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Headphones Required – Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II’s Binaural Audio Is Like Nothing You’ve Ever Heard

Three

Member
Binaural is not for accurate positional sounds.

On good hps you will get benefit of that, but binaural is mostly to , for lack of better word, “immerse” you in soundscape.
This "immersion" is based on position and reflection of sound waves on your outer ears. It's to make the sound spatially accurate.
 
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This "immersion" is based on position and reflection of sound waves on your outer ears. It's to make the sound spatially accurate.
Normal recordings are spatially accurate. Like 100%.

With binaural recordings, you are actually reducing spatial accuracy by using mic in dummy ears and recording a reproduced sound.

Normal recordings take sound from source itself. Then are mixed in a track using high end equipment. That tech is highly mature.
 
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Three

Member
With binaural recordings, you are actually reducing spatial accuracy by using mic in dummy ears and recording a reproduced sound.
What? Why exactly do you think you place it in dummy ears spaced apart the exact same as real ears? It's for spatial accuracy of sound recordings.
Normal recordings take sound from source itself. Then are mixed in a track using high end equipment. That tech is highly mature.
Ok?
 
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What? Why exactly do you think you place it in dummy ears spaced apart the exact same as real ears? It's for spatial accuracy of sound recordings.
I have said this before in the thread.

Its to emulate speaker type listening on headphones.

With stereo speakers, each ear of a person hears both channels.

With stereo headphones (duh), each ear hear only one channel. To change this and make it sound like a speaker, they have to take this additional step of recording by putting mics in dummy ears.

This is quite a mature technique and you trying to discredit it is hilarious 😆
 

Three

Member
I have said this before in the thread.

Its to emulate speaker type listening on headphones.

With stereo speakers, each ear of a person hears both channels.

With stereo headphones (duh), each ear hear only one channel. To change this and make it sound like a speaker, they have to take this additional step of recording by putting mics in dummy ears.

This is quite a mature technique and you trying to discredit it is hilarious 😆
I see that you don't understand anything about the subject at all.
 

Three

Member
Got to love MS diehards, who don't know anything, coming to this thread to post laugh emojis about a subject matter they don't have the foggiest clue about. They see a subject that's a synonym for 3D audio, a company called 3DIO making the recording device and their takeaway is "binaural audio is to make it sound like stereo speakers not for spatial accuracy". How ignorant do you have to be?
All because I said you have to use simulated binaural audio (via HRTF for example) rather than use a binaural recording in games and they took that as a slight against their favourite corpo. How sad.
 
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THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
Let's not forget we have 2 ears. As headphone audio gets better and better, eventually it will be superior to any standard surround system. (No room reflections, potentially custom designed for listener, superior ability to recreate sound)

Not there yet but a lot of progress has been made the last 10-15 years.
 

pasterpl

Member
Got to love MS diehards, who don't know anything, coming to this thread to post laugh emojis about a subject matter they don't have the foggiest clue about. They see a subject that's a synonym for 3D audio, a company called 3DIO making the recording device and their takeaway is "binaural audio is to make it sound like stereo speakers not for spatial accuracy". How ignorant do you have to be?
All because I said you have to use simulated binaural audio (via HRTF for example) rather than use a binaural recording and they took that as a slight against their favourite corpo. How sad.
Keep fighting a good fight.
 
Rocking’ these bad boys….
Q0MtNLn.jpeg
network-confused.gif
 

King Dazzar

Member
Let's not forget we have 2 ears. As headphone audio gets better and better, eventually it will be superior to any standard surround system. (No room reflections, potentially custom designed for listener, superior ability to recreate sound)

Not there yet but a lot of progress has been made the last 10-15 years.
There's merit in that. But audio is also for me about feeling it. My ported SVS sub is amazing at hitting low down frequencies with such power, that you must be feeling it, even when the room isnt fully shaking. For the mids and upper frequencies, you can get amazing clarity and detail on headphones. But I'm sceptical about bass resonating through your body in the same way. I've also had subs literally moving air around the room. Its like you can feel them changing air pressure. Headphones cant do that.

Also, as good as the likes of surround audio is on headphones (I love PlayStations take) and object 3D placement. I'm not convinced its going to surpass dedicated full floor standing towers for surround channels.
 
