Wii noisier than Xbox 360 and PS3, says sound meter test

by Vladimir Cole { Jan 15th 2007 at 2:45PM }

According to readings taken with an analog sound meter that audio geeks like to use to calibrate their home theater systems, the Wii is the loudest of the three consoles when reading disc-based media. Surprised? Us too.

[Via Engadget]

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Fred T @ Jan 15th 2007 2:49PM

lol .. the Wii doesnt have an HDD. Case, dismissed.

Kesh @ Jan 15th 2007 2:50PM

Shouldn't you be using the sum total of the decibals from all three bars? If so wouldn't the PS3 be noisier?

G99 @ Jan 15th 2007 2:51PM

Seriously? No way. I have now heared all three systems and own two of them in my home [360/Wii]. the 360 is by far the worst with the Wii being the most quiet. The Wii does have a startup sound when the disc revs up, but after that it is barely noticeable.

I am betting this person just recorded the max decibel result total and not the average sound of the system running. Meaning that the Wii had the biggest "spike" of sound. Even if it does last less than a second or two.

JodyAnthony @ Jan 15th 2007 2:51PM

Disc drive noise levels:

360: 59
PS3: 61
Wii: 68
Dreamcast: 923

WHRRRRRR KCHHHHK WHRRRRRR

Oobgarm @ Jan 15th 2007 2:51PM

To counterbalance this travesty, they should compare the DS and PSP in the same category.

[/sarcasm]

Blink @ Jan 15th 2007 2:55PM

What about "Fans"? The 360 trumps the others in that category.

Though I do admit, the Wii clunks and clanks a lot when loading up.

Anni @ Jan 15th 2007 2:59PM

Uh, your headline isn't exactly fair, wouldn't you say? It's noisier in one category, according to that chart, but it's less noisy in the other two categories. That hardly makes it "noisier" by default.

KR @ Jan 15th 2007 3:00PM

Sounds right. The Wii is louder on paper (meaning it hits the highest peak), but the 360 is loudest in "real world" use thanks to the fans.

Periodical @ Jan 15th 2007 3:01PM

Alright I made a really long post about this on Kotaku, but they apparently didn't think it passed muster as a first comment. Many problems with how this was done. The SPL meter doesn't measure the same range of frequencies as human hearing, and doesn't account for critical bands in our hearing which cause certain frequencies to be +-30dB off of an objective reading to our ears. Sounds around 1khz are recieved well by the ears, but below 60hz and above 3khz are weak. Worse, the SPL meter is in contact with the shelf the systems are on, and sound propogates differently through air than through wood or plastic, etc. Frequencies that travel well through solid matter have great difficulty in air. Getting that close is not a good idea in the first place, because waves travel in every direction, so the farther you get the less concentrated the waves are. If you really want to know what's louder, beg borrow and steal, then set them up next to each other. Ears > poorly set up SPL meter for telling us what is louder.

Vince @ Jan 15th 2007 3:02PM

Whats weird, my Wii was perfectly silent until I dropped it, now it clanks and clacks when playing a game. Not loudly, but noticeable when I'm playing COD3 and F-Zero GX.

Hey, I've been visiting this site since '05 but I still don't get one thing... when I confirm my message @ email, it gives me some password to avoid confirmation... but neglects to mention where I enter said password. Can someone answer this question for me?

What The @ Jan 15th 2007 3:03PM

This is the most absurd thing i think i have ever read. The 360 is at least 4x as loud as the PS3.

Virtua Fanboy @ Jan 15th 2007 3:05PM

Wow, who would've thought. Now let's listen to Wii owners piss, moan and shit their pants over this one.

rbk @ Jan 15th 2007 3:05PM

This doesn't make any sense. I have both a Wii and a 360 and there is no contest over the louder console.

As someone mentioned earlier, perhaps they only measured the peak sound output. At times the Wii can be loud, but it generally lasts about a half-second or so. The 360's fans are consistently loud, while the Wii is near silent when running, which makes the "baseline" reading completely inaccurate.

