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[Bernkastel]

With Xbox One, Microsoft used Spatial Sound to create "Full Audio Immersion"

Spatial sound is an enhanced audio experience where sounds can flow around, above, and below you in a three-dimensional virtual space that simulates a more realistic environment. Spatial sound provides an immersive atmosphere that traditional channel-based surround sound formats cannot replicate. Imagine playing Gears of War 4 and a Raven helicopter flies overhead. With surround sound, you’d hear the helicopter flying around you, but with spatial sound, you’ll hear it flying directly above you.

The Audio Processor Block(APB) present in Xbox One was updated to support Spatial Sound with the release of Xbox One X. But this takes up considerable CPU resources. So, to free up resources for constrained sound engineers, Xbox Series X will have a dedicated audio chip.

Xbox Series X will have a dedicated audio chip, Ninja Theory engineers reveal | VGC

Hardware acceleration could enable 3D audio…

www.videogameschronicle.com

“It’s extremely exciting,” senior sound designer Daniele Galante said of the new console. “We’re going to have a dedicated chip to work with audio, which means we finally won’t have to fight with programmers and artists for memory and CPU power.”
The studio’s audio lead David Garcia added: “We take for granted that graphics are powered by their own video cards. But in audio, we haven’t had anything like that. Now we have some power dedicated to us.”
...
“I really like how Microsoft is giving us more tools to improve the sound and to be more creative,” he said. “Because at the end of the day it’s not a matter of, ‘we want more memory because we are more cool’, we just want to be able to do our jobs without thinking about limitations.
“Making games always has you thinking about technical limitations,” he added. “Eventually these limitations become less and less the more you evolve with new consoles, but at the same time it’s always a constant thing: These are the maximum number of voices we can have, because otherwise the game is going to lag.”

Defining the Next Generation: An Xbox Series X|S Technology Glossary - Xbox Wire

[Editor’s Note: Updated on 10/21 at 11AM to ensure it is now reflective of the capabilities across both of our next-gen Xbox consoles following the unveil of Xbox Series S.] As we enter a new generation of console gaming with Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, we’ve made a number of technology...

news.xbox.com

There are many aspects of audio in Xbox Series X.
Spatial Audio

Spatial Audio – Spatial Audio delivers deeply immersive audio which enables the player to more accurately pinpoint objects in a 3D play space. With full support for Dolby Atmos, DTS:X and Windows Sonic, Xbox Series X has custom audio hardware to offload audio processing from the CPU, dramatically improving the accessibility, quality and performance of these immersive experiences.

As a pure software implementation, Spatial Audio was present on Windows 10 and Hololens since 2015, and on Xbox One using the Audio Processor Block since Xbox One X launch.

Spatial Audio - Microsoft Research

Spatial audio is about creating a 3D audio experience by using headphones, including augmented and virtual reality, listening to music, and watching a movie on a tablet or PC.

www.microsoft.com

On Xbox One X, it supported Windows Sonic, Dolby Atmos, DTS:X and WiSA(no word on WiSA support for Xbox Series X yet, they will probably add it later) and was used by some games like Gears 5.
Windows Sonic is Microsoft's own 3D Audio standard, by the Audio and Acoustics Research Group at Microsoft Research and provides improved HRTF-based spatialization.

Spatial Sound for app developers for Windows, Xbox, and Hololens 2 - Win32 apps

Developer guidance for Microsoft Spatial Sound, Microsoft’s platform-level solution for spatial sound on Xbox, Windows and HoloLens 2, enabling both surround & elevation audio cues.

docs.microsoft.com

Windows Sonic is The Future of Gaming Audio

You should try out Microsoft’s free spatial headphone audio system

xander51.medium.com

Audio Ray Tracing
Similar to Image Ray Tracing, which traces the path of light waves, Audio Ray Tracing can trace the path of Sound Waves.

Jason R:
And now with the introduction of hardware accelerated Ray tracing with the Xbox series X, we're actually able to enable a whole new set of scenarios, whether that's more realistic lighting, better reflections, we can even use it for things like spatial audio and have Ray trace audio so that.
...
Larry Hryb:
Ray tracing audio is the first time I've heard that's interesting.

