While the first thing you will want to get for your new PS5 is likely to be games – it is, after all, a games console, not a heavyweight for pressing down books that have become warped sitting next to the radiator. Speaking from current experience, that’s what laptops are for. After picking up a few games, you may want to look beyond just games for your gaming machine.
As an advanced piece of hardware, you should invest in a few of the best PS5 accessories to get the most out of your console. You won’t, for instance, feel the benefit of the console’s 3D audio without a pair of headphones that support the technology. And, despite featuring what seems like a hefty 1TB internal drive, you’ll quickly fill that SSD up with only a few games.
Setting up a console shouldn’t be overwhelming, so let us give you a little direction on how to get the most out of your new machine. Below, you’ll find our recommendations for what will make your PS5 sing. And, while some of these bits of kit may seem expensive, I promise you, there’s something on there that you can get for cheap that will make your PS5 or PS5 Pro gaming immediately more comfortable.
PS5 Pulse 3D headset
It’s understandable that when we talk about advances in gaming technology, the conversation is dominated by graphics. You can mute a game and still play, but it’s significantly more difficult if you turn off the screen. However, by focusing on the look of a game, you may have missed out on the huge audio advances in recent years, particularly on the PS5.
A major feature of the PS5 is Sony‘s proprietary Tempest 3D AudioTech. It’s a bespoke surround sound that uses information from hundreds of sources in the game you’re playing to generate an incredibly detailed 360-degree soundscape. We found 3D audio a game-changer when replaying the Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection.
However, you will need a PS5 headset that supports 3D audio to access this feature. You don’t have to go with Sony’s official PS5 Pulse 3D headset, but we found it to be an excellent bit of kit. If you’re looking for one accessory that shows what this generation of consoles can do, 3D audio is it.
PS Plus
Naturally, you’ll want to get games for your new console, and if you need a steer, I can recommend our list of the best PS5 games. But you’ll know your tastes and a better way to load your PS5 up with games that tickle your fancy is to sign up for one of the console’s PS Plus subscription packages.
You can access a huge catalog of games to download to your console for a monthly fee. There will be some first-party games from Sony and tons of games from third-party publishers.
There are three tiers of membership: PS Plus Essential, PS Plus Extra, and PS Plus Premium.
- For $9.99 / £6.99 / AU$11.95 a month, PS Plus Essential is the cheapest and lets you play online, giving you two free games a month.
- For $14.99 / £10.99 / AU$18 a month, PS Plus Extra gives you access to a catalogue of hundreds of games.
- For $17.99 / £13.49, PS Plus Premium gives you access to that catalogue and an additional library of classic games from previous PlayStation consoles.
I recommend reading our PS Plus Tiers explainer if you want to know more (and find out why there’s no Australian pricing for PS Plus Premium), or checking out the latest cheapest PlayStation Pulse deals our tech can find on the web too.
A longer USB-C cable
After recommending a headset that gives you access to bespoke 3D audio technology, changing the way you immerse yourself in video games, and a gamepad filled to the brim with haptic hardware, giving you a tactile sense of an imagined virtual world, I get that recommending a long USB-C cable is a step-down. I won’t try to sell this as a window into the potential of ninth-generation consoles.
The USB-C charge cable that comes with a PS5 is 1.5 meters. I don’t know about you, but that’s not long enough to reach my sofa. And, with a controller battery life of around six to nine hours, if it starts to run low, I’d like to be able to plug it in and play without having to scooch forward and sit cross-legged on the living room floor.
PS5 disc drive
If you opted for a PS5 with a disc drive, you can skip right past this recommendation. However, consider picking up a separate disc drive if you’ve gone for the PS5 Digital Edition. If not now, then in the near future.
While the PlayStation Store regularly has sales on its digital catalog, you can only use resale games if you get a disc drive. As deep a discount as you might see on a digital game, it’s good to have the option of comparing it to what you can find on Amazon, eBay, or down at your local game shop. You only have to look at discounts during Black Friday to see how much money you can save growing your game collection by buying from third parties.
However, it has been hard to buy a PS5 disc drive in recent months so you may be relying on a bit of luck to find one, and definitely steer clear of inflated reseller prices.
A PS5 SSD
The PS5 has an internal SSD drive that can store 825GB of data. That may sound like a lot of storage space; after all, in the past, that would have been enough to hold over a hundred games. However, modern AAA releases often clock in at more than 100GB. Also, while it says 825GB on the box, the operating system already accounts for nearly 200GB of that, leaving around 667GB for games.
If you want more than five games installed and ready to go at one time, pick up an SSD drive for your PS5. When it comes to the best SSD for PS5, there are many great candidates to choose from, but we recommend the Seagate Game Drive M.2 SSD for PS5. It will double the size of your console’s internal space, performs extremely well, and is easy to install.
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Julian.benson@futurenet.com (Julian Benson)
