New PS5 beta to add custom 3D audio profiles, plus ‘adaptive controller charging’ for Slim model

Sony will begin rolling out a new PS5 beta update on Thursday.

It will introduce personalised 3D audio profiles for headphones and earbuds, plus the ability to limit Remote Play access for individual users.

While these features will be available to all PS5 owners participating in the beta, another new feature, “adaptive charging” for controllers, will only be available to those who own the latest, slim PS5 model.

As with previous betas, access will be available to selected users in the US, Canada, Japan, the UK, Germany and France, and those chosen to participate will receive an email invitation when it’s ready to download.

Sony said some beta features might not make it into the final PS5 update, which is expected to be released globally “in the coming months”.

Hiromi Wakai, VP of product management at Sony Interactive Entertainment, discussed the beta features in a PlayStation Blog post published on Wednesday.

“With a set of headphones or earbuds like the Pulse Elite wireless headset or Pulse Explore wireless earbuds, you can run through a set of sound quality tests to analyse a vast number of factors to create an audio profile that best fits your hearing characteristics,” he said.

“For example, your personalized 3D audio profile may enable you to better sense the positions of characters and objects in a game world more clearly than before, making the experience more immersive.”

“You can now adjust Remote Play settings per user and choose who is allowed to connect to your PS5 console using Remote Play,” Wakai explained. “So, if your friends or family members come over and sign in to your PS5 console with their account for PlayStation Network, you can easily modify who can continue to access your PS5 console using Remote Play when they leave.”

Adaptive charging will work with the DualSense controller, DualSense Edge controller, PlayStation VR2 Sense controllers, and Access controller for beta participants using the latest PS5 model, when the console is in rest mode.

“Adaptive charging helps save power by adjusting the length of time that power is supplied to your controller based on its battery level,” Wakai said.

Sony released the latest PS5 system software update this week. It added the ability to invite other players to game sessions by sharing a URL.

Players can now also use Voice Command to open Game Help action cards by saying “Show Game Help”.

The previous PS5 system update was released in June. It introduced the ability to start or join a Discord voice chat directly from the console rather than having to use PC or mobile apps.

It also made changes to child accounts, including enabling them to link and add third-party services and apps. This process can be managed using new parental controls.