The loud sounds coming from the Wii are due to the system reading the disc. I can believe that the sounds from the Wii reading media is the loudest, but again that only lasts for a split second.

Finally, and most importantly, the WII DOES NOT HAVE A HARD DRIVE. That reading is complete false, perhaps even fabricated. Wii uses internal flash storage, which is silent. That number they have up there simply DOES NOT EXIST.

It's pretty shameful for you guys at Joystiq to even post this. You should realize that this report doesn't make sense. Even if someone you missed the memo that the Wii doesn't have a hard drive, someone should have at least realized, from their experience with the consoles, that the Wii is not loud at all.

Way to go!

Padriac @ Jan 15th 2007 3:09PM

If you read the actual article you'll notice the testing wasn't exactly done in a valid manner (moving the microphone depending on system, fan speed confounded with fan noise, etc.). The only thing that can be concluded from these results is that somebody needs to do a more valid decibel check.

lucifer @ Jan 15th 2007 3:12PM

is it only me, but i like hearing my games load... makes me feel confident the games machine is actually working. like when you boot up a computor, if you dont hear any hard drive going, im like, WHAT THE, wheres the noise?

The Intangible Fact @ Jan 15th 2007 3:14PM

Why would they lie about something like this idiots.
Stop defending you POS console.

Wii-Pos! only good games that come out are mario/zelda.
PS3-POS! only ports for 360 games
360-BAMF! great games, good price!

Daniel @ Jan 15th 2007 3:17PM

I disagree. I have all three, use them almost equally and I find the PS3 is the quietest, the Wii a close second, and the 360 a distant third. A few noises pop up here and there on Wii, especially when starting and stopping a Wii game, but otherwise it's extremely quiet. PS3 gets quite hot, but I still can't believe how quiet it is.

Lorben @ Jan 15th 2007 3:18PM

I don’t even have a Wii and I know this test is bogus. The Wii uses a SD card, not a hard drive. SD cards have no moving parts and are incapable of making noise. Any readings they were getting during the hard drive test were not coming from the SD card.

Mark @ Jan 15th 2007 3:19PM

Periodical nailed it on the head: there are serious problems with this test that have severely colored the results. I'm a sound designer with a console games developer (won't say who, but we're in development on 360 and PS3 currently), and I have all three consoles sitting in my living room at home. While I have not conducted an accurate test, based upon personal experience the 360 is the loudest. It's also the most-played, so believe me I'm not biased against it.

Setting the SPL meter on the shelf makes it very susceptible to transmission of waves, which will cause all sorts of problems. Also, he is right in saying that the SPL meter will not take into account the inherent frequency response curve of the human ear (fletcher-munson curves anyone?), and there are two schools of thought among sound engineers as to whether these should be considered or not (as they are an approximation, due to the differences in the hearing of every human). So, while something may appear louder on paper, our perception of the systems' loudness may be dramatically different.

There are way too many variables in this, and I would not attempt to conduct a scientific test of this sort. I don't have the environment to conduct it in nor the desire to waste half a week getting it done. However, I can tell you that from discussion with colleagues (the majority of which are audio professionals in the game, tv or film industries), the general feeling is that the Xbox 360 is the loudest of the three consoles.

alexanderwales @ Jan 15th 2007 3:21PM

"Why would they lie about something like this idiots."

It's not a lie, it's poor science - and it's being criticized as such. Like in the 1800s when it was wrongly concluded that yellow fever wasn't caused by mosquitoes. Yep, exactly like that.

Petey @ Jan 15th 2007 3:22PM

What he forgot to mention, is that the peak of db with the Wii happens when you jump into hyperspace, breaking at the same time the light barrier just before reaching the 5th dimension with a bang :D ... gimme a break, shame on you Joystiq for posting such a grotesque story without even questioning it, it's pretty obvious that these reading are a) very inacurate or b) just a hoax... & lol at the fanboys grasping every little bit of news in disfavour of the Wii, even this far-fetched one!!! lol

Cabcru @ Jan 15th 2007 3:26PM

It had a graph. Vlad got wood. End of story.