Jason R:
Absolutely. Absolutely. And that's the thing is what we're really focused on is really driving that next level of immersion.

Larry Hryb:
Yeah.

Jason R:
In your gaming experiences. And that imply, that applies to both the visuals as well as the audio experience that you have.

Larry Hryb:
Yeah, right. I mean Ray tracing is one of those things where people, it's tough to, I mean obviously we're in an audio format, here's a podcast. It's tough to describe but you need to really see it and the texture and just makes scenes and areas just come to life. Right,

Jason R:
Exactly, exactly. And with spatial audio a huge part of it as well as just really putting you in the Play space environment really understanding where the enemies are or being just that much more immersed.

Audio Ray Tracing is part of Xbox Series X's Hardware Accelerated DirectX Raytracing

Hardware Accelerated DirectX Raytracing (DXR) – From improved lighting, shadows and reflections as well as more realistic acoustics and spatial audio, raytracing enables developers to create more physically accurate worlds. For the very first time in a game console, Xbox Series X includes support for high performance, hardware accelerated raytracing. Xbox Series X uses a custom-designed GPU leveraging the latest innovation from our partners at AMD and built in collaboration with the same team who developed DirectX Raytracing. Developers will be able to deliver incredibly immersive visual and audio experiences using the same techniques on PC and beyond.

Project Acoustics
Project Acoustics is an acoustics engine that Microsoft has been working on since 2012.

Project Acoustics – Incubated over a decade by Microsoft Research, Project Acoustics accurately models sound propagation physics in mixed reality and games, employed by many AAA experiences today. It is unique in simulating wave effects like diffraction in complex scene geometries without straining CPU, enabling a much more immersive and lifelike auditory experience. Plug-in support for both the Unity and Unreal game engines empower the sound designer with expressive controls to mold reality. Developers will be able to easily leverage Project Acoustics with Xbox Series X through the addition of a new custom audio hardware block.

Project Acoustics Overview - Microsoft Game Dev

Project Acoustics is an acoustics engine for 3D interactive experiences, integrating baked wave physics simulation with interactive design controls.

docs.microsoft.com

Project Acoustics is a wave acoustics engine for 3D interactive experiences. It models wave effects like occlusion, obstruction, portaling and reverberation effects in complex scenes without requiring manual zone markup or CPU intensive raytracing. It also includes game engine and audio middleware integration. Project Acoustics' philosophy is similar to static lighting: bake detailed physics offline to provide a physical baseline, and use a lightweight runtime with expressive design controls to meet your artistic goals for the acoustics of your virtual world.

GitHub - microsoft/ProjectAcoustics: Microsoft Project Acoustics

Microsoft Project Acoustics. Contribute to microsoft/ProjectAcoustics development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

Listen to the sound of innovation calling.

Our goal is to create audio experiences that seamlessly blend virtual content and reality by improving the acoustic estimation and rendering technology for the full range of physical environments in which humans live, work, and play

www.microsoft.com

Xbox Wireless Headset

Game loud and clear with the all-new Xbox Wireless Headset, featuring auto-mute and voice isolation for crystal-clear chat, intuitive design, and direct pairing to your console.

Best-in-class audio performance Experience high quality audio with a low-latency, 100% wireless connection to your Xbox console, without the need for a dongle or a base station. Supports spatial sound technologies including Windows Sonic, Dolby Atmos, and DTS Headphone:X for realism and audio precision that fully surrounds you.
Comfortable & intuitive designBest-in-class audio performance Play comfortably for hours with the ultra-soft earcups, lightweight design, and customizable fit. The rotating earcup dials of the new Xbox Wireless Headset provide an intuitive way to change volume and game/chat balance. Quickly adjust and get back to the game. Fully adjustable mic tucks up and out of the way when not in use.
Crystal clear chat Voice isolation focuses the mic on your voice to reduce background noise. And when you aren’t talking, the auto-mute feature automatically mutes your microphone so you keep comms channels clear, while the manual mute button gives you a privacy option when you need it.
Tailored to you Use the Xbox Accessories app to fine-tune the audio controls, including equalizer settings, bass boost, auto-mute sensitivity, and mic-monitoring levels. Pair directly to your console with Xbox Wireless radio without the need for a dongle, cable, or base station and connect to your mobile device with Bluetooth® to listen to music or chat while on the go.

