Am I crazy, or does BF6 sound... 'flat'? Where did the 'Battlefield Feeling' go?

bad audio setup

No, it's not a setting issue, it's a big problem with their default mixing

ShadowCat97​ you are not alone , you are right , I agree with you. BF6 sounds has very big problems. It has worst echo in Battlefield history. It must be solved. 

Ruxem​ 

Why do YOU always come in having a pop at people?  Very rare do I see you saying anything helpful.

If someone gets killed you say "it's a skill issue" If you don't have anything constructive, or god forbid helpful, then don't bother posting at all.

Don't know if you're crazy but my audio sounds good.

X Series, 4k Premium Sony Bravia TV, Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones connected via Bluetooth with Dolby Atmos turned on and the highest Dynamic audio setting in game.

Driving around in a MBT sounds really freaking great, you really feel like you're operating a heavy chunk of metal. 

I think the guns can sound a little underwhelming outside but that's probably because most players are running suppressors.

But overall I have no complaints about the sounds of vehicles,  explosions, the sounds of buildings getting destroyed, gunfire, shells whizzing by, jets and choppers flying overhead and so on happening all around me.

First, yes, do check your audio setup. Being able to toggle 3D headphones/5.1/7.1 does not mean it's selected as it should, check the top right text box, it's the only way to tell whether it's actually working. 

Secondly, I assume you selected the right mix. I like the war tapes, but it depends on taste.  

And thirdly... Well, yeah, there are some audio issues with the game. I don't think it feels flat, not when set up right, but for example, I often get the wrong gun sound when being hit. It happens most often when I'm shot by one player then another, it's like the game does not bother to load the correct sound: first one will shoot me with say an SMG, next with a shotgun, but I'll get the sound of the SMG twice. 

As for faraway sounds, it'll depend greatly on what's going around you. I believe they have reworked the priorities following player complaints, and all it takes is a few footsteps - including from allies - and faraway sounds will disappear.

It still does not feel like what you describe, so yes, do please check your setup. But it can still do with improvements for sure. 

Thank you, brother! I hope dice can realize this

Appreciate you dropping your setup here — that’s a seriously nice chain, and it makes total sense you’re loving the near-field immersion! The MBT weight and building crunches are definitely the strongest parts of the mix right now, no argument there.

Funny enough, this is exactly the gap I dug into in the original post — I’m not knocking close/mid-range stuff at all. Even on my own rig (PC, Audeze LCD-X, Dolby Atmos on, max dynamic range), the whizzing shells and overhead jets feel solid up close. Where it falls apart is distant sound in large-scale matches: prone 200m from a tank scrap, there’s zero reverb bouncing off ridges or city blocks, and teammate third-person gunfire is so quiet it gets drowned out by wind. Worse, 500m-out gunfire blurs into a single “pew” even with unsuppressed weapons — you can’t tell a sniper crack from an AR chatter anymore, which is what I wrote about in paragraph 3 of the main post.

Totally agree on suppressors dulling volume — that part’s intentional! But the distant ID and reverb gaps persist either way. One small note: Bluetooth audio can sometimes compress the subtle spatial reflections and low-end roll-off that make distant sounds feel “alive”, which might be why the far-field stuff isn’t jumping out on your end even with top gear. DICE even called out distance-based acoustics as a tweak in 1.1.3.0, so it’s a known gap in the default mix, not a settings/gear issue.

Next time you’re prone on a big map, give a listen to far-off fights — if you notice that “flat” silence past 200m, you’ll see exactly what I mean! Either way, super helpful to see how different setups handle the mix — thanks for chiming in.

Fair points! The wrong hit sound bug you mentioned is real — DICE already patched similar issues in 1.1.1.0 where "vehicle-hit reactions sometimes played incorrect or processed hurt sounds". So that one's on their radar.

But here's the thing: I've checked my setup thoroughly (3D headphones confirmed active in the top-right indicator, Dolby Atmos on, Default Mix selected). The issue isn't whether spatial audio works — it's that the default mix itself compresses distant layers. When you said "all it takes is a few footsteps and faraway sounds disappear," you're describing exactly the priority problem I'm talking about: the mix is choosing near-field clarity at the expense of far-field scale, instead of layering both.

That's not a settings fix — DICE themselves listed "distance-based acoustics" and "distant world reflections" as specific tweaks in 1.1.3.0, which wouldn't be necessary if it were just user config. They're tuning the engine-level mix, which is exactly what I'm asking for.

We're mostly on the same page — audio needs work. I just don't think "check your setup" is the answer when the devs are already rewriting the distance model internally.

To be clear, I've repeated the "check your setup" line a few times because frankly, it's not intuitive at all. I had an issue myself - my sampling rate was too high - and so played a few months without 3D sound without realizing it.

Have you tried the other mixes? They won't solve the problems per se, but they certainly make the battlefield sound grander than the default mix.

But as for DICE fixing it, I'm not holding my breath. The reworked priority has had bad consequences, but it is better than the alternative; it was mind boggling to hear a tank in the distance but not someone right behind you. But on top of that, they've changed their tech: my understanding is that sound used to be managed entirely by the game in previous iterations. That bad interface we have now is because they're relying much more on the OS for BF6.

And Windows kind of sucks when it comes to quality sound. You CAN get there is you know where to fiddle - I assume you maybe listen to high rez music if you use an LCD-X and paid for Dolby ATMOS - but it's just not a great platform. 

I'm spitballing somewhat here, I've never dealt with coding audio on Windows, but it's definitely not the OS of choice in that regard.