine how that reaches the eardrum (what's attenuated) and with what delay between the two ears, that's how we get a sense of direction. nothing else. when we "fake" this we do the exact same. we delay sound to each ear and distort it the way our head and eardrums would depending on the position of that sound. You cannot do this with simple stereo sound without support for 3D audio. Surround sound systems sure (which does't require simulation of 3d audio in the first place) but simply stereo no. So when you say "just run stereo" you've pretty much lost spatial information.

The pulse 3D headsets and most headsets playing 3D audio arent the same as simply hearing in stereo. So when you say they're stereo yes they are 2 speakers but your ears are just 2 eardrums. Binaural audio (3D audio) isn't the same as simply recording in stereo, it's designed to give you spatial information that stereo doesn't give you, and it works . It's worked since the early days of 4D cinema experiences at theme parks. except now instead of recording binaural audio we can generate it based on a head related transfer function (HRTF) and move the source of the sound to where we like giving the listener spatial awareness. even cheap in-ears would offer you good spatial awareness as long as you have a good HRTF that simulates your head and ear shape.

all of that is true. but what is also true is that most games have built in ways to signal to you where a sound is coming from.
if it's from behind it will have a different sound than if it's coming from in front of you.
as you get used to these differences you can locate enemies with a simple stereo source.

and the difference between that and what 3D audio does isn't much different.
true surround sound headphones on the other hand don't have to fake this and just play a sound from different directions, which is superior to both Stereo and virtual surround sound, and the only real way to have any blanket across the board improvement in the locality of sounds.

 

[SweetTooth]

it's all not really worth it. especially since you always get audio lag which outweighs the slight improvement in quality.

just run stereo

ever since I played HiFi Rush on PS5 (double dipped on both consoles), I turned it off for good. because in that game specifically the 3D audio made it basically unplayable due to the audio lag

I don't think I have ever read worst advise than this.

OT: Try playing Returnal, Sound design is flawless in that game.

 

[kevboard]

I don't think I have ever read worst advise than this.

but I can say I have read better English thanthat.

Bad Worse Worst

Worst is the superlative of 'bad', and 'worse' is the comparative. You are making a comparative statement, hence 'worse' is the correct word to use.

But back to the topic:
3D Audio is a tiny improvement over Stereo, but is worse in some scenarios like the one I mentioned. It literally makes Hifi Rush play significantly worse due to audio lag.

Notice the correct use of the word worse here.

 

[Three]

all of that is true. but what is also true is that most games have built in ways to signal to you where a sound is coming from.
if it's from behind it will have a different sound than if it's coming from in front of you.
as you get used to these differences you can locate enemies with a simple stereo source.

and the difference between that and what 3D audio does isn't much different.

But back to the topic:
3D Audio is a tiny improvement over Stereo, but is worse in some scenarios like the one I mentioned. it literally makes Hifi Rush play significantly worse due to audio lag.

if a game has built in ways that does this already, as in make the sound physically correct based on postion then it is essentially 3D audio already coded into the game. but when you say the difference isn't much what do you mean, what are you comparing to, a simple pitch difference based on front or back as an audio cue? If so then I disagree, there is nothing physically correct about that. What would you then do for up and down? That would be primitive and would require you to just get used to an incorrect cue regardless of surroundings. COD is even modelling reverb now so it wouldn't work well either. You seem to be hung up on the one game Hifi Rush to dismiss the tech entirely. Can you quantify this so called lag. 3D Audio has no lag that I've experienced but I've never played HiFi rush with 3D audio. Maybe the game is broken.

 

[SweetTooth]

but I can say I have read better English thanthat.

Bad Worse Worst

Worst is the superlative of 'bad', and 'worse' is the comparative. You are making a comparative statement, hence 'worse' is the correct word to use.

But back to the topic:
3D Audio is a tiny improvement over Stereo, but is worse in some scenarios like the one I mentioned. It literally makes Hifi Rush play significantly worse due to audio lag.

Notice the correct use of the word worse here.

Nice lesson here, but I still disagree with the bolded, 3D audio has been massive and I mean MASSIVE improvement for games, it has enriched games that used it properly beyond anything that stereo audio can achieve.

Its simply amazing playing Returnal and amidst an epic battle you recognize exactly where every enemy is located, and you hear their projectiles approaching with extreme precision.

SH2 Remake also did an amazing job for sound.

I believe 3D audio is one of the biggest improvements for this gen and I cannot wrap my head around your comment saying that its minor improvement over stereo, that's simply not true at all.

 

[Garibaldi]

Works amazingly well on my Nova 7Ps once you really tune it in. My Atmos 7.1 cinema system is probably more accurate but it's far more immersive in 90% accurate but close to my ears headset.

I far prefer it to the spatial mode offered by my Nova Pros on the PC

 

[Salmonboy]

That's because there's no 3D audio in headphones

 

[Elitro]

I have the pulse headphones (came with the bundle) and personally I had a better sound experience with the Sony's whmx2 with noise canceling. Maybe it's the games I play, but overall I found them underwhelming.

 

[YeulEmeralda]

The games with Dolby Atmos sound great. Too bad few games use it.
Japan is all about Stereo. From Anime to Games 2 channel audio is where the buck stops.

Because when you live in an apartment you have neighbours.

 

[Trilobit]

I've never been impressed and I've played Jedi Fallen Order, Returnal and many more games that should have great a "3D" sensation, but it's never manifested. At this point I think you might need to scan your ears to a computer model to get true binaural sound.

 

[RoadHazard]

it's not just slightly more sophisticated it's much more sophisticated. locating a specific postion is trying to replicate exactly what your ears would hear from that position and making it physically correct.

That's not true. Our ears are naturally just two point listening devices. binaural audio is what gives us the sense of spatial audio. The shape of our ears/head determine how that reaches the eardrum (what's attenuated) and with what delay between the two ears, that's how we get a sense of direction. nothing else. when we "fake" this we do the exact same. we delay sound to each ear and distort it the way our head and ear shape would depending on the position of that sound. You cannot do this with simple stereo sound without support for 3D audio. Surround sound systems sure (which does't require simulation of 3d audio in the first place) but simply stereo no. So when you say "just run stereo" you've pretty much lost spatial information.

The pulse 3D headsets and most headsets playing 3D audio arent the same as simply hearing in stereo. So when you say they're stereo yes they are 2 speakers but your ears are just 2 eardrums. Binaural audio (3D audio) isn't the same as simply recording in stereo, it's designed to give you spatial information that stereo doesn't give you, and it works . It's worked since the early days of 4D cinema experiences at theme parks. except now instead of recording binaural audio we can generate it based on a head related transfer function (HRTF) and move the source of the sound to where we like giving the listener spatial awareness. even cheap in-ears would offer you good spatial awareness as long as you have a good HRTF that simulates your head and ear shape.

The most impressive 3D audio I've heard is probably this:



This is one of very few examples where I can not only hear sound coming from around my head, but also very clearly moving up and down. I've never heard anything that convincing from a game.

 

[diffusionx]

Yes, it works great. Call of Duty has a great implementation.

 

[Rocco Schiavone]

Don't know why people are so excited for this crap.

Just use open headphones and you don't need this "3D" audio.

 

[RoadHazard]

Don't know why people are so excited for this crap.

Just use open headphones and you don't need this "3D" audio.

Huh? That has nothing to do with anything.