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ManaByte

Gold Member
I’m amazed at the amount of people who either never played the original, or did and are pretending to ignore the first game saying to play with headphones in order to troll.
 

THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
There's merit in that. But audio is also for me about feeling it. My ported SVS sub is amazing at hitting low down frequencies with such power, that you must be feeling it, even when the room isnt fully shaking. For the mids and upper frequencies, you can get amazing clarity and detail on headphones. But I'm sceptical about bass resonating through your body in the same way. I've also had subs literally moving air around the room. Its like you can feel them changing air pressure. Headphones cant do that.

Also, as good as the likes of surround audio is on headphones (I love PlayStations take) and object 3D placement. I'm not convinced its going to surpass dedicated full floor standing towers for surround channels.

That's a very good point about the subwoofer and moving of air. Ya it's definately not there yet but I have faith in science that eventually, at least for the sense of space and object placement, we will get there eventually.
 
There's merit in that. But audio is also for me about feeling it. My ported SVS sub is amazing at hitting low down frequencies with such power, that you must be feeling it, even when the room isnt fully shaking. For the mids and upper frequencies, you can get amazing clarity and detail on headphones. But I'm sceptical about bass resonating through your body in the same way. I've also had subs literally moving air around the room. Its like you can feel them changing air pressure. Headphones cant do that.

Also, as good as the likes of surround audio is on headphones (I love PlayStations take) and object 3D placement. I'm not convinced its going to surpass dedicated full floor standing towers for surround channels.

Daz, since you mentioned loving the PS5's 3D audio solution :
I keep reading of how good it is but, to be honest, I'm not feeling it.
I'm using the hyperx cloud alpha and while the sound output is nice, I just don't get the praise, even in games like Returnal which people say that it features amazing 3D audio.

Maybe the 3D audio is only good when using official Sony headsets where various presets/EQs get unlocked ?
Also tried RE8 which features a 3D audio option but...same thing.

I've enabled the 3D audio option in the PS5's settings and also calibrated it, am I missing something here ?

Cheers
 

King Dazzar

Member
Daz, since you mentioned loving the PS5's 3D audio solution :
I keep reading of how good it is but, to be honest, I'm not feeling it.
I'm using the hyperx cloud alpha and while the sound output is nice, I just don't get the praise, even in games like Returnal which people say that it features amazing 3D audio.

Maybe the 3D audio is only good when using official Sony headsets where various presets/EQs get unlocked ?
Also tried RE8 which features a 3D audio option but...same thing.

I've enabled the 3D audio option in the PS5's settings and also calibrated it, am I missing something here ?

Cheers
I've only used the Pulse headsets. But I'd have thought it work well with any. Key thing is to ensure in game audio is always set to 5.1/7.1 etc, i.e normal surround output as though going to an AV receiver. So dont set in game audio to headphones, because you'd only be giving the PS5's OS audio, 2 channels to process - it needs all of them i.e 5.1 or 7.1. So in game DO NOT set to headphone and leave it all to the PS5's OS 3D audio settings. Basically anything that would be 5.1 or 7.1 output sounds superb going through the PS5's 3D headphone setting. 3D object placement is great on every game I've tried. It's far better than any other solution I've tried. The surround sound field is easily as good as the last gen headsets which used optical cables and dedicated dolby digital 5.1 decoding.

After that, if you're not getting proper/full 360 degree surround, then maybe its your headphones, but that doesnt make sense to me. The great thing about the Pulse headsets is there excellent full OS integration, but I'd have expected the surround to be similar on all headsets.
 
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"is like nothing you have ever heard" - I know this is the articles headline but can we take this kind of hyperbolic bullshit out of thread titles. Especially when this is an article xbox are posting themselves.

Just reading that makes me less interested to ever give this game a chance.
 
