Sony DualSense

Inner Dead Zone

The inner dead zone is an important parameter for stick control. It helps avoid drift or accidental movement, but if this zone is larger than the necessary minimum, it can significantly impact aiming accuracy in games. Therefore, it is better when the inner dead zone is minimal or absent.

Gamepad Sony DualSense has no inner deadzones, which has which has a positive effect on aiming accuracy and micro control.

Outer Dead Zone

The outer dead zone indicates the extent to which there is an area where stick movement is not registered when fully deflected. If it's small, it indicates high stick calibration accuracy. In the case of a large outer dead zone, it significantly limits the useful range of motion and can have a negative impact on control.

The Sony DualSense gamepad has normal external stick dead zones (0.4mm). Its significant presence does not limit the range of motion and does not have a negative impact on control.

Asymmetry Index

The Asymmetry Index parameter indicates the discrepancy in joystick deflection to the left and right. For example, if you move the joystick 80% to the left and get a deflection value of 0.812, then move it 80% to the right and get a value of 0.827, the difference is 0.015 which will be equal to 1.5% asymmetric index. This means the Sony DualSense joystick movements are not symmetrical. The larger this difference, the less accurate the joystick is, making movements in games less predictable and harder to control.

Stick Resolution

The stick resolution of the Sony DualSense gamepad has a motion resolution of 0.0078. This means that it can register 128 positions from the center point of the stick to its outermost edge. This is similar to the resolution of a monitor, where more pixels provide a clearer image. In the case of gamepad sticks, higher resolution ensures smoother and more precise control. As a rule, 125 positions are more than enough for a comfortable game.

It is important to know that some gamepads do not have a constant resolution and give out 0.0078 or 0.0150 (for example). Therefore, the number of end positions may differ from the real ones.

Axis magnet

The Axis Magnet parameter indicates whether the movement of the stick is bound to the central intersection of the X and Y axes. If this parameter is present, aiming or camera movement along the vertical or horizontal axis becomes more rail-like. This can have both positive and negative effects, depending on the game and your preferences. Most players consider this binding undesirable, as high-end popular gamepads typically do not have this feature.

However, the Sony DualSense has no Axis Magnet.

Central Accuracy

The stick centering parameter indicates how well the stick returns to the central position after the player releases it. This characteristic is responsible for stick drift: the lower the Central Accuracy value, the better.

In the case of the Sony DualSense, the Central Accuracy is 0.012, which is an acceptable result.

Circle Error

The "Circle Error" parameter determines the behavior of the stick at its extreme diagonal positions. With the Joystick Tester program, you can check how accurately the gamepad stick draws a circle in its movement. The lower the error value, the better. The Sony DualSense gamepad has 8.3% circle error.

Disclaimer

For the Sony DualSense gamepad stick tests, the stick with the worst performance is used in the calculations. All conclusions are based on a single gamepad, which does not rule out the possibility that other units of this model may perform better or worse. However, this variation is usually insignificant. The test data was obtained using hardwaretester.com, and some parameters may differ in other programs.