Specifications​

What’s in the box	Xbox Wireless Headset USB-C charging cable (14 inches long)
System Requirements	For use with Xbox X|S, Xbox One, and Windows 10 devices. On supported consoles, some voice chat features may require Xbox Game Pass Ultimate or Xbox Live Gold (memberships sold separately). Windows 10 use requires Bluetooth 4.2+, Xbox Wireless adapter or compatible USB-C cable. Each sold separately.
Materials	Headband: inner steel metal band with foam cushioning Ear cushions: oval design with polyurethane leather and foam cushioning
Microphones	Mic design: bendable boom with dual mics and Illuminated LED when mic is on
Speakers	Speaker size: 40mm Speaker material: Paper composite diaphragm and neodymium magnet Speaker Impedance: 32 ohm Speaker Response: 20Hz - 20kHz
Controls	Buttons: power/pair, mute, game/chat audio balance dial (left earcup), volume dial (right earcup).
Bluetooth​	Bluetooth version: 4.2 (A2DP, HFP, HSP) Codec: SBC
Battery​	Internal, rechargeable lithium-ion battery with up to 15 hours of battery life per charge. 30 minutes of charging provides about 4 hours of battery life and recharges to full battery life in about 3 hours when headset is not in use.
Weight​	11 oz (312g)
Virtual Surround Sound​	Supports Spatial Sound technologies like Windows Sonic, Dolby Atmos, and DTS Headphone:X on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One
Xbox Accessories app​	Adjust equalizer settings, bass boost, auto-mute, LED brightness, and mic monitoring

https://assets.ctfassets.net/8cd2csgvqd3m/dlIiNLYP20nx0l9pqJYKZ/19925d7a525363dad491cbf5a73b9566/Press_release_Bang___Olufsen_and_Xbox_partner_up_to_deliver_high-end_audio_proposition_for_gaming__.pdf

 

[Bernkastel]

More on Spatial Audio


More on Audio Ray Tracing

Wayverb - Ray tracer

reuk.github.io

DevBlog #5 The Missing Few - Ray Traced Audio news

DevBlog #5 The Missing Few - Ray Traced Audio. Today we are showing off our implementation of Stochastic Ray Casted Spatial Sound.

www.indiedb.com

More on Project Acoustics

Project Triton - Immersive sound propagation - Microsoft Research

Project Triton models immersive sound propagation for games and mixed reality, accurately modeling wave effects like diffraction in complex 3D scenes.

www.microsoft.com

Project Triton and the physics of sound with Dr. Nikunj Raghuvanshi

Dr. Nikunj Raghuvanshi wants you to hear how sound really travels â in rooms, behind walls, out doors â and heâs using computational physics to do it. Discover Project Triton on the Microsoft Research Podcast, an acoustic system that models how real sound waves behave in 3-D game environments.

www.microsoft.com

https://cdn.gearsofwar.com/thecoalition/publications/Raghuvanshi_Nikunj_Gears_Of_War.pdf

Hey guys thought I would shim in since my studio is currently implementing Project Acoustics in our game, here is a devlog where you can listen how it sound (use headphones)



Project acoustics is not raycast based in any way. At baketime they simulate how waves propagate the scene, this is much more complex than raycsting, a light ray survives a few bounces and can't not bend around corners.

Thanks to a physics phenomenon called diffraction a sound wave that hits a corner will create a new source for vibration to propagate around said corner.