I've only used the Pulse headsets. But I'd have thought it work well with any. Key thing is to ensure in game audio is always set to 5.1/7.1 etc, i.e normal surround output as though going to an AV receiver. So dont set in game audio to headphones, because you'd only be giving the PS5's OS audio, 2 channels to process - it needs all of them i.e 5.1 or 7.1. So in game DO NOT set to headphone and leave it all to the PS5's OS 3D audio settings. Basically anything that would be 5.1 or 7.1 output sounds superb going through the PS5's 3D headphone setting. 3D object placement is great on every game I've tried. It's far better than any other solution I've tried. The surround sound field is easily as good as the last gen headsets which used optical cables and dedicated dolby digital 5.1 decoding.

After that, if you're not getting proper/full 360 degree surround, then maybe its your headphones, but that doesnt make sense to me. The great thing about the Pulse headsets is there excellent full OS integration, but I'd have expected the surround to be similar on all headsets.

Thanks Daz, appreciate it brother ;)

So, 3D audio turned on in the PS5 system/audio settings, in-game audio set to 5.1 or 7.1, correct ?

What about games like RE8 though ? Besides the basic output options (TV/surround/headphones), there's also a "enable 3D audio" one - what should i choose in this case ? 5.1 and let the PS5's in-built 3D audio do it's thing ? Am i correct in assuming that enabling the 3D/binaural option within the game settings while also having the PS5 3D audio feature activated could result in the sound being processed twice. ?

Cheers
 

JackMcGunns

Member
"is like nothing you have ever heard" - I know this is the articles headline but can we take this kind of hyperbolic bullshit out of thread titles. Especially when this is an article xbox are posting themselves.

Just reading that makes me less interested to ever give this game a chance.


You’ve never heard the audio of Senua’s Saga, so it’s true :messenger_winking_tongue:
 

King Dazzar

Member
Thanks Daz, appreciate it brother ;)

So, 3D audio turned on in the PS5 system/audio settings, in-game audio set to 5.1 or 7.1, correct ?

What about games like RE8 though ? Besides the basic output options (TV/surround/headphones), there's also a "enable 3D audio" one - what should i choose in this case ? 5.1 and let the PS5's in-built 3D audio do it's thing ? Am i correct in assuming that enabling the 3D/binaural option within the game settings while also having the PS5 3D audio feature activated could result in the sound being processed twice. ?

Cheers
No worries, you're welcome.
Yes correct.
RE8 should be set to surround for audio out put device and do not enable virtual surround, as that's in game headphone setting, so leave off.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
First one has some terrific audio

This one has as well, arguably even better.

I posted about it in the OT there's a moment in the first 20~ minutes of the game where I had to take the headphones off because the screaming mix in the background felt like it was happening around me IRL. That's why, whenever anyone posts, I recommend them a decent pair of headphones. I don't think that kind of thing can be replicated with a surround system. I might be wrong.
 

marquimvfs

Member
There's merit in that. But audio is also for me about feeling it. My ported SVS sub is amazing at hitting low down frequencies with such power, that you must be feeling it, even when the room isnt fully shaking. For the mids and upper frequencies, you can get amazing clarity and detail on headphones. But I'm sceptical about bass resonating through your body in the same way. I've also had subs literally moving air around the room. Its like you can feel them changing air pressure. Headphones cant do that.

Also, as good as the likes of surround audio is on headphones (I love PlayStations take) and object 3D placement. I'm not convinced its going to surpass dedicated full floor standing towers for surround channels.
I had a pair of headphones that (kind of) maked me feel the bass. It had a sub bass amplifier in the cable, connected to 2 dummy speakers acting as subs, but instead of moving a cone, it had weights glued to the tip of the coil. The bass gived a cool sensation of vibration on the head, and despite not having an decent sound quality, I miss the novelty. I wonder if there's something similar nowadays,and with a better quality audio, what I don't miss was the 2 AAA batteries that the sob used to suck in a matter of hours.
 
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T-0800

Member
I've only used the Pulse headsets. But I'd have thought it work well with any. Key thing is to ensure in game audio is always set to 5.1/7.1 etc, i.e normal surround output as though going to an AV receiver. So dont set in game audio to headphones, because you'd only be giving the PS5's OS audio, 2 channels to process - it needs all of them i.e 5.1 or 7.1. So in game DO NOT set to headphone and leave it all to the PS5's OS 3D audio settings. Basically anything that would be 5.1 or 7.1 output sounds superb going through the PS5's 3D headphone setting. 3D object placement is great on every game I've tried. It's far better than any other solution I've tried. The surround sound field is easily as good as the last gen headsets which used optical cables and dedicated dolby digital 5.1 decoding.

