Xbox Series X to have dedicated audio hardware acceleration

Microsoft hasn't missed any opportunity to mention that Xbox Series X will have a lot of digital horsepower and support resolutions up to 8K and framerates to match. What the company hasn't talked about as much is the audio - but clearly that seems to be something worth paying attention to as well.

It is thanks to the official description of Microsoft's GDC 2020 panel "Building Audio Gateways Into Immersive Worlds With Spatial Sound", we now know that Xbox Series X will, in fact, have dedicated hardware acceleration. Something that is very rare these days and not too common even in high-end gaming-PC's. Here's what to expect from the panel:

"Learn from the audio designers of Borderlands 3 and Gears of War 5 around how a collaboration between Microsoft, Dolby, and our middleware partners kicked off a revolution with spatial sound that turns any pair of headphones into a multi-dimensional gateway to another world. Attendees will dive deep into the audio design pipeline (Project Acoustics) and the relationship to dedicated hardware-acceleration on newer generation Xbox consoles."

Basically, you better get good speakers and/or an expensive headset when Xbox Series X launches, because this console will use it to the fullest. Interestingly enough, Sony also seems to be doing something similar with Playstation 5, as the architect of the hardware, Mark Cerny, last year said that it has a 3D audio chip.

To sum up: the next generation will be really good not only for the eyes, but for the ears as well.

Thanks, Wccftech.