I tried Innit Audio for a week to see if sound modification software would help with competitive shooters. It definitely has its benefits, especially when it comes to hearing footsteps, but it creates a strange audio mix that will be off-putting to most.
Innit Audio is a new piece of software that claims to transform the audio of your games to improve the overall experience.
It’s hard to shake the feeling that you're being sold snake oil whenever software claims to improve immersion or give you a competitive edge without explaining how, but I do think the product is at least worth trialing for a certain subset of gamers. And because their free trial doesn’t require payment info, you can set it up and test if yourself within minutes.
Innit Audio gave us free access to the software and sent us a game to test it with.
What Is Innit Audio?
Innit Audio is a program that transforms your PC audio to create a more immersive 3D sound environment. Or, at least, that's what it claims to do.
The official description is annoyingly vague; “Elevate every play with our cutting-edge audio algorithm” But after using it for a few weeks, it became clear to me what Innit Audio was actually doing under the hood.
You download the installer from their website, then install the program and provide an email. Once installed, Innit Audio will launch at startup and sit in your tray.
Set your system audio output to Innit Audio (it will appear as an audio output device), and do the same in-game. Then simply use Ctrl+Alt+I to turn the program on, and Ctrl+Alt+O to turn it off.
Installation was completely painless for me, and I didn't experience any bugs over the course of the trial period.
Does Innit Audio Work?
When you turn Innit Audio on while gaming, you can immediately tell that they’ve done something to make the audio sound a lot more 3D, with many noises being produced wholly by either the left or right speaker of the headset.
The program also does some kind of sound equalization, in which the quieter noises are made louder and the louder noises are made quieter. The end result is a very dense audio environment, and dialogue can sound muffled, but certain important sound cues, like footsteps, are definitely more audible. The value of this product is therefore dependent on what kind of games you play, and how much you value these kinds of advantages.
There are no modes or customization options with Innit Audio, which is a major downside. But this does mean you can use the product straight out of the box without having to dial in the right settings for your game.
Is Innit Audio Worth It?
Innit Audio is at least worth testing for anyone who plays competitive FPS games that rely on hearing sound cues. The product had the most benefit to me while playing Battle Royales like Apex and Warzone, because the 3D sound environment allowed me to more accurately pinpoint the direction enemies were coming from, and the sound of footsteps felt amplified in the mix. This effect very slightly improved my overall performance (I think), but it didn’t move the needle enough to get me to that next level of ranked.Because Innit Audio seems to be tailor-made for shooters like this, if you don’t play them, the product probably won’t be worth it for you. But just to be sure, I tested Innit Audio with a few RPGs and action games. With those games it had no real benefit. In fact, it made those experiences worse, and it clearly wasn’t producing the audio experience that the sound designers had intended.
As I said, if you do play competitive shooters then I recommend getting the free trial, which doesn’t require payment details or making a new account.
It can be disorienting to use Innit Audio at first, especially if you’ve become familiar with all the sound cues in the game you’re playing, but stick with it, and you’ll notice some definite benefits. Then you can make an informed decision about whether it makes sense for you at the price point Innit Audio are offering; €9 for three months, or a one-time €65 purchase.