Best audio settings to hear footsteps in Black Ops 6

Here are the best audio settings to use in Black Ops 6 to maximize your ability to hear enemy footsteps and movements.

Black Ops 6 is in its beta period and will officially launch on October 25, 2024. With heaps of new gameplay changes, including the new omnimovement mechanics and dedicated melee weapon slot, there are many new features and systems for players to learn and brush up on.

With much more freedom and versatility regarding movement, BO6 makes tracking and hearing your opponents more complex than other Call of Duty games. Enhancing your audio settings to maximize your capacity to hear their footsteps and approach is essential.

Here is our rundown of the best audio settings to use in Black Ops 6 to give yourself the best chance at hearing your enemies before you see them and, in turn, get the jump on them before they even hear you coming.

Treyarch Studios

Movement in a Call of Duty game has never been more versatile.

Best BO6 audio settings: Headphones are a must

First, use headphones in Black Ops 6 when optimizing your audio setup to help you hear footsteps. Even when using the best audio set-up without headphones, it will be much harder to hear all sounds from the game and will be more muddled when using your TV and monitor speakers. This is especially true for directional audio, helping you hear footsteps from all around.

When using your headphones, the Bass Boost is your best friend as it is the best way to make your Black Ops 6 audio experience the most immersive it can be while also increasing the chances of you hearing enemy moments.

In addition, you’ll want to dial down all non-gameplay audio. We recommend turning down the music volume to 0 to avoid any unnecessary noise taking away from movement audio.

Furthermore, dialogue volume can be dialed down to around the 60 or 70 mark so that you can still hear teammate callouts and Scorestreak announcements.

Recommended audio settings and specs

Now that you’ve got your headphones sorted, here are our recommendations for the best audio settings for Black Ops 6 to help hear footsteps and movements.

Volumes

• Master Volume: 70
• Music Volume: 0
• Dialogue Volume: 70
• Effects Volume: 100
• Cinematic Music Volume: 50

Global

• Audio Mix: Headphones Bass Boost
• Mono Audio: Off
• Functionality
• Reduce Tinnitus Sound: On
• Hit Marker Sound Effects: Classic

Voice Chat

• Voice Chat Volume: 50
• Voice Chat: On
• Proximity Chat: On
• Last Words Voice Chat: Off
• Last Words Voice Chat: Off
• Game Voice Channel: Party Only

How to enable Loudness Equalization on PC 

Loudness Equalization is an audio feature for PC users that significantly increases footstep clarity. 

However, this particular audio enhancement is unavailable for PlayStation or Xbox users. For those playing on PC, here is how to enable Loudness Equalization.

1. Go into your PC’s settings.
2. Select audio settings.
3. Find and click on the ‘Playback’ tab.
4. Scroll to your audio device and right-click.
5. Select ‘Properties.’
6. Head into the ‘Enhancements’ tab.
7. Check the box next to ‘Loudness Equalization.’
8. Click ‘Apply’ to save the settings.

These audio settings and tips will make picking out the enemy’s footsteps a much easier task across all game modes when dropping into Black Ops 6.