After that, if you're not getting proper/full 360 degree surround, then maybe its your headphones, but that doesnt make sense to me. The great thing about the Pulse headsets is there excellent full OS integration, but I'd have expected the surround to be similar on all headsets.
Pretty sure in the sound settings for Returnal it tells you to select headphones for the best experience. The sound in Returnal is phenomenal.
 

Esppiral

Member
Having 3-4 persons creaming, whispering, yelling all at the same time in a different language than my mother language, while I don't get crazy trying to catch what they are saying, reading the subtitles and catching what's going on screen is the less immersive and most stressful experience I've ever had with a video game, you failed miserably with this one Ninja Theory.

Either NJ or MS should understand that you can't release a heavy story driven game without full localisation. They are alienating non English speakers, and surprise, there are millions.....
 

King Dazzar

Member
Pretty sure in the sound settings for Returnal it tells you to select headphones for the best experience. The sound in Returnal is phenomenal.
So for some games, like Spiderman 2, the game will auto set headphones, but its setting is driven by the OS and also I would imagine in game its already doing the 3D Tempest decoding, before passing it onto the OS to stream to the headphones. So that doesn't surprise me with Returnal as its first party too.

For the majority of third party games I've tried, to get the best 360 surround field placement I always set it to 5.1 or 7.1 and 3D turned on in the OS settings. I've found the Tempest audio works best decoding a full fat 7.1 audio stream and then converting that as a surround field to the headphones. If it were only receiving a 2 channel audio stream from the game, how would it know where to place what behind and around you.... in fact if it were a third party game which I wanted to see how its in game headphone 3D audio worked, I would likely be disabling the OS 3D option. And allowing the game to do its own surround field unaltered.

As you know third party in game headphone surround audio quality can vary greatly. And there has been the rare exception (AC Origins for example) that use a great in game headphone surround field that would likely challenge Sony's solution (it uses a full Dolby headphone solution). But for me, its generally easier to let the game send a 7.1 audio stream and for Sony's OS 3D option to convert that into a headphone surround field.

If you didnt want a set and forget approach. Then I'd likely be doing either in game headphone on and OS 3D off. Or In game 7.1 and OS 3D option on. And then going with your preference on a game by game basis. I wouldnt be worrying so much for PS5 1st party as I'd expect both ways would likely give similar results. As the game would likely be using the same surround field either way. (though I've not tested that) But older games like Days Gone, like third party, sounded best to me, by setting in game to 5.1/7.1 surround and Sony OS to 3D on.
 
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Thought this may be useful.
An Audeze emplyee was asked about sound settings as the info they were giving on a forum was different than that in the documentaiton for the headphones (Maxwell in this case). The documentation was saying always select 'Headphones' from the game menu. He thought this was incorrect and did testing himself. This was his findings -

My conclusions with several games:

If a game fully supports Atmos (i.e. Overwatch 2) and has an in game Atmos for Headphone option, as long as that's chosen, Headphone/Home Theater doesn't matter. Both will work.

If a game support Atmos, but does not have in game "Dolby Atmos For Headphones" option, but has speaker config options, it may or may not matter whether you choose Surround/Home Theater/7.1 vs Stereo/Headphones. May be on a per game basis. I've tested some games where it works regardless of choice.

If a game supports Atmos, but does NOT have speaker config options or choices to choose between stereo, headphone, home theater, etc. It seems to still work.

If a game does not natively support Atmos but has speaker config options (i.e. stereo, headphone, home theater, etc). You will want to set it to the Home Theater/Surround/multi channel option. Setting it to headphone/stereo will not feed Atmos enough info to convert this to spatial audio.

If a game does not support Atmos and has no speaker configuration: It's a crapshoot. It MAY or may not work, depending on whether the game defaults to multiple speaker audio rendering or not.

In short, the universal option should be Surround/Home Theater as that seems to just work regardless
 

skneogaf

Member
There isn't many things that sound better in headphones than my reasonably high end 7.4.4 setup but the two hell blade games are perfect for headphones.
 
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