Reading this publication proceeds on the terms below. They set out what an audio score claims, what our decibel figures and subtitle grades actually describe, how this work may be reused, and where our responsibility ends.
Every page here records a judgement. An audio score states our assessment of how well a game's sound serves a player, and a reader who accepts our tables may still reach a different conclusion from them. Nothing published here guarantees how a game will sound on your equipment in your room.
Decibel gaps, dynamic range notes, positional test results and subtitle grades describe our own listening passes, on the builds we tested, through the chain described on our approach page. Different headphones, a different room or a different reference level will produce different figures.
Our measurements are taken by ear at a fixed reference level using ordinary consumer equipment, not in a treated room with laboratory instrumentation. They are careful, repeatable comparisons between games rather than absolute acoustic specifications, and should be read as such.
Nothing here is advice about listening levels or hearing protection. Where we describe a game as having a wide dynamic range or a startling incident, that is a description of the mix and not a recommendation about the volume at which anyone should play. Readers are responsible for their own listening habits.
Where we record that a game's subtitles fail a criterion, we are applying the definitions published on our approach page to the build we tested. That is an argued position rather than a statement about the software's internals, and we publish the criteria precisely so that it can be contested or superseded by a patch.
Short quotations in articles, videos, reviews and discussion are welcome provided The Audio Pass is credited and the quotation is not cut so as to reverse its meaning. Reproducing a full review or survey, translating one without permission, or using this publication's text to train commercial machine learning systems is not permitted.
Audio scores and measured figures must not be used in advertising, on storefront pages or in promotional material. A decibel figure divorced from the procedure that produced it is unusable, and presenting it that way misrepresents both the finding and the work behind it.
Every photograph, illustration and the emblem were produced for this site and remain ours. None is a screenshot and none should be presented as depicting any game. Names of games, studios, publishers and equipment manufacturers belong to their owners and appear here for identification and critical commentary only, with no affiliation or endorsement implied in either direction.
This publication sells nothing whatsoever. There is no shop, subscription, membership, donation facility or advertising inventory, so no order, payment, refund or delivery can arise between us. Any approach purporting to trade under this name is unconnected with the publication.
The site is provided as it stands. We give no undertaking that it will remain available, that older surveys will stay published, or that internal links will survive reorganisation. Reviews may be corrected, annotated, re-passed after a patch, or withdrawn at editorial discretion.
To the fullest extent the applicable law allows, we accept no liability for loss or damage arising from reliance on anything published here, including games or equipment purchased or avoided on the strength of a score. A measurement informs a decision; it does not make one on your behalf.
Pages occasionally reference material published by others. Those sites lie outside our control, we make no representation about their accuracy or continued existence, and their own terms apply to you from the moment you follow the link.
This page is revised as the publication's practice develops. Whatever text appears when you load it is the text that governs your use, and continuing to read after a revision means proceeding under the current version rather than any earlier one.
Statutory consumer protections are unaffected by anything written above. Where the law in your jurisdiction grants rights that cannot be limited by agreement, those rights apply in full, and every provision here operates only within the space that law permits.
