Tested a few more games last night.
1. Ghost of Tsushima
So far it's still the best game out of Sony's first party library for this 3D audio. It already sounded great but this now it sounds even more filling. I used it as reference to calibrate the decibel levels on each of my surround speakers.
2. Days Gone
I played this for about 30 - 45 minutes or so. Nothing incredible was happening but definitely added more of a 3D space to the world. One cutscene I watched took place in a cabin and the audio certainly boomed a little bit more than it would have on regular PCM. It basically sounded like the sound was reflecting off the interior walls and ceiling which didn't exactly sound great but it is what it is. But again I've noticed that this 3D audio implementation doesn't allow the user to lock dialogue to the center channel speaker and it's very annoying hearing voices come out of left, right and center all at once.
I didn't get a thunderstorm though unfortunately and I have a feeling that the audio for that specifically will sound better than any other game.
3. The Last of Us Part 1
Now you would think that Naughty Dog would have the best version of this 3D audio because they are wizards and there soundscapes usually sound better than any other game the majority of the time. It doesn't seem to be the case here especially since the back environment audio is very quiet when setting the game to max dynamic range. Now of course I could change the settings and make the dynamic range more narrow which I may try later on but I don't prefer that at all in any game and my system is perfectly capable to using the maximum setting. This game also features an even worse case of dialogue coming from front channels along with the center and you can almost hear it overlapping with an echo, super annoying. I did however get some also height channel water drops falling from the interior roof of the Pittsburgh hotel into the water below men, now that sounded fucking awesome.
4. Cyberpunk 2077
Pretty decent implantation. All sounds are very evenly spaced throughout the environment. When V talks the sound seems like it plays from every speaker like you're inside his head which is honestly pretty cool. Other NPC's voices can be a bit loud though in conversations. But other than that walking around the city sounds great especially with Chinese announcements echoing through the streets.
And last but certainly not least...
5. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
Seriously, wow and wow. I thought this would sound like it always does which is pretty great but oh man this sounds awesome with Atmos turned on! It definitely doesn't support Atmos itself natively but CoD always used Dolby Digital for mastering their audio. The soundscape is greatly enhanced. From enemy ships zooming by you, getting shot at in a cockpit of a Jackal, the audio of other soldiers and crewmates to the wind swept cliffs of Mars. The audio is outstanding now and I was not expecting it. It made the game I love even better.
It's seeming like more and more that they will really have to refine this to make these games sound better in the future. It is only a Beta after all so hopefully that happens.
Edit: Forgot I played some more.
