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PS5's 3D audio is so bad

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exodus

exodus

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Oct 25, 2017
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I really can't fathom how they expected to wow us with this. Sounds about as good as my Astro mixamp from a decade ago.

Everything is muffled. All detail is lost. It just sounds like I'm listening to the game through a dirty sock over my headphones.

Yeah, this feature is staying off. Any mild improvement to spatial awareness is not worth the gargantuan loss in audio quality.
 

Deleted member 19533

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Sounds fine to me, but I'm also not plugged in through the controller. Is that how you're plugged in?
 
JigglesBunny

JigglesBunny

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Oct 27, 2017
31,119
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That's... not how that works. Audio quality is largely dependent on what you're actually listening to it through, and the sound mix of the games you're playing. Saying "this entire audio system is terrible because it sounds weird to me" is pretty aimless criticism, especially when you don't specify what game you're playing, what sound profile you selected in that game or what headset you're using.
 
Abylim

Abylim

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Oct 29, 2017
5,023
Australia
exodus said:
I really can't fathom how they expected to wow us with this. Sounds about as good as my Astro mixamp from a decade ago.

Everything is muffled. All detail is lost. It just sounds like I'm listening to the game through a dirty sock over my headphones.

Yeah, this feature is staying off. Any mild improvement to spatial awareness is not worth the gargantuan loss in audio quality.
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Are you playing ACV? The sound in that game is shit on all platforms.

Demons souls sounds excellent
 
mandiller

mandiller

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Oct 27, 2017
570
Australia
What game? Because Valhalla has terrible sound. That's one game I've noticed and I don't think it's the PS5's fault.

Demon's Souls is exceptional with some good headphones.
 
jorgejjvr

jorgejjvr

Banned
Oct 31, 2017
8,423
It does sound horrible to games nor optimized for it, specially ps4 games

Demons souls and miles were made with PS5 and 3d audio in mind, any other game that didn't, sounds horrible
 
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exodus

exodus

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Oct 25, 2017
9,949
BlueBomberX said:
Sounds fine to me, but I'm also not plugged in through the controller. Is that how you're plugged in?
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Audeze Penrose through USB wireless, and also tested my AKG K701 and HyperX Cloud through the controller.

As soon as I turn it off, it feels like I've had cotton balls removed from my ears.
 
sn00zer

sn00zer

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Feb 28, 2018
6,084
3d audio does not work well with PS4 games

You are talking crazy though if you are talking about ps5 games cuz demon souls sounds incredible
 
LightKiosk

LightKiosk

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Oct 27, 2017
11,479
I tried it with both my Arctis 3's wired into the controller, and my Sony XB900N's wired in for Miles Morales. I experienced similar where the audio sounded really muffled and some detail was lost.

Would need to test them with Demon's Souls one day, but yeah, first impression wasn't the best.
 
Captjohnboyd

Captjohnboyd

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Oct 25, 2017
5,569
exodus said:
I'm playing Demon's Souls. It just sounds real bad on a good pair of headphones.
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It's likely the headphones then. I've seen several posters using nicer headphones that need more power sent to them that the controller can't provide. My headphones sound amazing with it, although some games more than others
 
Velg

Velg

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Jan 6, 2018
498
exodus said:
Audeze Penrose through USB wireless, and also tested my AKG K701 and HyperX Cloud through the controller.

As soon as I turn it off, it feels like I've had cotton balls removed from my ears.
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Sounds like a you problem OP based on these replies and my own experiences. What is it with ERA and the hyperbolic threads haha
 
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exodus

exodus

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Oct 25, 2017
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Captjohnboyd said:
It's likely the headphones then. I've seen several posters using nicer headphones that need more power sent to them that the controller can't provide. My headphones sound amazing with it, although some games more than others
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Eh? K701 are top tier, though they could use an amp for sure. But the HyperX Clouds should be perfectly fine through the controller.

And well the Audeze Penrose are some of the most detailed wireless headphones you can use on the PS5 currently.
 
Akronis

Akronis

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Oct 25, 2017
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exodus said:
Audeze Penrose through USB wireless, and also tested my AKG K701 and HyperX Cloud through the controller.

As soon as I turn it off, it feels like I've had cotton balls removed from my ears.
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Does the Penrose have Audeze's headtracking and 3D audio like the Mobius? If so, make sure one of the two are disabled.
 
jorgejjvr

jorgejjvr

Banned
Oct 31, 2017
8,423
Playing Apex legends, God of War, etc its really bad.

Even cod cold War sounds bad, I have it turned off unless I'm playing miles or Demons souls
 
RivalGT

RivalGT

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Dec 13, 2017
6,396
What's your audio setup? A mix amp will provide better audio to a headset, but it will be your standard dolby headphone processing. You can use your mixamp with the PS5, just turn off dolby, and then turn on 3d audio on the PS5.
 
manustany

manustany

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Oct 27, 2017
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Yeah, I played Astro, Sackboy and MIles Morales and all three games suffer of bad audio compression. Like, worse than plugging headphones on the DualShock 4. Maybe is just a problem with my unit, but after 2 software updates (and two DualSense), I started to think that this thing isn't working as intended.
 
pswii60

pswii60

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Oct 27, 2017
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The Milky Way
Using it on Miles with headphones, I noticed that the sound effects (for things directly in front of you - center channel) sound a bit like 11khz audio, really lofi and not good. Disabling 3D audio in the PS5 system settings and the sound effects sound great, so it's definitely that. Whilst both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X for headphones (which I've been using on both PC and Xbox for a couple of years now) have no issue in this regard (center channel audio quality) and both sound far better to me overall.

