Enhance Your Gaming Experience: Understanding 3D Audio on the PS5

With the release of the PlayStation 5, there’s been plenty of chatter about the console’s upgraded audio capabilities. The PS5 touts a new system architecture designed to bring a greater level of immersion to the audio experience. 3D audio gives you immersive surround sound that makes you feel like you're inside the game. With realistic audio, you can actually hear footsteps from the exact direction that an enemy is approaching.

Developed for the PS5, Sony’s 3D audio uses an object-based system to place virtual objects in 3D space around the user. You won’t be needing those up-firing speakers to experience Sony 3D audio. Rather than adopt or build on an existing standard such as Dolby Atmos or DTS:X, Sony created its own competing system from the ground up.

PS5 3D Audio: How It Works and How to Set It Up

Since all the processing is built-in, no special external hardware is necessary. Sony 3D audio will work over your existing TV speakers, a stereo, 5.1 or 7.1 system, or preferably, headphones, which convey the effect of 3D audio most dramatically. The developers position game sounds in 3D space around the player to reflect where those sounds should be, relative to the player and the screen in front. This provides increased “presence and locality,” in Sony’s words.

Sony clearly spent a lot of time developing its Tempest audio engine and the results of the PlayStation 5’s 3D audio are indeed impressive. At this time it is most effective over headphones, which is clearly where the company focused the majority of its research. How well the effect works over speakers will depend on your speaker setup and on your room. Performance over speakers, in their various possible configurations, is expected to improve over time with future updates.

Additionally, Sony has hinted at plans to roll out further refinements to the HRTF options, with the potential for customized or even fully personalized HRTFs in the future.

Understanding HRTF

The term HRTF refers to the effect our shoulders, head, and outer ears have on sound waves coming from different sources before they encounter our eardrums. Those physical interactions impact the timing, levels, and phase relationships of the different frequency content of the sounds we hear. As part of our hearing system, our brains are able to decode all those changes to decipher where the sound likely originated in the space around us.

If you were to place tiny microphones inside your ears and make a recording, it would include the effect of your personal HRTF. You would have a binaural recording that would work perfectly for you if you played it back over headphones, but it wouldn’t work quite as well for anyone else.

Setting up 3D Audio on Your PS5

Find out how to enhance your PlayStation®5 console audio by making the sound three-dimensional.

3D Audio for Headphones

How to set up 3D audio for headphones on PS5 consoles: Listen to sounds played at different positions and angles to create an audio profile tailored to your hearing. There are two ways to create a profile:

• Create a personalized 3D audio profile: Measure how you hear 3D audio to create an optimized experience.
• Select from 3D audio presets: Select from 5 preset settings for an easy way to enjoy 3D audio.

1. Go to Settings > Sound.
2. Select 3D Audio (Headphones) > Create Personalized 3D Audio Profile and follow the on-screen instructions.
3. Listen to sounds and answer questions about the position and direction of the sound to set up your personalized 3D audio profile.

Once your personalized 3D audio profile is created you can enable Apply Personalized 3D Audio Profile. When you turn off this setting, the preset 3D audio profile will be used for 3D audio.

The next time you select Settings > Sound > 3D Audio (Headphones) and turn on Enable 3D Audio for Headphones, stereo audio switches to 3D audio.

3D Audio for TV Speakers

How to set up 3D audio for your TV speakers: Use your TV speakers and the built-in mic on your wireless controller to measure your room acoustics. Sit in the same position you would when you normally use your PS5 console.

1. Go to Settings > Sound.
2. Select 3D Audio (TV) and follow the on-screen instructions to adjust the optimal 3D audio setting based on the measurement results.
3. After measurement is complete, you can listen to and compare both stereo audio and 3D audio to see which you prefer.

The next time you select Settings > Sound > 3D Audio (TV) and turn on Enable 3D Audio for TV Speakers, stereo audio switches to 3D audio. When you turn off this setting, 3D audio switches to stereo audio.

Whenever you change the position of your TV, your seating, or the room environment, you should measure your room acoustics again.

Troubleshooting 3D Audio with TV Speakers

If you're having difficulty hearing the effects of 3D audio or you’d like to improve it, try the following:

• Check that nothing is blocking the TV speakers.
• If Apply 3D Audio Measurement Results is turned off, sit in front and center of your TV.
• Watch your TV at a distance suitable for its size. Check with your TV's manufacturer for the recommended distance.
• Disable any sound quality adjustment functions for your TV, such as surround sound.
• The volume may change depending on the 3D audio effect. In this case, adjust the volume of your TV.

The Verdict on PS5 3D Audio

Whether Sony 3D audio is considered a good thing or not really depends on where you’re coming from. If you’re a gamer who prefers using headphones, this is all great and definitely something to be happy about. You don’t even need to buy a new gaming headset to enjoy the feature.

If you rely on your TV’s speakers, stereo speakers, a 5.1, or 7.1 system for gaming, you should also be happy: the PS5 can use them. The console’s processing might even breathe new life into your existing setup, as it lets you fine-tune your speaker configuration and placement in the PS5 audio output menu.

If you recently shelled out some big bucks on upgrading your TV sound with Dolby Atmos and/or DTS:X capabilities, you’ll probably be disappointed. The PS5 doesn’t fully utilize those systems.

If you’re just an interested observer with no real interest in actually buying a PlayStation 5, the important thing to understand about all this is there’s now another 3D surround sound format out there. It might be superior, but it doesn’t play nicely with the competition. Clearly, Sony is coming out swinging for another format war.