PSVR Owners Thread.

[Brad]

You're missing out on a lot of the experience if you are using external surround sound speakers. Plug the best set of head/ear phones you have into the dedicated Jack and you'll get far more accurate positional audio.
In the kitchen demo for example you can hear exactly where certain things are happening around you ;-)

You can with a normal surround sound system! How can 2 channel stereo give better positional audio than a proper 5.1 channel surround sound system? Is there some magic going on?

Anyway, I'll give headphones a go tomorrow and see how I get on!

[MrSpiggott]

Tricks with phase and tone. The technology has really advanced recently, even the tinyest head movements are relayed in the sound.
I think you're going to be presently surprised. Don't forget to plug the phones into the VR cable jack and not your amp.

[Asura]

You can with a normal surround sound system! How can 2 channel stereo give better positional audio than a proper 5.1 channel surround sound system? Is there some magic going on?

Strictly speaking, 2-channel stereo is all you ever need for good positional audio, because you only have two ears.

Put your headphones on and listen to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUDTlvagjJA

(ideally use in-ear headphones of reasonable quality). You can just use your phone or something as the device to play the video.

The headphones work better than your surround because when you rotate your head, you're not facing your TV. I'm not sure if PSVR actually changes the speaker balance to compensate but it still wouldn't be right, unless you had a ring of 20 evenly spaced speakers around yourself (in fact, many speakers arranged into a sphere, because you can look up, down, pitch left and right, etc.).

[J0e Musashi]

The supplied earbuds with the V2 are pretty awesome IMO. I’ve got the Platinum headset, but it becomes a bit cumbersome with so much stuff on your head.

[Atticus]

The buds are generally great, but I find the difference with Rez when wearing phones is significant, especially in Area X ... the sounds are huge, the immersion is much deeper.

[Brad]

Normal surround balances audio using front and rear and centre speakers. When I turn my head the system doesn't need to do anything to the audio because my own ears start hearing things differently because they are in a different position relative to the speakers. I've done the shaking matchbox demo thing before and it's amazing but the way it was recorded was key; I've never know live 3d audio to work before. However, just tried the built-in buds and it's amazing! I tried putting on my Sony 2.0 PS phones but my system told me I couldn't use them in VR. I then plugged in some Sennheiser HD 595s to the headset and that was wicked. Will probably stick to the supplied buds though as they have good enough sound for gaming, the bass is good (once I put the bigger buds on them) and they are super convenient.

What I really came here to say though is that Wipeout, in VR, is like... like someone came here from the future and said here, play this. It's awesome beyond words. I thought Daryl was going a bit over the top with his description at first, like how good could it really be? In fact it's, I can't even put it into words really. Like in futuristic movies when they show someone strapping themselves into... something... in order to remotely control some drone or whatever. It's like that, but it's real, and it's now and you can experience it for £259. I'm playing on a regular PS4 BTW. Kitchen demo will make you crap yourself, Wipeout initially will make you throw up but once you get your legs... go and get one right now. Oh, no calibration or drifting issues at all in the last 2 days. Important to be meticulous setting it up initially I guess.

[J0e Musashi]

I’m going through 2048 at the moment. When you get up to Mach 1+ in the Zone events, it’s utterly insane. The sense of speed is like nothing I’ve ever played before. It ends up so fast, the turns are pure muscle memory, because you can’t really see what’s going on anymore. The A+ 10-lap races are pretty awesome too. The rubber banding is a bit unfair, but they are really enjoyable.

I tried to to play it not in VR and I can’t even get around a corner.

PSVR is bananas good. Like [MENTION=9465]Brad[/MENTION] said; make it your next video gaming purchase.

[kryss]

Anyone tried GT Sport?

[J0e Musashi]

Not me. It’s ¥7500. Too rich for my blood considering it’s only semi-VR. I think I’ll get #DriveClub though. It’s only ¥2500 odd currently.

[Pavey]

Anyone tried GT Sport?

I have it, but not tried it yet in VR. I'll do so tomorrow and report back.

[Budge74]

Anyone tried GT Sport?

It's not great. Worth a few minutes if you've already got it.
Don't buy it for the VR content tho.

Dirt is more fun, and more impressive.
Think it's on sale on the PS store at the moment.

[Asura]

Normal surround balances audio using front and rear and centre speakers. When I turn my head the system doesn't need to do anything to the audio because my own ears start hearing things differently because they are in a different position relative to the speakers.

Not quite sure what you mean, Brad.

Surround sound speakers don't quite work with VR, because no matter what you do with them, if you move your head, your speakers stay in the same place. Headphones work better because they rotate in the same frame of reference as your headset.

If you turn your head, your surround system would have to do something with your audio. Turn your head 90 degrees to the left, and your right ear is facing your front-centre speaker. Now of course, the VR games could move all of the positional audio in the way they move it when you spin around in a normal FPS, but it doesn't change that in your room, you have three speakers at one end of the room and only two at the other. Plus, in VR, you can roll your head, so in theory your right ear could be pointing at the ceiling - and you don't have a speaker there.

[kryss]

Ok, I'll skip GT Sport for the moment. DiRT isn't on sale here right now. Annoyingly there was a VR sale on the week before I bought my headset, and the games that were on sale then haven't been since.

Not me. It’s ¥7500. Too rich for my blood considering it’s only semi-VR. I think I’ll get #DriveClub though. It’s only ¥2500 odd currently.

Driveclub VR is well worth it.

[Brad]

Not quite sure what you mean, Brad.

Surround sound speakers don't quite work with VR, because no matter what you do with them, if you move your head, your speakers stay in the same place. Headphones work better because they rotate in the same frame of reference as your headset.

If you turn your head, your surround system would have to do something with your audio. Turn your head 90 degrees to the left, and your right ear is facing your front-centre speaker. Now of course, the VR games could move all of the positional audio in the way they move it when you spin around in a normal FPS, but it doesn't change that in your room, you have three speakers at one end of the room and only two at the other. Plus, in VR, you can roll your head, so in theory your right ear could be pointing at the ceiling - and you don't have a speaker there.

Obviously my surround does not have in infinite amount of speakers in a sphere shape but here's why it works just fine with VR; I'll use an example:

Kitchen demo:
I'm in a chair, facing my TV in RL. Game starts with me sitting down facing forward. Anything happening in that area of the game comes out the front speakers. Anything behind me comes out the rear speakers. If I turn my head 180 degrees to look behind me the game can still output the audio exactly as it always has because things happening at the front of the soundstage (where I was originally facing) are still happening there, except I can't see them cos I'm facing behind me and hence my front speakers are now behind me. Exactly as you'd want it.

The 3D audio of the headset is there to solve the problem inherent in using headphones with VR i.e. nomatter where you face, your cans don't change position in relation to your head so the game has to alter the audio positioning. This is not a problem with a speaker setup at all because the location of the speakers changes in relation to your head when you move it.

So, that's the science bit. If you find a way to convince me that the science is wrong then you'll also need to explain why, despite that, it works brilliantly anyway with surround speakers. I appreciate that with headphones the sound engineers could create sounds above and below me. Point is though that VR works just fine with speakers.

[Brad]

Ok, I understand things a bit more now (read up on 3d audio) and whilst I stand by my 5.1 is just fine statement I think I'm missing out on a bunch of stuff by not using the supplied headphones. Will give them a good session later today hopefully.