Fatass of Kickassness @ Jan 15th 2007 3:26PM

Heh, the only Intangible Fact here is that #16 is an idiot.

Slipstream Drifter @ Jan 15th 2007 3:37PM

lol, posted by Vlad Cole, Joystiq's resident Nintendo hater.

The Intangible Fact @ Jan 15th 2007 3:38PM

@ 23
Truth hurts buddy. Any rational gamer will tell you that 360 is the console choice this gen. Most of you young punks just started gaming back when PS2 came out. Give me a good reason why 360 isn't better than Wii/PS3 and I will hush my mouth.

Tel Prydain @ Jan 15th 2007 3:38PM

Okay, silly people – you’re reading the chart wrong. The HDD column shows the total noise present when accessing internal storage – you don’t add it to the base-line total.
They KNOW that the Wii has no hard drive: Which is why the hard-drive noise level is EXACTLY THE SAME as the base-line noise level. Because the Wii makes no ADDITIONAL noise when accessing the information on it’s internal storage.

mgroves @ Jan 15th 2007 3:39PM

I've never heard a PS3, but I was shocked at how noisy the Xbox 360 was, although apparently the one I heard had an additional fan and a HD-DVD add-on, so whatever.

The Wii is suprisingly quiet if you ask me.

Mike @ Jan 15th 2007 3:42PM

What most of you don't seem to realize is if you want the loudness of the hdd you would subtract the baseline reading from the hdd reading. The Wii does not have a hard drive. Thus the baseline and hdd readings are the same making the difference 0. 0 is the loudness of the Wii's non existent hard drive.

Mike @ Jan 15th 2007 3:43PM

Arrgh! beaten to the punch by Tel Prydain!

jimjo @ Jan 15th 2007 3:45PM

DUHHH!, the 360 is the loudest because it frickin' rocks!

Padriac @ Jan 15th 2007 3:51PM

@ The Intangible Fact

What's Wrong With the Xbox 360?.

Padriac @ Jan 15th 2007 3:52PM

Sorry, the URL for "What's Wrong With the Xbox 360" is:

http://www.consumermachine.com/?p=167

number40one @ Jan 15th 2007 3:56PM

I'm dying to get my hands on the Wii with a hard drive this alludes to.

bm @ Jan 15th 2007 3:58PM

"It's pretty shameful for you guys at Joystiq to even post this."

Hey what do you expect from someone who once wrote a contender for the most retarded article on the internet? vlad vlad lol

Steve @ Jan 15th 2007 4:02PM

Who cares?

mrnitemare @ Jan 15th 2007 4:03PM

I hate to say it, but this is completely inaccurate.. i now own all 3 systems and the truth of the matter is (i'm a wii fan mind you) the PS3 and Wii are almost dead silent nearly 99% of the time with the only sounds happening during initial disc load, and those you only hear when near them , unlike my 360 which i can hear almost clearly in the next room 100% of the time, there is no doubt that the 360 is the loudest, the other is quite difficult , but from my experience the Wii is the quietest (and there were actually listen and see tests that were done multiple times and the finalization was .. quietest: Wii close 2nd: PS3 and loudest : Xbox360 , they said the 360 sounds like a plane taking off

Evan @ Jan 15th 2007 4:04PM

The testing is flawed. Those meters are intended to measure sound at a distance, you don't stick a meter up against something. And you certainly should not put a meter a shelf that's going to transfer vibrations from a spinning drive.

A proper test would be to place each console on a table, and measure the sound 1 meter in front of the console.

Fatass of Kickassness @ Jan 15th 2007 4:12PM

Intangible fact, II never said the 360 was bad. But you're deliberately trying to start a fanboy fight by saying that one system is better than the other (WHICH is completely irrelevant to the OP), and thats why you're a freaking idiot.

mykie @ Jan 15th 2007 4:15PM

If it's too loud, YOU'RE TOO OLD!

