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How to set up the PlayStation 4 for great game sound


ps4_10smWhether you love first-person shooters, sports games, or racing titles, if you’re a gamer, there’s a good chance you’re salivating over the PlayStation®4 gaming console.

And for good reasons: Sony has lined up a great selection of games for the console’s launch, including KillZone® Shadow Fall, Knack™, Assassin’s Creed® IV, and Call of Duty®: Ghosts. The new DualShock®4 wireless controller lets you share your gaming exploits to Facebook or Ustream at the touch of a button. And with supercharged processors and 8 gigabytes of unified system memory, the console’s graphics are stunning.

Along with those stunning graphics comes stunning surround sound. The PlayStation 4 includes Dolby® technology that will render surround audio on the fly, so no matter what mission you’re on or what backwater you wander into in your game’s map, you’ll hear the audio coming from all around you.

But you’ll hear the full surround sound effect only if you make the right connections. One great option is to connect your PlayStation 4 to your home theater. Just run an HDMI® or optical cable from the PlayStation 4 to your receiver.

Don’t have a 5.1 (or better) home theater? You really should consider setting one up; this home theater setup guide will tell you everything you need to know. In the meantime, though, you can get the full surround sound effect with a good gaming headset, like the Astro A50 line, Tritton Pro+ 5.1, or the Turtle Beach Ear Force PX4. The PlayStation’s optical connection supports Dolby Digital sound, so you can simply connect the optical cable from your console to the controller box that came with your headset.

Whether you’re listening through a home theater system or through a headset, make sure you go into the PlayStation settings and choose the right audio outputs. Home theater owners can use HDMI or optical out to get PS4™ audio to their playback device—just make sure you’ve selected the port of your choice via the console’s audio settings.

You’ll be using the optical cable with your headset, so change the primary output port to “DIGITAL OUT (OPTICAL), ” and select “Bitstream (Dolby)” in your PS4 settings. You can find more information on the console’s audio settings in the PS4 manual. Once you’ve made your selection, you won’t have to touch the audio settings again until you decide to alter your home theater setup.

The PlayStation’s surround sound capability won’t just make you happy when you’re playing games. It’ll also mean you get great audio with Blu-ray™ movies and from streaming video services like Vudu™ and Amazon® Instant Video™. When you choose a movie to stream, just make sure you choose the version with advanced audio—on Vudu, for instance, choose the HDX version.






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