Your ears aren’t wrong – some PlayStation 5 devices might sound louder than others

As we move into the next generation of games, it seems like a lot of people are putting in a lot more about how quiet these new consoles can be. Specifically, a number of PlayStation 5 reviews have indicated the lack of noise from the console while it is playing the games, which feels like a day and night difference after PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 4 Pro. So, we have a huge fan inside the PlayStation 5 to thank, but as it turns out, not everyone gets the same fan inside their console.

This was discovered on the French website Les Numeriques, which demolished a few PlayStation 5 units to catch a glimpse of fans inside after an employee reported that their personal console wasn’t as quiet as the review unit they used before launch. This employee at Les Numeriques isn’t alone in reporting louder-than-expected noise from the PlayStation 5, either.

Les Numeriques’ mini-investigation discovered that there are at least two types of cooling fans that Sony ships in the PlayStation 5, and while the fans have the same overall footprint, the shape and density of the fan blades are distinctly different. This causes some consoles to be quieter than others, with Les Numeriques recording an in-game noise level of 39 dB on one console and 43 dB on another.

That’s not much of a difference – and they’re both quieter than any PlayStation 4 console – but it’s big enough for users to notice. Sony might also use more than two different types of fans, because the fan we saw in its official disassembly of the PlayStation 5 differs from the fans Les Numeriques discovered in their consoles.

So if your console is higher than what you expected, it might not be just your imagination. The Les Numeriques report also found that you can switch one fan design for another fairly easily, so if there is a future where alternative fans are available for purchase, you can always switch to the quieter model. For now though, it looks like many PlayStation 5 buyers might end up with a fan who isn’t as good as they had hoped.