All PS5 Games With 3D Audio Automatically Support Dolby Atmos

When the next PlayStation 5 firmware update will be made available to the public, it will be possible to enjoy multiple already released games in Dolby Atmos, as recently confirmed by PlayStation Senior Sound Design Superior.

[Christopher]

Even better news. Good start to something they should have supported a long while ago.

[closed_account]

Better late than never!

[crazyCoconuts]

This is better than just supporting Atmos. It's using Atmos to deliver 3D sound that's built into all PS5 games. On Xbox, the game developer has to include Atmos support. On PS5, it's built into everything due to Tempest.

[1nsomniac]

…^^ Atmos is 3D sound.. and was, before Tempest was even a brainstorm on a white board.

Also it’s not built into everything. It has a standard processing synthetic up mix. Developers still need to create their own profile for every game independently. If they want a bespoke soundstage.

That’s not me being argumentative. That’s me stating facts so that to steer away from hype train/fan boy nonsense.

It is however an excellent addition to the PS5…. And should have been there from the beginning and would have been if they had just coughed up for the license to begin with.

[Babadook7]

"^^ Atmos is 3D sound.. and was, before Tempest was even a brainstorm on a white board"
"...And should have been there from the beginning and would have been if they had just coughed up for the license to begin with."

Atmos is 3d sound, and existed first, true. However Tempest is a much deeper and broader approach to 3d sound. Including more sophisticated binaural rendering and ray traced bounces to simulate a richer environmental sound. As such you can't fault Sony for implementing that, it had nothing to do with paying a fee.

"Developers still need to create their own profile for every game independently. If they want a bespoke soundstage."

They don't need their own bespoke soundstage if they have implemented Tempest. Although many games didn't use it, and that's very unfortunate because the quality of Tempest is first rate.

[jznrpg]

Dolby probably had a deal with Xbox

[blackblades]

I think they did, I remember reading that crap years ago.

[Petebloodyonion]

I think it's more the idea that Sony didn't want to pay royalties to use Dolby Atmos 3d audio and hoped that the Tempest engine became a standard.
It's not like it's the 1st time that Sony tried to create their own format or support.

[fr0sty]

@ Pete

That doesn't add up considering that PS5 didn't support 3D audio on anything but TV and headphones until now... and now Atmos support is launching day and date with 3D audio on surround systems. More like, they've made Atmos unnecessary. The 3D audio on TV speakers was already amazing, on a 7.1 system, it's going to be incredible.

[Petebloodyonion]

@ Frosty
Then why bother paying for Dolby Atmos Royalties IF the Tempest 3D audio engine is so good on Cinema theater and headset?

@FoxQ It's a propriety encoding created by Sony called Tempest Engine running on the Tempest 3d audiotech chipset. It's been alluded to in the past that Sony wanted to include the Tempest 3d Audiotech in some Television.
Last but not least Dolby Atmos is designed around the idea of true 3d sound with REAL speakers with you in the middle the media played as no importance (game, music, movie).

[fr0sty]

@pete Dolby Atmos systems (the real ones, not the fake sound bar ones) have overhead speakers in addition to the side channels, which further improves Tempest's ability to create accurate positional audio. Tempest exists on top of whatever speaker system you play it back over. Play it over a TV, it'll sound good. Play it over headphones, it'll sound incredible. Play it over 7.1 surround, it'll sound fantastic. Play it over Atmos, it'll sound better than actual Atmos.

Atmos and Tempest are both 2-part systems... a software part, and the hardware (speakers and amplifier). This is why you have Atmos sound bars that are technically only 2-3 speakers, but can simulate positional audio, and Tempest can simulate 3D audio over standard TV speakers. As mentioned before, Atmos can do 32 channels of multi-directional audio. PSVR1 could do 50, Tempest can do 100. Play that back over a Atmos system with overhead speakers, and you'll have the best surround experience money can buy, far better than standard Atmos is capable of. This is also why all PS5 games support Atmos out of the box, because the multi-directional 3D audio is already there, the part that happens in software, all they need is the speakers to play it back over. PS5 is basically skipping the Atmos software processing, letting Tempest do it instead, and just using the multi-channel speaker output aspect of the Atmos systems, complete with overhead channels, instead.

[1nsomniac]

@pete is right. Sony acknowledged it themselves. They didn’t want to pay royalties/license fees to another company they wanted to create their own as they thought this may also be beneficial to their position in the movie industry too. Then there’s their tv and hifi departments…

[IRetrouk]

Got a link insomniac? I only ask because as far as I'm aware, they stated they created tempest so that every playstation user could benefit from enhanced sound without the need to pay for a licence or expensive speaker setup.

