PS5's 3D Audio Will Almost Certainly Work with Your Existing Headphones

So there won't be a real option for BT headsets?

At last, some positive news. Missed them.

My Sony headphones already support virtual 3D audio, which can be absolutely insane with live recordings. Fingers crossed they work well with PS5 because I’m really excited for 3D audio!

Cool, I literally just got a pair of Astro A50’s so I’m hoping it works

Glad I bought a Platinum headset in an amazon sale, that should be great. I would love it if they updated Alien: Isolation to take advantage of this 3D audio (and the dualsense controller actually), that would be brilliant.... even if it did mean i had to do a bit more laundry!

Never really thought about 3D audio but I might just give it a go with my brand-spanking new Bose headset.

@Ha1frican They announced they’ll release an Optical-HDMI adapter sometime this month and will be discounted for Astro users upon proof of ownership.

@get2sammyb Optical jack and USB. Seems like we’ll need to get a new adapter from Astro which they’ll announce later this month for $30 iirc. I believe there’s going to be a discount for current headset owners too.

@get2sammyb Nope, I have a pair of stupidly expensive XM-3 headphones, which I got for £50 secondhand when they retailed at the time for almost as much as a PS5 does now. They absolutely have the capability for 3D Audio but it remains to be seen whether Sony would rather plug their Pulse headset.

3D Audio is insanely good. I think I’ll have to get some dedicated headphones though. Oh, and on a related note, do we know whether PS5 will let us pair Bluetooth headphones? Strange the PS4 doesn’t allow it.

@get2sammyb optical cable, but they will be selling an HDMI adapter to they will connect to PS5

Glad this has finally been confirmed that any headset will work (as it should).

3D Audio is fantastic, been enjoying it on Xbox for a while now on supported games and it really does make a huge difference!

I have the new headset on order but its great to hear the ones we have will be able to take advantage. Good news!

In the last week, both hinges on my Platinum headset have snapped. Its as if there's a timer inside them, forcing me to buy the shiny new Pulse headset.

I couldn't snag the headphones on pre order but I intend to purchase them as soon as possible. Will my Playstation Gold headset work on the PS5 via the same dongle I have to use on the PS4?

Hope they support real surround sound, I haven't seen anything to say they'll be using established standards.

I have the PS4 2.0 headphones, are they compatible?

Sweet, I'll cancel my pulse pre order and get another game for now then!
Thats if it'll be compatible with the playstation 2.0 earphones?

The platinum headset is a cheaply made overpriced, uncomfortable and fimsy piece of garbage. Biggest waste of a hundred pounds this gen for me. It may slightly redeem itself with 3d audio but unfortunately after half an hour they start to hurt the top of your skull and make your head hot.
That's why I'm avoiding the pulse, they look far too similar and I'd rather buy some proper cans from a specialist manufacturer.

Hopefully my Steelseries7 headphones are compatible!

My Pulse Elite headset for the PS3 - I hope it’ll work too!

@get2sammyb

Been waiting on clarification on this, so thanks for the article Sammy. You just saved me $100.

@Dan_ozzzy189

I'm not an audio expert by any means but I've liked the Platinum for the year or so I've had it. They do get uncomfortable after about 2 hours for me but I've never found a pair of headphones that didn't. I was always told they aren't the best but are good for the price.

Do you have any recommendations for a better wireless headset in that price range? I'd be willing to even pay a bit more if I knew they were good, but I'm not into wired setups unfortunately.

Did anyone else notice the 3D audio when Miles walked through the market at the beginning of the Spider-Man demo? Thought it was so cool!

@mwatcher

The Pulse Elite... wasn't that the one that had rumble built in and vibrated with the sound? Always wanted a pair just for the novelty factor alone but never took the plunge.

I've got the Pulse 3D headset on order for my fist real experience of 3D audio and I'll give Resident Evil 2 another go with them to hear where Mr X is stomping about

@Mergatro1d

You might mean the Gold Headset. The Platinum doesn't have hinges. I know the hinges breaking is a legacy issue for the Gold and many people (including myself) ran into the same problem.

@thefourfoldroot @Joker22Hero
Bluetooth support?! Probably not happening. It's highly likely sony and MS won't support bluetooth headphones at all because bluetooth does not support high quality stereo audio with a microphone. When you use a microphone the bluetooth profile switches from A2DP (high quality stereo profile) to HSP and you're limited to 64kbps audio up and down. It's fine for bluetooth headphones where you can use the A2DP profile while listening to music and the headphones switch to the HSP profile when you receive a call, so you never have to suffer through 64kbps music and wonder why your $200 headphones sound like $10 90's earbuds.

