BF3 Positional Audio Tip

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Blackstone

2[H]4U
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Whatever your audio solution is, be it dedicated sound card, external dac, whatever, make sure Windows or your audio control panel is set to 48KHz playback, which is the native format for BF3's audio. If you are all the way up to 96 or down to 44.1 the OS will resample the audio and you will get quality degradation. This is my experience with a VERY high end headphone and speaker setup.
 
I will give it a try. Are you sure it might not be related to your particular sound/card/dAC?
 
How do I adjust to 48Khz using the X-Fi Forte in game mode, is it enabled by default?
 
iTravis said:
How do I adjust to 48Khz using the X-Fi Forte in game mode, is it enabled by default?
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Right-click your Windows volume icon at the bottom-right of screen. Click "Playback devices", right-click on your output device you're using here and select Properties, under the Advanced tab you should be able to select your audio format.
 
Also, I'm not sure if you noticed... But, When using my 5.1 setup, the LFE would not work until I turned OFF the "Enhanced Stereo Mode" and used home cinema.

It sounds much better after that, and I can definitely tell there is a difference with positional audio.
 
djoye said:
Right-click your Windows volume icon at the bottom-right of screen. Click "Playback devices", right-click on your output device you're using here and select Properties, under the Advanced tab you should be able to select your audio format.
Click to expand...

Thanks man, I just checked and it's enabled by default :D
 
Mine was only at 44,100 (CD Quality), changed it to 48000 (DVD Quality) now, thanks! :)
 
thanks...what are everyones sound prefs? war tapes, hi-fi, home cinema? I'm using klipsch promedia 5.1 and I think i like war tapes best
 
Blackstone said:
Whatever your audio solution is, be it dedicated sound card, external dac, whatever, make sure Windows or your audio control panel is set to 48KHz playback, which is the native format for BF3's audio. If you are all the way up to 96 or down to 44.1 the OS will resample the audio and you will get quality degradation. This is my experience with a VERY high end headphone and speaker setup.
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16 bit or 24 bit?
 
soundaf.jpg
 
i dont get it why not have it at 96 i use logitech z680 5.1 and can hear the position fine dont have xfi crystalizer or xmss on either..
Titanium HD
 
96KHz would only work for sources that are encoded in 96KHz, which isn't very many. Even Blu-Rays aren't even encoded at 96KHz. 48KHz is pretty standard across all sources I believe.
 
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so how would it sound better if i set it to 48 i dont get it if the stuff im playing only supports 48 not 96 then it would play back in 48 or because i set it at 96 it will upmix everything not 96 natively to that??
 
ya this guy says it sounds better monkey see money do i didnt change it from 96 to 48 and wont unless i know for a fact it does something..
 
criccio said:
From an audio engineering stand point this thread makes me want to tear my eyes out.
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I can see no reason why changing the sampling rate would affect positional audio. Audio quality in some very minor, nondescript ways, maybe. Even that would be hard to quantify.

All the same, if the positional audio is anything like BC2, you might as well be playing the game with a fishbowl on your head between your ears and your headphones because it is fucking completely worthless.
 
If the OS is set to 96, all source material gets upconverted to 96. From an audiophile standpoint, this is bad. It is simply additional processing that is not needed, and in my experience, it does have a negative impact on the sound. I observed this during the.
Beta. When retail launched, I noticed the sound was not as good as the beta, and sure enough, my audio control panel had reverted back to 96 somehow. Set it back to 48 and sure enough, the quality is back. It sounds insane, but realize my gear is sensitive. I'm not saying you will experience this, but if you want the best setting, 96khz is not it. Native 48khz all the way.

This is also why something called WASAPI was invented for music player software, to bypass the windows control panel and insure that audio files are always being played in their native format.
 
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expound please criccio. I have really low low sound in bf3 with an auzentech prelude card. Everything else is fine except bf3. I will try the 24/16 @ 48Hz I guess. I was already set at 16/48
 
BTW if you guys are using 5.1 you gotta DISABLE "enhanced stereo". It's MUCH better bass and surround.
 
polive said:
BTW if you guys are using 5.1 you gotta DISABLE "enhanced stereo". It's MUCH better bass and surround.
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Actually, I believe with enhanced stereo on, you don't even get the rear channels. I noticed that something didn't sound right after playing the first 2 levels.