This would be very expensive todo at runtime and also impossible todo with same fidelity, this is why raycsting solutions take shortcuts, here an exammple with Steam Audio, for example when i walk back and forth in that doorway the propagation is very uneven and the sound changes alot in character just by moving a little

Project acoustics simulates how a sound propagate from predefined points placed by the framework. this simulation takes days or weeks on a single machine (took 10 days on my AMD 3950x for a small/medium sized scene) so you offload it to the cloud. Costs about 50 to 200 USD depending on scene. Anyway this produces a dataset of a few hundred megabytes that is streamed into the memory depending on where the listener are,they then interpolate between points to get a perfect dataset for exactly the acoustics between the listener and audio source at a very little CPU cost

Scorn Interview - Xbox Series X Is a 'Very Balanced System'; Trailer Was Running on an RTX 2080Ti

We talk to the Game Director of Scorn. He claims that the Xbox Series X is a very balanced system and clarifies the GPU used in the trailer.

wccftech.com

Will explore Project Acoustics in the future.

More from Microsoft's Audio and Acoustics group

Parametric Wave Field Coding for Precomputed Sound Propagation - Microsoft Research

The acoustic wave field in a complex scene is a chaotic 7D function of time and the positions of source and listener, making it difficult to compress and interpolate. This hampers precomputed approaches which tabulate impulse responses (IRs) to allow immersive, real-time sound propagation in...

www.microsoft.com

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/uploads/prod/2016/10/ParametricWaveField.pdf

Parametric Wave Field Coding for Precomputed Sound Propagation - Microsoft Research

The acoustic wave field in a complex scene is a chaotic 7D function of time and the positions of source and listener, making it difficult to compress and interpolate. This hampers precomputed approaches which tabulate impulse responses (IRs) to allow immersive, real-time sound propagation in...

www.microsoft.com

Audio and Acoustics Research Group - Microsoft Research

The Audio and Acoustics group conducts research in audio processing and speech enhancement, 3D audio perception and technologies, devices for audio capture and rendering, array processing, information extraction from audio signals.

www.microsoft.com

From Hot Chips 2020

 

[SatansReverence]

Another quality op with heaps of info!

It's still going to be upto developers to put the effort in but I think audio has a bright future in the next gen.

 

[zeroFiveNine]

I'm not convinced.

Windows Sonic sounded like complete shit to me (on PC with headphones). Same with that Dolby processing, the Razer implementation and Sennheiser's. These all just turn the sound into an overprocessed mess.

Maybe every game needs to have exact support for this type of sound recording. I hope it works out.

 

[darkinstinct]

"Used by many games like Gears 5". 14. 14 games on Xbox One support it. Out of 1.744. And every Xbox to date has had a dedicated audio chip, the issue has always been shared RAM constraints and not fighting for CPU time (only secondary, because you have to move the sound data into RAM, for which you require CPU resources).

Dolby Atmos is great - if you like headphones. On a standard 5.1 setup (well, standard is actually 2.0 from the TV itself, followed by 2.1 soundbars) the effect is mild.

 

[Bernkastel]

"Used by many games like Gears 5". 14. 14 games on Xbox One support it. Out of 1.744. And every Xbox to date has had a dedicated audio chip, the issue has always been shared RAM constraints and not fighting for CPU time (only secondary, because you have to move the sound data into RAM, for which you require CPU resources).

Dolby Atmos is great - if you like headphones. On a standard 5.1 setup (well, standard is actually 2.0 from the TV itself, followed by 2.1 soundbars) the effect is mild.

And every Xbox to date has had a dedicated audio chip,

No they dont

We’re going to have a dedicated chip to work with audio, which means we finally won’t have to fight with programmers and artists for memory and CPU power.

Its more like a audio processing block in the cpu.

 

[Bernkastel]

I'm not convinced.

Windows Sonic sounded like complete shit to me (on PC with headphones). Same with that Dolby processing, the Razer implementation and Sennheiser's. These all just turn the sound into an overprocessed mess.

Maybe every game needs to have exact support for this type of sound recording. I hope it works out.

Enabling Windows Sonic on Windows 10, just resamples output audio to that format using whatever CPU/GPU you have. Xbox Series X will have dedicated hardware for it, with games built with Spatial Sound in mind.

 

[Panajev2001a]

No they dont

Atleast not Xbox One, I couldnt find anything about it having a dedicated audio chip.