But in a game console where chat and game audio is mixed it doesn't make any sense to switch profiles all the time, so you'd have to use the HSP profile at all times and the sound quality would be terrible.

So instead both sony and MS decided not to support bluetooth headphones on this gen, and it's not likely to change since 7 years later bluetooth STILL doesn't support high quality stereo audio+mic. Any wireless headphones you use on PS4/Xbox one are NOT using bluetooth, not because both sony and ms are greedy but because bluetooth is bad for gaming

@Ridwaano
Learnt something new, thanks. Never would have occurred to me as the very last thing I want to do when playing a game is talk to some randoms.

@UnlimitedSevens the golds I gave to my friend were excellent for the money tbf.
The steelseries arctis 9 were down to £146 a couple of weeks ago and they're supposed to be excellent.
I'm more familiar with hifi than headphones tbh, I have a devialet expert 220 Pro and totem acoustic tribe tower speakers for my main music listening but I do like the intimacy and detail that good headphones provide.

@get2sammyb forgive me I don't understand. I own the PlayStation platinum headset and connect via Bluetooth on PS4. So this won't work unless I connect via USB or into the controller? So the Bluetooth dongle won't work?

@UnlimitedSevens yup 😅

Amazing. So this means i lucked out by buying a new pair of golds recently and not paying the extra for the platinum set? Happy with that. Explains why they released a gold limited edition for TLOU part 2 rather than a platinum set

@UnlimitedSevens the original gold headsets had rubbish hinges but they updated the design and for the money they are better than the platinums although they only output virtual 7.1 whereas the platinums output 7.1 surround...i love my gold headset and they are so comfy..my pink floyd bluray sounds amazing...

@YETi isnt the dongle wifi? I didnt think it was blutooth..

@Dan_ozzzy189

I just feel like when you get into actual sound setups like you are talking about, it requires a level of knowledge I just don't have unfortunately. I plug in a sound bar like a savage because I don't want to have to bolt speakers around the room and all that jazz.

I will definitely check out the Arctis though. Thanks for the recommendation.

@Northern_munkey

Yes, I own the Platinums too and 100% agreed the Gold Headset is more comfortable. Honestly didn't know they updated the hinges! In that case, I might pick up that black and red model they recently put out. I think the MSRP just came down on them a bit too!

Also, Pink Floyd is my favorite band!

@Northern_munkey Just looked it up and you are right, thanks.

I don't get how I'm good to good if m existing Bluetooth headset might not be supported

This is not great news for me. I really wanted Atmos support. Its great that any wired headphones will work but even my very pricey open backed AKGs are nothing compared to my 14 speaker Atmos set-up. On the up side more games MAY support support Sony's solution but time will tell.

@UnlimitedSevens pretty sure they're the platinum (wireless) ones as I had to buy them after the hinges on my gold pair broke. It's the way they fold for storage. Regardless, whichever model I own doesn't have hinges anymore, just a load of gaffer tape to keep them together!

Hmm, so my PS4 Sony Gold Headset should be fine to use with PS5 for 3D audio if I’m reading this correctly? If so I’ll probably cancel my Pulse headset preorder

@get2sammyb I've got the Platinum headset but was thinking of getting the Pulse 3D. I don't really know much about headphones. Are there any reasons to get Pulse 3D, or is that not really an upgrade over Platinum?

@get2sammyb Got a list of supported standards? I'm not biting on their 3D audio gimmick when I'm installing a 12 grand atmos overhaul later this year. It

3D audio isn't enhancing existing standards, it's an alternative.

@UnlimitedSevens
I use the Hyper X cloud Alpha headphones and I don't ever have a problem wearing them for hours, but they aren't wireless, they use the headphones jack.

@Menchi According to Mark Cerny they will not, it will be 100% proprietary virtual surround sound and only supports headphones at launch.
https://www.techradar.com/news/ps5-wont-use-dolby-atmos-in-games-and-may-require-you-to-send-sony-a-picture-of-your-ears

@Menchi Sony has specifically said the PS5 does NOT support Atmos, the XSX does however.

@710King Good, as long as they support proper outputs and formats I'm happy. Using a headset to game on anything that isn't a handheld is disgusting.