I'd love to know what the differences are between Hi-Fi, War Tapes, Home Cinema, etc.
 
XdVeLoPeX said:
so how would it sound better if i set it to 48 i dont get it if the stuff im playing only supports 48 not 96 then it would play back in 48 or because i set it at 96 it will upmix everything not 96 natively to that??
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It should work that way, but it doesn't. If you set to 96 EVERYTHING by default gets resampled to 96. The only exception I am aware of is if the software you are using is designed to bypass this. For example, my J River Media Center software uses a protocol that ensures that files are played at their native sampling rate. Battlefield 3 does not do this. I know this because I use an external USB DAC/Processor that has a display that reports what sampling rate is being used. On BF3, if the control panel is set for 96 it shows 96. If I set it to for 48, it reports 48. But the sound files in BF3 are 16 bit 48Khz, so if you have your system set to 96 the operating system is changing the audio to 96. It is doing additional processing. But this only introduces degradation of the source material. I found the audio was better in 48KHz mode and in particular the positional audio.
 
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I'm using headphones so I just have that set to headphones, enhanced stereo off, and everything sounds great to me.

I haven't dialed down my sound settings to 48, either.


datamage said:
Actually, I believe with enhanced stereo on, you don't even get the rear channels. I noticed that something didn't sound right after playing the first 2 levels.

I'd love to know what the differences are between Hi-Fi, War Tapes, Home Cinema, etc.
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Same although I tend to shy away from most post processing.



I got the idea enhanced stereo is for situations where people want to force two channel even in multichannel setups. Am I right?
 
So, if I'm using Logitech G35 7.1 surround headphones, how should I setup my Audio? Should I disable Enhanced stereo? I'll test on and off later and see how it goes.
 
Definitely disable Enhanced Stereo if you sure running a true multi-channel setup. The extra channels WILL NOT WORK if you have this enabled.
 
KenG10 said:
So, if I'm using Logitech G35 7.1 surround headphones, how should I setup my Audio? Should I disable Enhanced stereo? I'll test on and off later and see how it goes.
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I'm in the same boat. God forbid they actually put "5.1," "7.1" or "2.1" in the options, or actually explain what things like "hi-fi" and "war tapes" do.
 
Q-BZ said:
I'm using headphones so I just have that set to headphones, enhanced stereo off, and everything sounds great to me.

I haven't dialed down my sound settings to 48, either.




Same although I tend to shy away from most post processing.



I got the idea enhanced stereo is for situations where people want to force two channel even in multichannel setups. Am I right?
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure you don't have a choice, you have to choose a type of audio mode. By default, it's on HI-FI. (at least it was for me.)
 
Ok, heres my setup

Auzentech Prelude > DTS > toslink > Harman Kardan > 5.1 home theater (varying polks).

What would be the best setup for me? Also, whats this "war tapes" mode that everyone keeps mentioning. I wish positional was better in this game, and I feel like maybe with some advice as to settings, I can make it so (the first step being to turn off that damn "stereo enhance" mode which was on by default)
 
Well if you have a true 5.1 setup, using Home Cinema would provide the best sound since I'm pretty sure that outputs the individual channels.
 
Both Hi-Fi and Home Cinema seem to output 5.1 just fine for me. Haven't really noticed a difference between the two. Haven't tried War Tapes yet, but from what other members are saying it just makes everything overly loud.
 
MavericK96 said:
Both Hi-Fi and Home Cinema seem to output 5.1 just fine for me. Haven't really noticed a difference between the two. Haven't tried War Tapes yet, but from what other members are saying it just makes everything overly loud.
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I tried both Hi-Fi and Home Cinema also, and I agree that they both sounded pretty much the same. I played with Hi-Fi in the beta and it was fine, and I'm using Home Cinema now, and it is also fine. Sure would be nice to know the real difference though - when did making a manual worth a damn become an anathema to developers?
 
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