PS4’s Lack of Dedicated Audio Processor Compared To Xbox One Doesn’t Really Result In Limitations

Audiokinetic's Mike Drummelsmith speaks on the positives and negatives of a dedicated processor.

Though Microsoft has made Kinect an option for Xbox One consumers, no longer bundling the motion camera with the console, an extraordinary amount of work went into its design. This was further facilitated by the extensive improvements made to voice recognition and sound. In fact, the Xbox One features an on-board audio processor to help in this regard while the PS4 doesn’t. But does that really result in limitations to the latter as a result?

GamingBolt had a chance to speak to Audiokinetic senior sales representative Mike Drummelsmith, which created the Wwise middleware. On being asked about the lack of an on-board audio processor for the PS4 and whether it resulted in limitations, Drummelsmith replied, “Not really. Having extra hardware is nice, since it makes some things ‘free’ from a performance standpoint. However, extra hardware can also add complexity into the mix that makes it more difficult to diagnose issues and maintain full control over your audio pipeline.

“As soon as you hand off something to a dedicated processor and say ‘do something with this’, you’re pretty much bound to whatever that processor does! Both Xbox One and PS4 have each presented their own challenges and benefits, but we’re nicely on top of each (and we have a ton of current-gen games in development, running the gamut from small indies to massive AAA titles).”

What are your thoughts on the same? Let us know in the comments.

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