Oh, and Intangible Fact, as a gamer who's been gaming since you were in diapers (and have been hearing idiots like you blather like you do since the Colecovision/Atari 2600 days), the Wii is the best system (for me) because it has games that *I* LIKE. Your mileage might vary.

Now kindly shut the fuck up, kiddie.

Steve2 @ Jan 15th 2007 4:16PM

The person who did these used very poor testing methodology.

He placed the dB meter on the right of the unit. His 360 was standing up, so the dB meter was sitting next to the slab side of the case. Whereas with the PS3 it was right next to the vent holes on the right. If he put the dB meter by the vent holes on the back of the 360, he'd have gotten a much higher reading.

He should have put the meter in free air in front of the units, 1-3 feet away to get an idea of the actual sound that would come to the user.

ERrrr @ Jan 15th 2007 4:19PM

Hey what a coincidence! Wii also rates the highest on the Crappy Meter Test.

Xbox 360: 58
Sony PS3: 96
Nintendo Wii: 582982

The Intangible Fact @ Jan 15th 2007 4:22PM

@ mykie and Fatass of Kickassness....

#1. Wii is only the best system if you like waiting every two years for a good game and if your a gamer that don't like mario or zelda your kinda fucked.

#2. Don't get upset because of the truth.

Fatass of Kickassness @ Jan 15th 2007 4:24PM

And I'm no young punk, Intangible Fact, and you better as hell not accuse me of being one. I'm probably older than you.

Fatass of Kickassness @ Jan 15th 2007 4:24PM

Are you stupid, Intangible Fact? I never said ANYTHING about preferring the Wii over the 360. In fact I play my 360 more than both of my other systems.

I just said you're a fucking idiot because you're trying to start a fanboy war. Please GTFO, we've got too many idiots here already.

Fatass of Kickassness @ Jan 15th 2007 4:25PM

And where did you conduct that test, ERrrr, your lab of infinite fanboyism?

Anni @ Jan 15th 2007 4:28PM

I like how The Intangible Fact actually addressed #2's point with irrefutable counterpoints!

Oh, wait.

The Intangible Fact @ Jan 15th 2007 4:28PM

I conducted that test by looking at future release dates on the Wii system. And most of that was for mykie. prick

JodyAnthony @ Jan 15th 2007 4:30PM

I love how, no matter what the post about Wii is about, you get the following responses:

1) mostly legitimate nintendo fans calmly discussing the topic at hand (sure there are some "wiitards" as people call them that will show their blind fanboy love and insult the competition, but they seem pretty few and far between, usually)
2) random ms or sony fan saying something along the lines of "Now let's listen to Wii owners piss, moan and shit their pants over this one." (Thanks #12 for this example)
3) random ms or sony fans saying "WII SUCKS! [PS3/360] is for real gamers!" or similar
4) way too few random ms or sony fans (if you're lucky, 1 or 2 per topic) saying something along the lines of "while I am a [ms/sony] fan myself, [calmly discusses topic at hand, whether they are for or against it]"

me? I'm a fan of nintendo, have been since I got my NES in '86, so the #2's and #3's of this thread will of course post something in response to this about how I am 'full of shit' or whatever, but the number 4's of Joystiq? I salute you. At least SOME of us can have a rational conversation about things.

RHP @ Jan 15th 2007 4:31PM

I don't have a PS3, so I can't comment on that one, but I do know the Xbox 360 is noisy when a disc is in the drive and the Wii can be noisy under certain circumstances-- like if it's not in the base properly, or with certain games. Red Steel comes to mind.

It would be interesting if someone could redo the test, but under more scientific and precise controls.

Fatass of Kickassness @ Jan 15th 2007 4:32PM

I was talking to ERrrr in that comment, not you, Fact. I'm done with you, I see now that trying to force a point through your thick skull is like trying to saw through a log with your own toenail.

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