Audyssey Settings for Gaming

The Basics

I’ll assume you know how to setup Audyssey the right way, and if you don’t you have read and actioned Configuring Audyssey The Right Way.

Also, you have gone into your game console’s / PC’s audio settings and have configured the appropriate output for your gear. For example, multi-channel PCM or bitstream DTS / Dolby / Atmos / DTS:X where those are available. If not, ensure your console is outputting a Dolby Surround compatible stereo signal which can be decoded by the Dolby Surround decoder on your AVR (whether that’s Dolby Pro Logic II / IIx / IIz for older receivers or Dolby Surround decoder for newer receivers).

Receiver Configuration

The only thing you need to remember is to select the appropriate decoder for the signal that’s being output from the console or PC, especially if you are outputting stereo or 5.1 signals.

For both stereo and 5.1, ensure that upmixing is enabled (whether that’s Dolby Pro Logic II / IIx / IIz for older receivers or Dolby Surround decoder for newer receivers).

Dolby Atmos and DTS:X will normally trigger the relevant decoder but double-check under audio info that you didn’t accidentally select the core to be decoded while playing around with the remote (e.g. Dolby TrueHD or DTS HD). It has happened to me by accidentally pressing the button.

Audyssey Configuration

Once the basics are done, ensure you are switched to the input for your game console / PC as Audyssey settings are normally saved per input.

Then configure Audyssey with the following:

1. EQ Curve: Audyssey Reference if you have customised the curve using The Audyssey Mobile App (and possibly the Audyssey Curve Editor Excel Tool) or MultEQ-X for whatever reason, otherwise choose Audyssey Flat which is the correct setting by default.
2. Dynamic EQ: ON
3. Reference Level Offset (RLO): -10 (as games are authored at around 75dB mastering volume)
4. Dynamic Volume: OFF, unless you listen at night, or the game sounds too dynamic / dialogue level is really low. This is not usually an issue for me on the games I play so I put this to OFF and enable subtitles on the game so I can glance over at them just in case there’s a quiet section.

Enjoy!