As for Atmos, that's not too bad as the Xbox and my new top end PC will, and I will have a dedicated Atmos output bluray player as well. Just wondering what PS5 games will support. Dolby Master? DTS master? Etc

Edit: I should clarify that my comments on this article are about standard surround output formats, not headphones. Can't seem to find confirmation of announced supported formats for games. Won't be using it as a bluray player.

Can’t wait to try it on the new pulse 3D headphone 😃

The big thing that matters to me here is if the HDMI out supports the same 3D audio in the stream. Which is the thing we don't know.

I split the HDMI out to my headphone rig and some nice headphones. "gaming" USB headphones kinda suck.

It worked fine splitting out PSVR's 3D audio so I'd presume there's nothing weird and proprietary going on here beyond the audio processing. Same as Windows Sonic and Atmos Headphone on X1X. Hopefully.

I suppose I could plug into the controller, but that's a pain for my setup, and really lacks the power to drive high impedence cans properly.

Great this is NOT what i was hoping for. $3000.00 in Dolby Atmos Suround Sound Speakers and PS5 latest and greatest doesn't work with them. Way to go SONY way to go net gen I see you getting all 21st Century....UH NOT ! This is corportate greed at its finest . Lets make a new super powerful next gen console oh and lets make it ONLY work with our special headphones....SAD Sony !

@Menchi I would assume it only supports the same formats that the PS4 supports for games(I think Dolby Digital/DTS) or they would have mentioned otherwise when they talked about their 3D audio solution. They have not said anything about it so we'll likely only know after launch.

@SurvivorGirl1
They are specifically saying that they are working on bringing it to more then their headphones, such as the TV and it's speakers. It isn't corporate greed, it is pushing technology to the next level by using an individual's perception of sound, custom formatting it to certain profiles to deliver 3d audio to the player, in the most accessible format to the mass player base. The idea of a nice pair of headphones that rival the experience of a 3,000 dollar atmos set up is the goal, that way more people can easily experience the high level quality. You have to have that speaker set up to simulate the sounds coming from different directions but Sony is using the sound itself to do so.

You don't need anything special to experience 3D audio with headphones. Same with 7.1. It's all psycho-acoustics, there's absolutely nothing different about the hardware. Literally any headphones will work. Of course a good set of cans will sound better than, say, small crappy over-ear headphones due to improved sound stage, range, and isolation, but yeah, any headphones.

Case in point: PSVR shipping with earbuds. 3D Audio works just fine.

@gonzilla Mechanically, yes. But I think the point that needs clarification is if you can set the headphone spatialization modes as the HDMI audio out, or if it only lets you set stereo or multichannel for the HDMI out and only uses the headphone modes on the controller port and USB hardware.

Sanity would say of course you can, but nothing is a given unless confirmed and "oh you don't need headphone audio through HDMI, that's not how you connect headphones", seems like a very Playstation thing to do.

@JoshuaTChandler Sorry but NO set of headphones will or can ever sound better or even as good as any $3000.00 Dolby Atmos Suround Speaker System.

@SurvivorGirl1 Depends. No headphone can ever sound as good as actual positional audio, even in the stereo space let alone the surround space in a perfect environment. However room treatment is a more critical factor than the speakers themselves, and without a perfect room treatment, even the priciest sound system is rendered into garbage. The age old catch 22 of hifi. A far better surround simulation of spatial audio in a headphone than currently exists is a very desirable goal for anyone without an audio room that can be arranged with ideal room treatment, or anyone that might be gaming in the middle of the night and doesn't want a knock on the door.....

The big thing the new consoles will hopefully be doing with all this is object based audio. Kind of like raytracing, for sound. That's what Atmos is all about, and that's, hopefully, what this Sony headphone solution is about. Atmos does the processing in the equipment, but if it's LPCM out to each channel over HDMI 2.1, it doesn't really matter if the processing is done in the console or the audio equipment as long as each channel gets its output. The only unknown is how the "aerial channel" would be handled if it's not explicitly set to handle it.

