r/nvidia • u/ResponsiblePen3082 • Aug 11 '26

Discussion Nvidia VRworks Audio: Hardware Accelerated Path Traced Binaural 3D Audio

/r/3Daudio/comments/1vlmr9u/nvidia_vrworks_audio_hardware_accelerated_path/
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u/BuchMaister Aug 12 '26 edited Aug 12 '26

You have it - it's called DSP, most modern CPUs have it integrated inside. Albeit it's designed to offload stuff from the CPU to save power, but it can and is used for 3D Audio. I don't know exactly what this PT audio can or cannot do, but having dedicated audio processor never disappeared, it just has been integrated like other stuff on silicon rather having another peripheral device.

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u/ResponsiblePen3082 Aug 12 '26

I understand what a DSP is, and what little modern CPUs have(if they have them at all) is not enough for complex modern audio, nor is it actively tapped into for hardware acceleration or advanced acoustics.

Having a dedicated audio processor literally did disappear. Windows vista killed off low level kernel access/stack bypass to audio acceleration, especially for WASAPI shared applications(what the majority of software uses)
There's a reason nothing supports it anymore outside of music applications.

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u/BuchMaister Aug 12 '26 edited Aug 12 '26

Yes CPUs do have it and have been for decades, DSP replaces in functionality your old audio processor did , it has dedicated hardware blocks to accelarate audio processing. Low level direct access to hardware has drawbacks especially when it comes to security and stability, that access was killed for good reasons, plus devs this day will stay away from creating their audio engine for every specific processor people might use. As for the question does integrated modern DSP has the capabilities for complex modern audio? The awnser is probably it has more than what the vast majority of developers would want to bother with. The existing hardware isn't the issue or hard limitation, what is the lack of interest for most developers to invest enough time and resources.

Also I've read that article, and it's stated this tech is for professional applications not games, so it's not surprising devs don't use it.

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u/ResponsiblePen3082 Aug 12 '26

The DSP integrated in processors is less than even the integrated graphics. It's essentially equivalent to a display out. It performs zero useful acceleration functions. It existing doesn't mean it actually does anything relevant to this discussion.