Compare and contrast XBox One and PlayStation 4 from the user perspective

[Shifty Geezer]

This is the thread to compare the two new consoles. It should chiefly be targeted at the similarities and differences in user experience. There is no 'this console is best'. There is only 'this console does this, but that console does that.' Personal preference can be added as editorial ('I prefer the way this console does it') but discussion how wrong someone is in their personal preference is disallowed.

There is no technical discussion on the hardware or business talk. There is no talk of which console is more powerful. There is only the end user experience at launch.

This thread should serve as a sort of reference, where someone can read through and get a good picture of the different machines.

Edit: If you have info from one console (you own it!), eg. controller battery life and charge times, post it, and hopefully someone can provide the equivalent for the other platform.

Size comparison

 

[Shifty Geezer]

From Cyan in wrong thread...

Comparison of headset and chat quality between the two machines.
http://uk.ign.com/videos/2013/11/19/xbox-one-vs-ps4-camera-and-headset-audio-comparison

 

[Shifty Geezer]

PlayStation 4 measurements by Digital Foundry

                   Idle          Blu-ray         Gaming        Game + UI  
Max Temp            40 C           41 C           44 C           45 C  
Power Draw          80W            100W           131W           140W
Noise: Close        42dB           42dB           51dB           53dB 
Noise: 1 metre      40dB           40dB           42dB           42dB 
Noise: 3 metres     40dB           40dB           41dB           41dB

Xbox One measurements by Digital Foundry

                   Idle          Blu-ray         Gaming        Game + Install  
Max Temp            35 C           37 C           49 C           49 C  
Power Draw          65W            77W            125W           125W
Noise: Close        42dB           43dB           42dB           43dB 
Noise: 1 metre      40dB           41dB           41dB           41dB 
Noise: 3 metres     40dB           40dB           40dB           40dB

Last column is for different activities so not terribly useful. Both should about the same volume in use, although quality of sound makes a huge different (pitch of hums). Both are definitely audible if quiet; neither is 'silent'.

 

[Arwin]

From Cyan in wrong thread...

Comparison of headset and chat quality between the two machines.
http://uk.ign.com/videos/2013/11/19/xbox-one-vs-ps4-camera-and-headset-audio-comparison

I see a potential issue with that test, in that the bandwidth for audio is the primary factor clearly, and the PS4 is out in the US so may have a lot of active users clamoring that bandwidth, but the Xbox One is not out yet at all. I've had (far) better party chat sound using my Vita, and I think that uses the same infrastructure.

I may be wrong but am actually getting the impression that the PS Camera has better sound than the Kinect's camera (have always been impressed by the quality of sound that the PS Eye on PS3 was capable of - I remember playing that card game with Carl B and it was like we were together in the same room), but I can't actually hear this because the bandwidth now bringing this below phone levels (meaning less than 8khz rather than the 48khz I think the PS Camera is capable of)

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Well, we can only post info available. If people have other tests, or experiences, they are free to contribute. I can't see why PS4 would be affected by BW any more than XB1 though so it should be a fair test of what was attained at the IGN building. The compression on the headset was due to PS4's audio streaming to headset, and that was pretty heavy. Personally I heard the XB1 audio chat and though, "that's pretty bad," and then the PS4 chat and thought, "that's terrible!"

 

[Cyan]

PlayStation 4 measurements by Digital Foundry

                   Idle          Blu-ray         Gaming        Game + UI  
Max Temp            40 C           41 C           44 C           45 C  
Power Draw          80W            100W           131W           140W
Noise: Close        42dB           42dB           51dB           53dB 
Noise: 1 metre      40dB           40dB           42dB           42dB 
Noise: 3 metres     40dB           40dB           41dB           41dB

Xbox One measurements by Digital Foundry

                   Idle          Blu-ray         Gaming        Game + Install  
Max Temp            35 C           37 C           49 C           49 C  
Power Draw          65W            77W            125W           125W
Noise: Close        42dB           43dB           42dB           43dB 
Noise: 1 metre      40dB           41dB           41dB           41dB 
Noise: 3 metres     40dB           40dB           40dB           40dB

Last column is for different activities so not terribly useful. Both should about the same volume in use, although quality of sound makes a huge different (pitch of hums). Both are definitely audible if quiet; neither is 'silent'.

I guess that is kind of funny considering that silence was a much touted feature in the case of the Xbox One and I am quite surprised at how silent the PS4 is judging by those tests.

I had read Eurogamer's review before but now that you can compare the two the differences are not huge by any means.

The Xbox One certainly delivers what was promised anyways, and compared to my Xbox 360 -no matter the model nor if a disc is spinning in the drive or not, all of them sound like reactors- my Xbox One will be near inaudible !

A silent device is one of the most important things for me. In fact I throttle my laptop to 1.2-1.4GHz so the fan barely spins. I am making the most out of my time while I still have so very sensitive hearing.

EDIT: Something curious I noticed is that the Xbox One gets hotter than the PS4 when playing games, while it remains as silent as it was.

 

[DrJay24]

Power is surprisingly close, eSRAM is supposed to be low power as is DDR3 compared to GDDR5.

 

[ramr]

While I am sure many here will disagree, publicly available comparisons of multiplats invariable LOOK better to me on the xbox1 when viewed blind to which shot belongs to which console.

 

[Scott_Arm]

9 dB for game up close is a pretty big difference in what you'll perceive in terms of volume, but that obviously drops off pretty quickly as you move to a more reasonable seated position.