@Ridwaano Thanks, that’s interesting! But still bad for people that don’t play multiplayer (like me) and can’t comfortably use their expensive NC headphones to enjoy the game audio... I still would love to have this choice tbh

@SurvivorGirl1
That is debatable, you have to spend x amount of dollars on every speaker to provide the same amount of quality from each point, making a 500 dollar speaker turn into a 3,000 dollar set. Your thinking is that because you spent 3,000 dollars, you get 3,000 dollars packed into each speaker, which is actually probably less then the 500 I threw out before due to for market value. There is also the immersion to take into account, mutiplayer, and living conditions. The headphones delivering audio based upon the relation to the character places you in the same sound environment and works to keep you immersed. Multiplayer gaming with chat means we don't want to hear everything you hear because you have a sound system turned way up, and living conditions have a similar regard where people could disrupt others by always hearing what they are doing. You being upset about Sony figuring out all the factors and configuring a setup to bring high quality at a low price is bordering selfishness, or is about you trying to justify a high price tag by creating value to it, and your basing your logic off of brute force pricing instead of learning about the finesse that Sony put into their product.

Surround sound may work well for movies but that's because I am not the person in the movie and I am not making decisions based off of the character's environment. Headphones are a much better choice for gaming, and making a system that works well for such is more important then making it good for expensive set ups.

Is 3D Audio different to Binaural audio (what they used on Hellblade)? The audio on Hellblade was awesome and I could experience it with my cheapo standard earphones! No need to buy any special headphones.

I’m guessing when they say this 3D audio will work with your current headphones, they are talking about your current 3D audio headphones, not just any old headphones?

Bugger. Haven't used a microphone in 30-odd years of gaming. I just want to be able to use my rather expensive (Sony) Bluetooth headphones which I already can't use with my PS4 or Switch. I'd assumed it would be possible with PS5.

@VonPit same, i would love to use my m3 headphones

@GravyThief
I think that mainly what they are talking about with the new engine has to do with the different formats for different people's ears. They have been studying ear profiles and the relationship to sound to produce templates for people so that the sound is realistic to their sense. Right now some games like PUBG use different sounds based off of the position of yourself and viewpoint, this is advancing it by making it more custom to you, making it a more 3d sound environment for the player.

@NEStalgia Good point. I'll be curious to see if/how they can claim "3D Audio" out of, say, a standard 5.1/7.1 setup. How would it be any different than just surround? And like you pointed out in another post, dependent so much on room and speaker setup and measurement. I'd imagine that in order to get the true "3D Audio" effect they're touting so much, you really do need headphones (which their recent blog post implies), and you'd need some sort of "direct" line to the PS5 which is doing the audio processing (USB or controller line, like you said).

That being said, if I just ran HDMI from the PS5 to my receiver, for example, then plugged my headphones in to the receiver, I would expect the 3D effect would be lost, as the receiver would then downmix to stereo or would use whatever headphone surround processing it has, vs. what the PS5 is trying to put out. Unless the PS5 has a specific setting for this, like I think you were alluding to.

Probably not gonna work on in-ear headphone right?

Ah well.

@gonzilla Exactly. I mean, technologically there's not a reason it won't work, as you said, it works out of PSVR that way, and I'm assuming what they're doing here is basically the same as what they were doing with PSVR, except in the console and a "version 2" of it. But we don't have much clarification on that.

XBox 1X (and maybe S?) supported Dolby Atmos Headphone as a third party plugin you could buy. I presume this is Sony's proprietary version of that. Not many games supported that, but Assassin's Creed Origins did, and it worked really well! The object based sound is the main event on the software side of all that, and where it excels beyond traditional 5.1 panning. I.E. the game itself, instead of having a sound channel that's fixed to a relative positioning, the horse is its own sound object "rendering" the sound in a relational position which then gets mixed to the audio channels (and then the spatilization processing, be it Sony or Dolby atop that, for headphones or speaker position/volume.)

So technically all that should matter is the game supporting it, and the hardware being able to output that headphone output, that's already stereo (since the headphone only has 2 drivers, of course), to any of the audio outputs including HDMI. But since we don't know too much about how they're implementing it...I think we can't really assume that for sure.

Hi, does anyone know if the experience for 3D audio on the PS5 will be truly the exact same audio quality between methods of connecting? Like for example, if I connect my headphones through to the audio jack on the controller vs the usb on the console itself? And another question I have is do we know how many ohms the technology can support? I am speculating that it might not be the same if you only plug it into the controller as opposed to the PS5 itself.

Will this work with my Sony Gold headphones?

@WaveWitch I agree its NOT in the cards for everyone but it is in the cards for me and I love having the sound all around me creates a deep immersion into the game.