Audiophile review of FFXIV's Spatial Sound

[Arceal]

The directional accuracy is quite good. The gain is boosted for random sounds, like foot steps.

The highs and lows are very pronounced but don't sound unnatural.

The mids are a bit... Awful, to say the least. Some sounds out right disappear completely, like the sound of rain hitting the ground. The sound of someone teleporting almost sounds like something completely different.

The music is slightly more pronounced as well. But doesn't sound too much different than normal. It definitely sounds better than whatever Dolby digital 7.1 would do to it.

TL;DR: Highs and lows are ok, spatial accuracy is good, but the mids are trash and sometimes cannot be heard at all.

If your curious about what I was using for this test:
Senny HD6XX with a Mayflower Arc Mk2

(Note: I am not an audio engineer, just a random monkey who likes accurate sound.)

[Citronvand]

Thanks. Are you going to use it? I'm leaning no as losing certain sounds sounds awful.

[Horpse]

Would you say it's worth using?

[Omnipotencia]

to bad you have to pay for it monthly as well as needing the sound setup on top of the monthly sub almost laughable to be honest good audio design is usually a base game thing in most games, the paying for everything as dlc is coming true just wait until other companies hear they can sell the audio separately, and yes i checked the price for UK its double the price of a sub, what a flop

[Arceal]

Originally posted by Citronvand:

Thanks. Are you going to use it? I'm leaning no as losing certain sounds sounds awful.

Originally posted by Boof:

Would you say it's worth using?

I am definitely not going to use it... The fact that certain sounds almost completely disappear, makes it not worth it at all. I wouldn't use it even if it was free. But if 7.1 is absolutely necessary or something you enjoy, you might be ok with the sacrifices of certain sounds...

[Horpse]

YEah doesn't look great

[Ralf]

Originally posted by Arceal:

The mids are a bit... Awful, to say the least. Some sounds out right disappear completely, like the sound of rain hitting the ground. The sound of someone teleporting almost sounds like something completely different.

Great to see someone pointing out the issues. Most audiophiles I know are deaf.

[Arceal]

Originally posted by Ralf:

Originally posted by Arceal:

The mids are a bit... Awful, to say the least. Some sounds out right disappear completely, like the sound of rain hitting the ground. The sound of someone teleporting almost sounds like something completely different.

Great to see someone pointing out the issues. Most audiophiles I know are deaf.

I tried using it a little more to see if there was anything else that made it worth using, but unfortunately all I found was more flaws. A lot of sounds that have a heavy impact, like Stardiver, sounds super weak. The sound is heavily faded and that animal scream from the Stardiver attack, is also pretty weak. The sound of a lot of Black Mage attacks sound very weak and not very impactful...