Would this count? This is Xbox One tech data (look at the Durango VGLeaks article below too, this is not XSX):

• https://www.neogaf.com/threads/xbox...y-examples-of-good-utilization-so-far.988271/
• https://vgleaks.com/durango-sound-of-tomorrow/
• https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-the-complete-xbox-one-interview (audio block mentions)

 

[kuncol02]

Looks like we are finally on track with real 3d audio. It only taken 20 years since Creative Labs destroyed Aureal Semiconductors and bought remainings with all patents related with HRTF.

 

[Bernkastel]

Would this count?

• https://www.neogaf.com/threads/xbox...y-examples-of-good-utilization-so-far.988271/
• https://vgleaks.com/durango-sound-of-tomorrow/
• https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-the-complete-xbox-one-interview (audio block mentions)

This seems like the APU has dedicated audio processing blocks and for whatever reason cant find about it being present on Xbox One X

What kind of sound card does xbox one X have?

It sounds really clear when I put my optical line from my sound bar to my xbox one X instead of my TV. Im pretty sure my tv doesn't have that great of a sound car considering it's a just a 4k tv. but

answers.microsoft.com

Still very different from Xbox Series X, where audio processing is handled separately by a dedicated hardware.

 

[Area61]

So in a nutshell PS5 and XbSX both will have 3d audio? This is just like any other generation of console release scenario lol. Both almost identically same apart from their games.

 

[Panajev2001a]

This seems like the APU has dedicated audio processing blocks and for whatever reason is absent in Xbox One X

What kind of sound card does xbox one X have?

It sounds really clear when I put my optical line from my sound bar to my xbox one X instead of my TV. Im pretty sure my tv doesn't have that great of a sound car considering it's a just a 4k tv. but

answers.microsoft.com

Still very different from Xbox Series X, where audio processing is handled by a Sound Card equivalent.

Or maybe the documentation of the Xbox One X there is incomplete in that forum answer? It sounds a bit more likely to have incomplete forum answers than an entire HW block of not trivial performance being removed to software only when the CPU got only a small performance boost over the base Xbox One S CPU.
That would be way more reasonable IMHO.

I fail, beside acknowledging the new solution must be improved and dealing with more complex algorithms, to see the difference in your description of the HW block in the XSX vs what Durango/Xbox One had.

 

[NXGamer]

No they dont

Atleast not Xbox One, I couldnt find anything about it having a dedicated audio chip.

They do , they both have. What is being offered here is enhanced with a DSP like processing but we really need to see and hear more to see what this offers and how much in empowers devs, the same for the PS5 Tempest engine but being a SPU in all but name with the DMA access it has been thought through with no CPU time required.

Does the Series X have DMA within its Audio chip design, I am still reading up on this at moment?

EDIT: Hotchips above post is it.

 

[Panajev2001a]

So in a nutshell PS5 and XbSX both will have 3d audio? This is just like any other generation of console release scenario lol. Both almost identically same apart from their games.

Yes, as time goes on and we see more and more of the architecture explored in depth we can see how they compare. Sony really was beating its chest regarding the Tempest Engine and the modified CU they made available to audio and general processing and attached to the CPU as a dedicated vector DSP of old, they both seem to have spent a good amount of transistors on it .

 

[jimbojim]

So in a nutshell PS5 and XbSX both will have 3d audio? This is just like any other generation of console release scenario lol. Both almost identically same apart from their games.

Similar maybe. But i think audio chip in PS5 is a bit more advanced.

 

[kuncol02]

Similar maybe. But i think audio chip in PS5 is a bit more advanced.

And you think that because what? They shown only one thing about their audio system. More than 20 years old technology thrown into limbo by Creative Labs, which finally is free from patents.

 

[mrBarrelNut]

Similar maybe. But i think audio chip in PS5 is a bit more advanced.

What makes you think so?

current X1 has more advanced audio capabilities than PS4, why would things be any different next gen? Microsoft has been investing heavily into spatial (i.e. 3D) and ray traced audio.

 

[Bernkastel]

They do , they both have and PS4. What is being offered here is enhanced with a DSP like processing but we really need to see and hear more to see what this offers and how much in empowers devs, the same for the PS5 Tempest engine but being a SPU in all but name with the DMA access it has been thought through with no CPU time required.