 

[djskribbles]

While I am sure many here will disagree, publicly available comparisons of multiplats invariable LOOK better to me on the xbox1 when viewed blind to which shot belongs to which console.

The only footage I've seen that could arguably look better on X1 was the DF BF4 footage, and that was due to improper captures and the X1 RGB range bug. If you look at the anandtech comparison with matching levels, they look pretty much the same except the PS4 version has less aliasing.

9 dB for game up close is a pretty big difference in what you'll perceive in terms of volume, but that obviously drops off pretty quickly as you move to a more reasonable seated position.

Only if you play games with no audio and your ear right by the back of the PS4.

The 'close' measurement is a literally a case of measuring the noise direct from the fan exhaust, where the PS4 is likely to be at its noisiest.

At 'normal' distances (ie 1m+) the differences are negligible.

 

[ramr]

The only footage I've seen that could arguably look better on X1 was the DF BF4 footage, and that was due to improper captures and the X1 RGB range bug. If you look at the anandtech comparison with matching levels, they look pretty much the same except the PS4 version has less aliasing.


Only if you play games with no audio and your ear right by the back of the PS4.

At 'normal' distances (ie 1m) the differences are negligible.

being an old fart, I don't notice aliasing. I find it a performance hog with no measurable benefit which is why I could play everything I tried at 1200 p on ancient AMD card.

 

[Scott_Arm]

...

Only if you play games with no audio and your ear right by the back of the PS4.

At 'normal' distances (ie 1m+) the differences are negligible.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Once you go to a reasonable distance, then you probably won't hear a difference, unless the measurements are bad, which is what someone was suggesting in another thread. Maybe MrFox?

Anyway, I wouldn't worry unless you're gaming at a desk with a monitor sitting right beside the thing.

 

[Arwin]

Well, we can only post info available. If people have other tests, or experiences, they are free to contribute. I can't see why PS4 would be affected by BW any more than XB1 though so it should be a fair test of what was attained at the IGN building. The compression on the headset was due to PS4's audio streaming to headset, and that was pretty heavy. Personally I heard the XB1 audio chat and though, "that's pretty bad," and then the PS4 chat and thought, "that's terrible!"

Well we also have twich and ustream feeds recorded with the same devices, and they sound very good. So it's an online bandwidth thing. Doesn't make it more or less of an issue (maybe more) but it's not a like-for-like test of the mic or the camera.

 

[Cyan]

9 dB for game up close is a pretty big difference in what you'll perceive in terms of volume, but that obviously drops off pretty quickly as you move to a more reasonable seated position.

What I don't understand is.... how is it possible that the PS4 volume drops off 10 dB at 3 metres and the Xbox One just drops 1dB at that distance? :smile2:

Is 40dB the volume of nature? --by that I mean environmental/atmosphere volume.

 

[warb]

I said "Xbox on" to myself as I walked in, before gathering up the remotes and switching everything on individually. That's one feature I'll appretiate.

 

[dobwal]

What I don't understand is.... how is it possible that the PS4 volume drops off 10 dB at 3 metres and the Xbox One just drops 1dB at that distance? :smile2:

Is 40dB the volume of nature? --by that I mean environmental/atmosphere volume.

Would of been nice if they would have provided a baseline of the ambient levels with the consoles off.

40 dB might be the lowest level of the enviroment.

 

[djskribbles]

They did (40dB). They said that conditions weren't completely ideal, which makes me think that it wasn't completely silent in the room, but fairly quiet.

According to this site, 40dB would be comparable to a quiet library.
http://www.sengpielaudio.com/TableOfSoundPressureLevels.htm

I think the reason why the noise from the PS4 is considerably lessened from further back is because most of the noise comes from the back/exhaust fan.

 

[MrFox]

From what I can tell, the noise comes from all sides of the PS4, part of it from the front right vent.

Please ignore the close measurement, it's useless and doesn't mean anything. You can get a 100dbA measurement from earphones and it's silent at 1m.

Subjectively I can say that after 8 hours of non-stop gaming in a 24C room, my PS4 is inaudible at 10 feet. Note that my home theater has acoustic tiles, so it reduces sound reverberations and wall reflections, that makes the distance drop-off closer to the theory than an office would. Also note that I still have left my SSD in it, so I don't have the high pitch whine and seek noise of the HDD. The HDD seek was definitely audible, but not the spindle motor.

The PS4 optical drive however gets noisy when it spins at 6x, and it takes about an hour to finish installing a game. Afterwards it never spin up again.

 

[DrJay24]

How do XB1 game installs work, like the PS4 or 360 or a hybrid?

 

[Cyan]

They did (40dB). They said that conditions weren't completely ideal, which makes me think that it wasn't completely silent in the room, but fairly quiet.

According to this site, 40dB would be comparable to a quiet library.
http://www.sengpielaudio.com/TableOfSoundPressureLevels.htm

I think the reason why the noise from the PS4 is considerably lessened from further back is because most of the noise comes from the back/exhaust fan.

Thanks, that seems to be a fair description.

Would of been nice if they would have provided a baseline of the ambient levels with the consoles off.

40 dB might be the lowest level of the enviroment.

Indeedoo, t would be, and I really want to know what might create those differences when the volume drops off.

Maybe it is because the conditions weren't ideal as djskribbles pointed out already, but I noticed re-reading the numbers again that the PS4's noise drops off by 9dB from a close distance to 1 meter. -Xbox One drops 2 dB in the same distance-. I wonder how.... :smile2: