@raski0611 Thanks raski, I am overjoyed that ubi are finally here with us and have acknowledge the issue. Definitely a great step forwards.

• Did you start to play Valhalla before the initial game updates were released?

I started playing a day after release, and also tried playing after the latest patch. Had to stop both times as the audio sounds muffled or tinny, as if it was heavily compressed.

• What is your platform, and if on PC, what are your system specs? (CPU, GPU, RAM, etc.)

Xbox Series X.

• What is your audio set-up? Are you using a headset (wired or wireless?), a speaker system, a surround sound system, etc.?

Using a wireless headset, Astro A50. Optical from Astro base station is connected to my TV's optical output, as the new consoles don't have an optical out. I've also tried using the TV speakers but the poor quality audio was still noticeable.

• What audio output is in use? 7.1, 5.1, Surround, Stereo?

Tried the following settings on Xbox: stereo uncompressed, and bitstream out > Dolby Digital, issue persists on both. Other games sound fine. Also tried Dolby Atmos for headphones and Windows Sonic, but I do not like how they sound compared to Dolby Digital on the Astro's.

• A video demonstrating the issues you are experiencing.

Almost every sound in the game sounds like it is affected. The sound is not coming through clearly as it did in Odyssey for example. I am reinstalling Odyssey right now to compare, but this affects walking on snow, swinging weapons, combat sounds, ambient sounds, dialogue, and music. Wouldn't really know what to record as its the whole game.


I am also going to try using some sennheisers and sony headphones once Odyssey is installed and compare them all.

@ubi-woofer Thank you, and it would be a pleasure.

• Mobo: ASUS ROG Maximus X Hero Wi-Fi
• CPU: Intel Core i7-8700K
• RAM: G Skill TridentZ DDR3-3200 16 GB
• GFX Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER FTW3 HYBRID
• Sound: Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 USB sound device
• Speakers: Mackie MR624 6.5" Powered Studio Monitors
• Headphones: Beyerdynamic DT-770 PRO Headphones
• OS: Windows 10 Pro 20H2 build 19042.630
• NVIDIA Driver: 457.30

Running on a totally clean system.

@TheRealDaemon Cheers for these answers, they've been submitted to the developers now!

@CaptainStarPaw Thank you very much I've amended my message to the developers to include your specs so now they should have the full information they need from yourself, in addition to your write-ups. If I hear anything in response I'll update the thread again.

To everyone - I will continue to pass on your submissions in answer to the questions I posted previously, but may not reply to acknowledge each and every one. I'll check back in as regularly as I can to update you on our investigation and acknowledge submissions however.

@ubi-woofer

• Did you start to play Valhalla before the initial game updates were released?

I have played on first release and after each patch.

• What is your platform, and if on PC, what are your system specs? (CPU, GPU, RAM, etc.)

Playstation 5

• What is your audio set-up? Are you using a headset (wired or wireless?), a speaker system, a surround sound system, etc.?

I’m using an Artics 7P from steelSeries, but I had the same issue with my wired headset HyperX Cloud Alpha. I didn’t try with the TV or my soundbar.

• What audio output is in use? 7.1, 5.1, Surround, Stereo?

On the PS5 audio config, I tried with and without 3D audio, Linear PCM, Bitstream (Dolby) and Bitstream (DTS).

• A video demonstrating the issues you are experiencing.

I stopped playing at the first mission of the game, all sounds were bad like described in the topic (Like a bad MP3)

@ubi-woofer

Started playing 30.11.2020 (version 1.0.4) downloaded from Ubisoft Connect.

PC specs:

• Mobo: ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming
• CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K @4,6GHz
• RAM: Corsair VENGEANCE LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4 DRAM 3000MHz C15
• GFX Card: MSI GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER VENTUS OC
• Sound: Stereo from VoiceMeeter Potato -> ASIO driver for Cambridge Audio DacMagic Plus + S.M.S.L SP200
• Headphones: Beyerdynamic DT-770 PRO and Philips SHP9500 Headphones
• Speakers: Logitech Z623
• OS: Windows 10 Pro 20H2 build 19042.630
• NVIDIA Driver: 456.38

Can't record gameplay.

Did you start to play Valhalla before the initial game updates were released?

• Started playing with Patch 1.03 (After Patch 1.04 same audio issues) I upgraded from the PS4 Disk Edition to the PS5 Digital Version

What is your platform, and if on PC, what are your system specs? (CPU, GPU, RAM, etc.)

• Playstation 5

What is your audio set-up? Are you using a headset (wired or wireless?), a speaker system, a surround sound system, etc.?