Does the Series X have DMA within its Audio chip design, I am still reading up on this at moment?

Direct Memory Access access(DMA acess)? Considering they want less CPU intervention and that most Sound Cards have DMA, I dont know why you would assume it wont have DMA.

 

[Bernkastel]

Similar maybe. But i think audio chip in PS5 is a bit more advanced.

Thats like those next gen speculation threads and teraflop wars before Xbox Series X/PS5 reveal. And we all know how they went.

 

[jimbojim]

Thats like those next gen speculation threads and teraflop wars before Xbox Series X/PS5 reveal. And we all know how they went.

Just like yours thread too.

 

[jimbojim]

What makes you think so?

current X1 has more advanced audio capabilities than PS4, why would things be any different next gen? Microsoft has been investing heavily into spatial (i.e. 3D) and ray traced audio.

If X1 has more advanced audio, then PS5 can have it too. Same thing, PS4 has more TF than X1. Why things would be any different. /s

 

[Bernkastel]

Just like yours thread too.

There is no mention of PS5 in my thread though. Nothing here is speculation either, I just made a thread on everything we know about audio in XSX.

 

[Bernkastel]

If X1 has more advanced audio, then PS5 can have it too. Same thing, PS4 has more TF than X1. Why things would be any different. /s

No it does not. X1X has more advanced audio though.

 

[martino]

Similar maybe. But i think audio chip in PS5 is a bit more advanced.

same here

 

[jimbojim]

There is no mention of PS5 in my thread though. Nothing here is speculation either, I just made a thread on everything we know about audio in XSX.

No it does not. X1X has more advanced audio though.

Are you something like PR for MS? Discord member? What are you trying to prove?

You've opened very similar thread 2 months ago :

Project Acoustics - Wave acoustics engine for 3D interactive experiences by Microsoft

If you want to read more about this https://github.com/microsoft/ProjectAcoustics https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cognitive-services/acoustics/what-is-acoustics Project Acoustics is a wave acoustics engine for 3D interactive experiences. It models wave effects like occlusion, obstruction...

www.neogaf.com

Btw. i wasn't the first who mentioned PS5 in this thread.

 

[darkinstinct]

I couldnt find any documentation on Xbox One S/X or PS4 having any dedicated audio processing hardware. Whatever the Xbox One had was removed with the S/X models.
Direct Memory Access access(DMA acess)? Considering they want less CPU intervention and that most Sound Cards have DMA, I dont know why you would assume it wont have DMA.

Are you serious right now? The same audio block that sits in Xbox One is in One S and One X. How do you suggest games designed for Xbox One would run on One S if you took away part of the audio hardware?

 

[Bernkastel]

Are you serious right now? The same audio block that sits in Xbox One is in One S and One X. How do you suggest games designed for Xbox One would run on One S if you took away part of the audio hardware?

Its not some hardware accelerated dedicated audio standard. It was just processing audio with separate blocks.

 

[Bernkastel]

Are you something like PR for MS? Discord member? What are you trying to prove?

You've opened very similar thread 2 months ago :

Project Acoustics - Wave acoustics engine for 3D interactive experiences by Microsoft

If you want to read more about this https://github.com/microsoft/ProjectAcoustics https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cognitive-services/acoustics/what-is-acoustics Project Acoustics is a wave acoustics engine for 3D interactive experiences. It models wave effects like occlusion, obstruction...

www.neogaf.com

Btw. i wasn't the first who mentioned PS5 in this thread.

Who said I needed your permission to open threads? This is a complete thread on Xbox Series X audio capabilities.

 

[NXGamer]

I couldnt find any documentation on Xbox One S/X or PS4 having any dedicated audio processing hardware. Whatever the Xbox One had was removed with the S/X models.
Direct Memory Access access(DMA acess)? Considering they want less CPU intervention and that most Sound Cards have DMA, I dont know why you would assume it wont have DMA.

It is above, they do.

