Just Me? Pain from high-frequency engine audio

Forza Horizon Forza Horizon 5 FH5 Discussion
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So for months I’ve been playing and wondering if this is “Is this just me?”…for the record, this is the only game causing this problem for me and I noticed it from launch and it hasn’t gone away, and it’s time I asked if I was the only one.

Several cars in this game, not all of them, but a lot of them…when played either through my soundbar with sub or my $$$$ 7.1.2 HT system when using the louder external view, the engine sounds at the high end are actually bordering on painful to me. Even at lower volume levels.

Like a dog-whistle kind of pain…and it’s related to going up in the RPM range…it’s like…cringe…cringe…cringe as the RPM’s ramp up.

I posted in the past about the high-pitched ‘clacking sound’ months ago, which to ME sounds like they put a mic directly on the valve cover gaskets and you’re hearing the ‘clicking’ of the valves or the super high pitched whine of turbos or superchargers, and it was almost overpowering any low-end, and its most obvious in the behind-the-car view. My example in the past (which persists to this day) was a couple of the Corvettes, but I’ve noticed it on other cars, sometimes its a supercharger/turbo whine…

The in-car views muffle the sound, the hood view muffles the sound and adds wind noise, the external views really pronounce the effect.

No, I am not blasting my audio at reference levels, even if I lower down the volume to “are the kids asleep?” levels, you can hear it…but the thing is, it’s painful.
…I’m an old school metal head…I shouldn’t even HEAR these high ptiched sounds anymore :smiley:

But they are there, and they are PIERCING to me…like “ugh I have to drive in-cockpit”…

So…anyone else?

Also: No, I haven’t tried changing the Xbox’s audio output format, I usually leave it at 7.1 native but may have it ATMOS, I will try changing that. The soundbar has a “virtual surround” setting which does not change the pitch of the audio (just the size of the soundstage from the soundbar’s DSP), the 7.1.2 setup gets fed native 7.1 or ATMOS from the x-box.

Thank You

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There’s already a thread about it: https://forums.forza.net/turn10_postst171838_Please-fix-your-sound-mixing-for-5-1-and-7-1-systems.aspx

The sound mixing is broken. I don’t hear any issues using stereo earbuds.

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For me the issue isn’t the engines, but the gearbox whine. I get that it’s realistic, but people who drive cars with straight cut gears also wear ear protection. I shouldn’t have to have ear protection for a video game.

Boggles my mind how someone thought that adding gearbox whine was a good idea. At the very least give us a slider to reduce it or turn it off. I swear some of the decisions made in this game demonstrate a complete lack of critical thinking.

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Yeah I posted there, this was more specific to: Is anyone else actually experiencing pain. Like…wince pain, because I do. I’ll change cars to avoid that sound.

But I’ll try messing with the xbox audio format settings and see what happens there.

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I pretty much play with volume off, mainly due to exactly what you described.

Also, the radio/songs in game are absolute rubbish and not worth playing.

I’ve seen and heard many cars in my life and, with the exception of actual race cars or the old screaming V12’s they use to have in Formula 1, I’ve never heard any normal car make the atrociously loud and painful sounds some of the cars in this game make.

So yes, I know what the OP is getting at, and yes its irritating to the point I gave up and nearly mute my TV or PC

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Outside of this issue being annoying, I will say that even if you’ve damaged your hearing from listening to metal, hearing loss isn’t consistent across all frequencies. I can’t check the sound you’re describing because, A, I don’t have a sound bar that could replicate this, and B, I know that I HAVE damaged specifically those upper frequencies, but I know that most well-mixed audio will not have enough of those to damage (which isn’t much at all). So you may end up having some damage if you play too long with it. If there’s no fix you can do beyond going in to cockpit view, a single layer of fleece over the bar might get you a good physical LPF that won’t distort the rest of the audio too much.

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Thanks to the poster above who called out gear-whine, hadn’t thought of that. Ok at least I’m no the only person who experienced this.

Will have to see if changing the xbox audio settings affects this in some way.

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If you pay enough attention you can even notice it in some cars, specially asian cars, even using stereo headphones. I cant drive many cars beause of the horrendous pitch of some engines.

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There is a weird sound artifact i get on PC. ONLY in FH5.

SOMETIMES when driving near other cars, or driving near the crowd, there is a “fluttering” very fast(approx every .1 or .2 sec) “ssshh sshhh sshh sshhh” sound that happens. Its not an intentional engine, turbo or gearbox sound from what i can tell. It sounds like a glitch to me and its VERY annoying.

I use Sony MDR-7506 reference studio monitor headphones designed for mastering audio recordings, so i hear pretty much everything in detail and can pick apart the soundscape.

I actually had to disable most in game sounds and turned stuff like the crowd down to 10%. Engine and tire sound help me drive better so i leave them at audible levels but yes this game seems to have all kinds of audio issues that only got worse with recent updates.

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Nope. Not just you at all. It sounds pretty bad on my HT rig ( Denon X4700H + 4x Klipsch RP 8000F + 4x RP 500 SA + RP 600 C + SPL120). I have several tickets in for them to fix it, but we’ll see how that goes. I noticed that they bumped the low end a bit this last update so maybe there’s hope. The majority of these cars are just entirely too noisy and high end frequency focused in cockpit cam. Why can’t they just mix them to sound natural? I don’t get it.

What’s irritating is that there’s some cars that are mixed to sound natural. The majority of Porsches for instance sound quite good on my HT rig. I feel like they should have mixed them all the same way the AMG One is mixed. Anything less is not acceptable. Makes me feel scammed.

I’m certain that there’s currently a sound mode bug tho. Literally the only xbox sound mode that sounds right to me is 7.1 uncompressed. All others are narrower, and sound like the lower mids and bass gets sucked out.

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For any of you still following this thread, another car I have in game is the AMG S65 BiTurbo, I did some upgrades to push it to the top of A class (800) and wow the car above 6 or 7000 RPM just becomes increasingly more painful for me to listen to. …6000, 7000, 8000rpm+ and its this ultra high pitched squeal that just gets worse and worse.

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Hi Headrush,

I’m sorry to hear that you have to go through this. I’ve also had earaches for a few months now. For me it’s mainly because of the tones in the festivals, where the audience is “supporting”. On the other hand, since this week I have started to suffer more, in certain races where it is stormy or there is very strong wind and rain. I actually find it very strange that forza doesn’t let us adjust those tones/sounds individually in the game. I personally find it very annoying when you want to turn off the “audience” completely, then a lot of other sounds are gone, which I find useful at that moment while playing. I hope things get better in your case.

Regards

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Thx, not much to be done, I noticed that the internal cockpit view for the new Ferrari with the electric booster motors produces a similar high-pitched whine that is pretty much a constant irritant for me. I feel for any dogs in the area who probably hear it too :slight_smile:

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I’m surprised this is such an issue for so many. I play on a Series X with full home theater in Dolby Atmos & am blown away with how it sounds (no pun intended). I am using a 5.1 configuration with Polk Audio floor monitors, full sized PA center channel, PA rear channels & Pioneer Elite sub, driven by s Sony DN1080 AVR. I do hear the higher pitch on run outs with certain turbo/supercharger combos, which sound a bit like a jet engine at times lol but overall enjoy it. I do also play in cockpit pretty much exclusively so that may also be another factor.