It's early days though and I've no doubt things will improve, but right now I'm wondering why they made such a big deal out of it.
 
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Akronis

Akronis

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Oct 25, 2017
5,451
exodus said:
Nope, no head tracking or any 3D audio whatsoever with those.
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I guess it might just not be for you then. Audeze makes extremely good headphones imo so I wouldn't really say it's the headphones.

Have you had any experience with HRTFs before like Windows Sonic, SBX, or Dolby Headphone?

EDIT: missed that you said you used an Astro Mixamp which I believe is Dolby Headphone. Not sure what the issue could be, although I haven't heard it myself.
 
dralla

dralla

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Oct 27, 2017
2,870
There's already a thread on this and yea, the general consensus is that it's underwhelming
www.resetera.com

Era, what are your impressions of the PS5's "Tempest" 3D Audio?

I picked up my PS5 and one of the things I was most interested in testing out was Tempest audio. I absolutely adore DTS Headphone X over on the PC and Xbox platforms, and the promise of a world class 3D audio solution was a very intriguing one for me. However, after testing it out, my...
www.resetera.com www.resetera.com

It's especially bad in Miles. So much of the detail is lost and it sounds like the audio is under water. Demon's Souls fares better but you still lose so much detail. Demon's Souls sounds incredible when playing in stereo, luckily. I'll be sticking to stereo until they fix it (if they fix it). I'm running my audio through a USB DAC/AMP, not the controller, so that is not the issue.
 
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exodus

exodus

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,949
Shoshi said:
Can you change your ear profile in Settings?
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Yeah I tried a few and I'd say I'm around a 4. Positionally, it's great. Less discrete shifting from left-right, especially when things are behind me. But just taking steps or attacking a wall in Demon's Souls reveals how much detail is lost in the sound. It sounds very muffled.
 
Betelgeuse

Betelgeuse

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Nov 2, 2017
2,941
I've heard folks say 3D audio sounds bad with games that weren't designed for it.

But I've had a really good audio experience with Demon's, Astro, and Bugsnax. Setup is: PS5 -> Lexicon Alpha USB DAC/amp -> Bose QC25.
 
Ferdie

Ferdie

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Jul 16, 2018
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I had the same experience in Spider Man and Astro. Turned it off and using regular stereo.
 
LavaBadger

LavaBadger

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Nov 14, 2017
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I honestly don't get this. I think the sound mixing is great in Demon's Souls and Spiderman Remastered.
 
Captjohnboyd

Captjohnboyd

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Oct 25, 2017
5,569
exodus said:
Eh? K701 are top tier, though they could use an amp for sure. But the HyperX Clouds should be perfectly fine through the controller.

And well the Audeze Penrose are some of the most detailed wireless headphones you can use on the PS5 currently.
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Sorry I missed your post stating the models of phones you were using.
Weird about the Hyper's. I have the hyper cloud and I've noticed an improvement. At least in miles and Astro bot. I haven't actually switched the feature on and off though to see the current difference. I just noticed much more directionality vs the hypers on my PS4 Pro.
 
John Bender

John Bender

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Oct 27, 2017
3,058
exodus said:
I really can't fathom how they expected to wow us with this. Sounds about as good as my Astro mixamp from a decade ago.

Everything is muffled. All detail is lost. It just sounds like I'm listening to the game through a dirty sock over my headphones.

Yeah, this feature is staying off. Any mild improvement to spatial awareness is not worth the gargantuan loss in audio quality.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I have played Demon's Souls and Spider-Man. And PS5's 3D-Audio sounds incredible.
 
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exodus

exodus

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,949
Captjohnboyd said:
Sorry I missed your post stating the models of phones you were using.
Weird about the Hyper's. I have the hyper cloud and I've noticed an improvement. At least in miles and Astro bot. I haven't actually switched the feature on and off though to see the current difference. I just noticed much more directionality vs the hypers on my PS4 Pro.
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I notice the improvement in directionality, but perhaps it's as Cerny said, that if the presets don't magically match your ears that it won't have a profound effect on you. I just notice a slight improvement in directionality, even with open backed headphones. But the loss in quality is readily apparent to me. Sounds like compressing 320kbps to 96kbps.
 
Afrikan

Afrikan

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Oct 28, 2017
16,976
exodus said:
I really can't fathom how they expected to wow us with this. Sounds about as good as my Astro mixamp from a decade ago.

Everything is muffled. All detail is lost. It just sounds like I'm listening to the game through a dirty sock over my headphones.

Yeah, this feature is staying off. Any mild improvement to spatial awareness is not worth the gargantuan loss in audio quality.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

There's a few threads where this could have gone. Hopefully the mods merge this thread.

There's no use of discussions, impressions, and potential solutions being given, only for someone to ignore those...and start a new thread. Imo.
 
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exodus

exodus

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,949
Afrikan said:
There's a few threads where this could have gone. Hopefully the mods merge this thread.

There's no use of discussions, impressions, and potential solutions being given, only for someone to ignore those...and start a new thread. Imo.
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Sorry, I couldn't find the existing thread. I'm fine if mods close this thread.
 
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