[1nsomniac]

@iretro it was in their presentation where they talked about how their plan was to release an app or 3d modelling device for scanning your ear so you could create your own personal ear profile that could follow you with all your devices. They said the tempest engine would essentially allow more bandwidth to allow more synchronous instruments to be played however that’s where it got all marketing BS as you would never need and no one would ever produce that many. That’s why Dolby is the industry standard. That’s not me trying to say tempest is pointless/bad because it’s not. It’s just a different approach and if developers used it to its full extent it would be excellent. But it’s another one of them “why should we if we don’t need to” or if it’s multi platform why bother putting in extra effort.

[IRetrouk]

So no then? Sony didn't imply what you said they did as far as I can find, but please, provide the link so I can correct myself.

[Petebloodyonion]

If you can't beat them join them :)

[Babadook7]

@FoxQ

Yup. And it’s the tempest supported games that roll into Atmos the easiest.

[Viljong]

Surround sound speakers beat headset everytime both directionality and specially the quality. You have to be stupid to think 2.0 3d spastial effect from headset beat the experience of being surrounded by highquality tower speakers.

[darthv72]

So how does this work exactly? Is it converting Tempest 3d into Atmos?

[purple101]

Yes must be. I remember reading tempest has 100 sources for multi directional audio Dolby Atmos has 32. Maybe 36. I can't remember.

But everything will depend on your speakers anyway. Won't make much difference in my opinion.

[isarai]

Well I remember they mentioned Dolby Atmos codec/profiles will work on tempest, so it's likely very interchangeable.

[fr0sty]

Yes, downgrading Tempest into Atmos... which if you already have a surround system, it's probably better to just use Tempest since it now works on surround speakers.

[Petebloodyonion]

@Purple
Dolby Atmos can support up to 128 different channels they even replied to Sony and Cerny about that.
https://wccftech.com/dolby-...

[IRetrouk]

Not for games, purple is right..
https://games.dolby.com/atm...

[Hypertension140]

I knew you were going to post that, just can't let it go huh, I bet you didn't care much about audio back in the PS3 days since it completely destroyed the 360.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

Last I read, they're still having trouble with it, for example, PS1 games upmix the game to all channel stereo. I think it still has some kinks to work out before you get a good atmos experience, I'm happy they're at least trying to add it.

[fr0sty]

PS1 games are stereo, there is no code in them to support 3D audio, so this is expected behavior.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

@Fr0sty,
Upmixing to all channel stereo instead of stereo is expected behavior? This is news to me, normally I expect Stereo from a Stereo source unless I specific set my AVR to upmix to all channel stereo.

[fr0sty]

It isn't really "upmixing", there's no mixing involved. All channel stereo means all left channels play the left speaker's channel, all right channels play the right speaker's channel, vs. only the front left and right playing sound and the rest of the speakers not being used. That isn't a "mix". It's utilizing all the speakers while leaving the original stereo mix unchanged. upmixing would be simulating surround from a stereo source.

[ApocalypseShadow]

Well, I guess we can listen to the sound of silence about PS5 not supporting Dolby. Even though we know the system has just as good, if not better, 3D audio.

[DivineHand125]

Tell the truth people. Do you actually notice any difference with 3D audio on? I went out and paid over $100 for steel series headsets for the 3D audio experience but couldn't notice much difference from when I was gaming on the PC with my headset. Help me understand in what way the experience is better from someone who has tried it first hand.

[Petebloodyonion]

the quality of the headset serves no purpose in experiencing 3d audio, you could have a 300$ Headset or the cheap one from the dollar store and you would get 3D audio since it's the chipset that creates the sound that is produced in your STEREO Headset in a similar fashion that some TV sound bar boost the idea of 3D sound field.
If you want to recreate incredible 3d audio I do suggest a real 7.1 Surround sound system and some 3d speakers like the Monitor XT20 if you want (below above) sound-field.
It's a bit of money but after you don't want to go back to Headset.

[Viljong]

Finally ps5 get true home theatre format. Dolby atmos is superior to tempest even with sony own headset. Not to mention 7.1 and higher setups. Tempest is only becouse sony were too cheap to buy dolby atmos license.

Xbox have had dolby atmos for home theatre and headsets for ages also DTS:X. Both are superior to tempest audio. Still people drool like tempest audio is something special. Heck even tvs from 2017 have 3d audio its nothing special.

True multichannel audio is much higher quality than spastial 2.0 upmixed 3d audio for headsets. Games are made in 7.1 default and multichannel provide more data and sounds. Headset 3d audio is always a compromise. Atleast with dolby atmos you havr accrs to headset setup where you can prioritize quality or directionality.

[Viljong]

It means ps5 finally have high bitrate audio for hometheatre surround speaker setups. Much higher bitrate than dolby digital. It doesnt require gamespesific support with my xbox everygame run in dolby atmos.