• Sony Platinum Wireless Headset (3D Sound)

What audio output is in use? 7.1, 5.1, Surround, Stereo?

• Settings do not make difference

A video demonstrating the issues you are experiencing:

• All videos here representing the audio issue [Can not play this great story game with these horrible sound issues ]

Did you start to play Valhalla before the initial game updates were released?

• Started playing with Patch 1.03 (After Patch 1.04 same audio issues) I upgraded from the PS4 Disk Edition to the PS5 Digital Version

What is your platform, and if on PC, what are your system specs? (CPU, GPU, RAM, etc.)

• Playstation 5

What is your audio set-up? Are you using a headset (wired or wireless?), a speaker system, a surround sound system, etc.?

• Sony Platinum Wireless Headset (3D Sound)

What audio output is in use? 7.1, 5.1, Surround, Stereo?

• Settings do not make difference

A video demonstrating the issues you are experiencing:

• All videos here representing the audio issue [Can not play this great story game with these horrible sound issues ]

I’m the same as above (@currywurst120), but I’m using the Steelseries 7X

Did you start to play Valhalla before the initial game updates were released?

• Started playing on 1.02

What is your platform, and if on PC, what are your system specs? (CPU, GPU, RAM, etc.)

• Playstation 4

What is your audio set-up? Are you using a headset (wired or wireless?), a speaker system, a surround sound system, etc.?

• 5.1 and Sony Platinum Wireless Headset

What audio output is in use? 7.1, 5.1, Surround, Stereo?

• Settings do not make difference

I noticed the audio issues right away. Everything has a low-res sound to it and the audio stutters/cuts out from time to time.

• Did you start to play Valhalla before the initial game updates were released?

I played for the first time on PS5 launch day.

• What is your platform, and if on PC, what are your system specs? (CPU, GPU, RAM, etc.)

PlayStation 5

• What is your audio set-up? Are you using a headset (wired or wireless?), a speaker system, a surround sound system, etc.?

I have soundbar under my television, and also play sometimes with a recently purchased set of Bose wireless headphones. My audio experience on both of them is similar.

• What audio output is in use? 7.1, 5.1, Surround, Stereo?

5.1

Like many others here, my sound experience is universally very poor. Dialogue sounds muffled, sound effects sound crackly or crunchy, in general it sounds like the world is very 'echoey'. Anything with water sounds, in particular, sound *quite* bad.

Any news on how/when they might fix it?

Is it even realistic to hope for an rebalenced hd audio pack update?

Just want to know if i should delete it from my ssd harddrive for now and check back in a few weeks/months if game enjoyable.

how/when they might fix it?

Same question here. I didn't started to play this game because of the sound issue.

I can't believe that the game is released with such a bad sound quality, that's even worse than in the skyrim special edition. Just the step noises prevent me from wanting to play the game. thumb down ubi

@raski0611 Short answer? No! Long answer? No!
If by now Ubisoft is failing to admit that the game has bad audio, and are still requesting examples from players, it only means that they are not going to fix anything, since it would be very straight forward to just release an audio HD pack to sort the issue. Sadly this thread will get nowhere

@shuar

I cant upvote your post.
The truth in it hurts too much...

@Shuar @Raski0611 I think that problem is a little bigger than just HD sound pack. Game is unable to balance direction of the sound, find which sample should be played louder and when etc. Looks like to resolve the issue they would need not only to release HD audio pack but also rework current sound mechanic. Probably big,expensive and time consuming task. Looking at sound quality of the game (and seriously-the same issue is almost in every gameplay movie on YT, maybe a litte less noticeable due to additional YT compression but still present) I cannot believe that no one noticed that earlier. I think that some business decisions have been made and game was released as it was, that's why no one in UBI wants to admit that there is bad audio. From their perspective audio is "as designed" or agreed before release. Their focus is on quest bugs and all smaller issues. Bad audio is not even marked in "Known issues" thread and they are acting as the don't know what a problem we have with their sound design.
I am angry. I bought this game and only wasted time on attempts to find some workaround for this terrible audio. Everyday I'm entering this forum hoping for some fix or any status update from ubisoft. It's been almost a month.

I feel exactly the same way. Angry and disappointed.

Reinstalled Odyssey the other day to compare and the game sounds crystal clear for the most part on exactly the same setup. Still only played 3 hours of Valhalla as it sounds atrocious.

@Ubi-Woofer

When will we have an real answer for this ? This topic is opened since one month.

This denial tactic and please be patience advise is richtige scheiße!

Shame on you ubisoft for selling betahalla with audio from hell, shame on me if i buy another game from you.

@Ubi-Woofer Any news about sound issue? do you have any status update?