Also I was not assuming it does not, I am learning how it is configured and more info is all. Based on you being the OP I was merely asking as you may know?

 

[Bernkastel]

It is above, they do.

Also I was not assuming it does not, I am learning how it is configured and more info is all. Based on you being the OP I was merely asking as you may know?

If I knew, it would be in the OP. In addition to everything in the first two posts, we have this(he does not work in the audio department though)

 

[Rikkori]

I really hope the promise of audio doesn't end up being just another marketing point. I'm not so hopeful, because Sony seems to be focusing on headphones mostly, but at least Microsoft does deliver for us surround sound people with some of their first party titles. Right now, if you have more than a 5.1 setup it pretty much gets wasted, and even the surround speakers don't see as much use as you'd hope for. I really want to upgrade my main setup to 7.2.4 but need more titles to take advantage of it.

 

[kuncol02]

I really hope the promise of audio doesn't end up being just another marketing point. I'm not so hopeful, because Sony seems to be focusing on headphones mostly, but at least Microsoft does deliver for us surround sound people with some of their first party titles. Right now, if you have more than a 5.1 setup it pretty much gets wasted, and even the surround speakers don't see as much use as you'd hope for. I really want to upgrade my main setup to 7.2.4 but need more titles to take advantage of it.

If you want REAL 3d audio, then you need to trow away your setup and invest in headphones. Old Barber Shop demo is miles above anything you can achieve with any surround system in terms of 3d audio and it works on cheapest headphones.
Check Steam Audio demo from while ago:


And thats software solution. Some people are waiting literally decades for that technology to come back into mainstream.

 

[Rikkori]

If you want REAL 3d audio, then you need to trow away your setup and invest in headphones. Old Barber Shop demo is miles above anything you can achieve with any surround system in terms of 3d audio and it works on cheapest headphones.
Check Steam Audio demo from while ago:


And thats software solution. Some people are waiting literally decades for that technology to come back into mainstream.

Demos don't impress me, and also you're discounting the added benefit of being in a soundspace and not having speakers strapped to your head. HRTF demos sound convincing but I put them way below surround sound setups in terms of immersion. In particular, the problem with all the demos (in any domain) is they're very specific to what they demonstrate and especially when they select only the bits that sound good, i.e. you're not gonna get an effect as convincing when it comes to other sounds & scenarios. So yes, in the context of a barber shop and the scissors it's very convincing but if you try to do that with the sort of sound scenarios you'd have in a game, it will sound a lot less convincing.

That's why when you test out actual games that have incredibly good mixing for both headphones and surround (eg Division 2), surround still is above it by a long way.

 

[fybyfyby]

If it will be binaural audio with hrtf profiling (like Sony promises) - then good job!
Another thing is hardware sound processing. Something, what is missing also on modern PCs.

 

[TGO]

Every other day it's like

 

[ZywyPL]

I think the sound will, as always, come down to the sound design by the the individual developers - back in the day we had CoD, KZ, and BFBC, all running on the exact same systems, with vastly different results, or Forza vs GT. Granted, back in those days LCD TVs were rather thick, with decently sized speaker up front, as oppose to today's tiny speakers that are located on the back of the TVs, so I guess dedicated sound setup, be it soundbar, surround sound, or headphones, will be more crucial than ever to experience good sound quality no matter how well it'll be implemented, but at the end of the day it good sound will be fully determined by the people who make it, those devs who will want to put a lot of effort into sound department will have the tools, the hardware, whereas the games where devs will want to just put some simple, generic sounds will sound exactly like that. hardware always mush go in pain with the software.

 

[Dory16]

Are you something like PR for MS? Discord member? What are you trying to prove?

You've opened very similar thread 2 months ago :

Project Acoustics - Wave acoustics engine for 3D interactive experiences by Microsoft

If you want to read more about this https://github.com/microsoft/ProjectAcoustics https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cognitive-services/acoustics/what-is-acoustics Project Acoustics is a wave acoustics engine for 3D interactive experiences. It models wave effects like occlusion, obstruction...

www.neogaf.com

Btw. i wasn't the first who mentioned PS5 in this thread.

