The last two generations of micro .ft and Sony consoles – from the PlayStation 3 Pro and Xbox 360 to the PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X – have been changing in terms of audio quality. Consumers are able to switch from high-fidelity tuners and scattered surround-sound speaker systems to relatively inexpensive and high-quality headphones. That means a lot of customers, myself included, have put up some serious coins for new cans. But will your audio investment pay off with the next generation of investment consoles? We spoke to four major manufacturers to get some answers.

Turns out, things are still a bit high in the air.

“It simply came to our notice then [Microsoft and Sony] Kind of tell us that [our] The products forward are consistent, ”said John Moore, head of marketing and sales at Growth Peripherals at Razor, in an interview with Polygon last week. This is because their company, like all the manufacturers we have talked to, has not yet received the final console hardware. A similar story was told by Brian Fall, S Dio’s senior product manager at Steelseries.

“Obviously we’re waiting for a bored breath to get all the final details out of everything,” Fell told Poligan. He said that micro .ft has been the most forthcoming so far.

Kingston

“We found out a few months ago that we had everything [on the market] Was just going to work [with the new Xbox], ”Fallon continued. “It was amazing news for us and for our customers. […] And it’s all just plug and play. No firmware updates required, none of them. It will all work. ”

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of Sony and its PlayStation 5.

The PlayStation has its own wireless headphone technology or course. Along the way with the PS5 is a new Sony-branded set. Also, older peripherals like platinum and gold wireless headsets Will also be consistent. There is also Sony Announced It will be compatible with PS5 “third-party headsets that connect via USB port or audio Dio jack”. Other than that, the third-party manufacturers we spoke to said things are still up in the air.

“Next to the PlayStation, it’s a bit of a mixed bag,” said Fallon.

The new PS5 optical audio will not show Dio connections, commonly referred to as S / PDIF or TosLink. Manufacturers such as Astro, SteelSeries, and others use a icicle connection to split in-game audio from voice chat. It allows you to have digital surround sound and low latency, high reliability and voice chat through the same speakers. It is also what allows you to balance the level between those two different currents.

“If we don’t have the optical, obviously we have no way to do that,” Fell said. “We have only one audio source, which will come from USB. So SteelSerio Pro Wireless [Polygon’s top headphone choice for the PlayStation 4 in last year’s round-up] Will still work on PS5. USB only By plugging in and you can get your full audio dio from it. One thing you can’t do is adjust your mix between your game and chat. “

Probably. The menu inside the PS5 dashboard will let you do that, but no one can be sure until the reviewers get a chance to boot up the device for the first time. It’s a lot less convenient than just rotating the physical dial on your headset.

Logitech

Astro has made a name for itself with these types of high-quality physical interfaces that allow users to sit on the fly with their layers. Their Wireless A50 Headset – Polygon’s top performer for the Xbox One in last year’s roundup – Firmware update will be required only to be compatible with next generation Xbox consoles. That’s a different story for the PS5 in the same way. Astro says it is coming out with a dongle called Astro HDMI Adapter that will solve the problem. It’s through the Astro website, as well as select retailers. Will be available for 39.99.

“It enables game voice + and voice is chat mixing and features legless 4K HDMI video passstrokes while adding a Toslink optical jack,” the company said in September. Said in a news release on the 1st. And $ Receive online discounts. “

The good news is that both pay-per-view console controllers still have mm in them. mm mm has an audio Dio connector, which will enable you to connect a wide range of products from companies like Astro, Kingston’s HyperX brand, Razor and SteelSeries. In fact, both consoles are designed with that type of stereo interface in mind.

“Back in the Xbox 360 days, consoles didn’t really decode [digital] Audio Dio for you, ”Thaddeus Cooper, head of the Astro Gaming brand, told Polygon in an interview. “The reason is that MixAmp and A50 were so popular among the people [the consoles] It will output the signal on optical or HDMI, but you had a device that does Dolby decoding. “

In the current pay generation, only the Micro .ft console in the form of Windows Sonic or Dolby Atoms was able to decode digital audio through stereo output and the sound around the output. Now, with the PlayStation 5, Sony is bringing its own new technology to bear. Its Tempest 3D Audio Diotech Solution Must be able to do similar things with static audio dio. The manufacturers tell us that this means real audio dio similarities between the two console brands.

It also means that the next pay generation of third-party headsets will need to differentiate themselves completely. They will no longer be based on bent and CTO such as audio dio levels in the game and a custom sound profile to keep yourself apart. Instead, expect them to try to compete on things like sound quality, comfort, cross-platform compatibility and price.