Let's ignore the content (all factual by the way) and investigate the poster shall we? Very mature.

 

[phil_t98]

I think the sound will, as always, come down to the sound design by the the individual developers - back in the day we had CoD, KZ, and BFBC, all running on the exact same systems, with vastly different results, or Forza vs GT. Granted, back in those days LCD TVs were rather thick, with decently sized speaker up front, as oppose to today's tiny speakers that are located on the back of the TVs, so I guess dedicated sound setup, be it soundbar, surround sound, or headphones, will be more crucial than ever to experience good sound quality no matter how well it'll be implemented, but at the end of the day it good sound will be fully determined by the people who make it, those devs who will want to put a lot of effort into sound department will have the tools, the hardware, whereas the games where devs will want to just put some simple, generic sounds will sound exactly like that. hardware always mush go in pain with the software.

I do think tv size is a big factor. When plasmas were a thing they were fair thick panels so decent speakers fitted into the tv. Now TVs are getting thinner and thinner and speaker tech hasn’t changed at all, the bigger the speaker cone the better the sounds. That’s were sound bars come into it but they are also smaller speaker woofers and dont produce great sound as well, yes they have subs with them to give bass but there is always that midrange missing.

The best way now is still to have a good amp and speaker setup still. Gonna be interesting to see what these audio chips do, will they just work with standard atmos or will they have to bring out a new audio codec .

3D sound using standard tv speakers will never be any good in my opinion once you have heard a full proper atmos setup

 

[TGO]

Let's ignore the content (all factual by the way) and investigate the poster shall we? Very mature.

 

[Panajev2001a]

Whatever the Xbox One had was removed with the S/X models

I doubt that to be the case (what else took its place?!), but do you have a link to support that? Sorry, just curious...

 

[martino]

Let's ignore the content (all factual by the way) and investigate the poster shall we? Very mature.

it's how you recognize them
pages of ad hominem speculation !

 

[Bernkastel]

I doubt that to be the case (what else took its place?!), but do you have a link to support that? Sorry, just curious...

Ok, I admit I was wrong. After some digging it seems like they removed the functionality of the audio processing block and replaced it with Spatial Sound.

Inside the next Xbox: Project Scorpio tech revealed

Digital Foundry has the specs, has seen it running, and has talked to the people who built it.

www.eurogamer.net

The audio processor in Xbox One is fully transplanted across to Scorpio and gains new functionality - spatial surround, effectively adding a 'height' component to the existing 7.1 set-up. Scorpio is set to receive support for Dolby Atmos for gaming, Dolby Atmos for headphones plus a Microsoft proprietary format called HRTF, developed by the Hololens team. Because the APB (audio processor block) hardware is basically identical to that found in Xbox One, it means that all existing iterations of the console will get the spatial surround upgrade.

For whatever they stopped talking about and like it does not exist anymore(even Microsoft employees).
Update : I have updated the OP, the APB was updated to implement Spatial Sound when Xbox One X released.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Has audio ever sold a console? No but it's getting the spot light this generation.

 

[skneogaf]

Dolby atmos in games is absolutely amazing on my 7.2.4 sound setup. I'm looking forward to hearing the next generation of sound from both systems.

 

[Bernkastel]

[removed]

 

[Starhowl]

I hope it's gonna be possible to connect external audio processors like those from Creative Labs with Xbox Series X, since there won't be an optical output anymore.

 

[M1chl]

I hope it's gonna be possible to connect external audio processors like those from Creative Labs with Xbox Series X, since there won't be an optical output anymore.

Splitters exist and also does not TVs have also one?

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

It's awesome that the audio enthusiasts are in for a treat next gen. I almost always game with a nice headset I can't wait to hear the difference with these consoles.

I didn't know "audio ray tracing was a thing" before a month ago or so

 

[SoloKingRobert]

Similar maybe. But i think audio chip in PS5 is a bit more advanced.

Kewl bro, please provide me any gameplay or Source Sony showed using 3d audio? I though not.

 

[jimbojim]

Kewl bro, please provide me any gameplay or Source Sony showed using 3d audio? I though not.

Try PSVR games