Xbox Wireless Headset review

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Xbox Wireless Headset: Two-minute review

The Xbox Wireless Headset is simply a sensational enactment from Microsoft that’s a must-buy for immoderate Xbox gamer. Boasting a flawless wireless connection, that's backed up by highly awesome audio and important quality-of-life features.

We’d usually expect to wage triple the terms to acquisition this benignant of dependable quality, peculiarly from a wireless headset, though determination is simply a caveat you request to carnivore successful mind. To get the astir retired of these headphones, you’ll request to walk clip tweaking the EQ successful the Xbox Accessories app to dial successful precisely however you privation them to sound. That’s a bully thing, though, arsenic everyone hears dependable otherwise and has preferences erstwhile it comes to bass, mids, and highs.

We’re besides highly pleased that Microsoft included a bully microphone connected the Xbox Wireless Headset. You’ll astir apt get a richer, somewhat fuller code from the roar mics recovered connected competing headphones, sure. But the Xbox Wireless Headset’s microphone sounds great, packing clever exertion similar auto-mute to destruct inheritance sound erstwhile you’re not speaking.

The wide plan of the headset is besides superb, with a premium consciousness that wholly belies the cheaper terms constituent Microsoft has managed to achieve. Simply put, if you’re successful the marketplace for a wireless gaming headset to spell with your caller Xbox Series X oregon Xbox Series S console, oregon adjacent if you’re a PC gamer, the Xbox Wireless Headset is arsenic bully arsenic it gets.

Xbox Wireless Headset: terms and merchandise date

The Xbox Wireless Headset costs $99.99 / £89.99 / AU$149.95 and became disposable connected March 16, 2021. 

It’s competitively priced for a wireless headset, and undercuts the likes of the SteelSeries Arctis 9x portion offering the aforesaid desirable features similar Bluetooth enactment and a apical prime microphone. Compared to that and different much costly headsets, similar the Fnatic React Plus, you'd beryllium hard-pressed to warrant different premium options.

Xbox Wireless Headset: design

Microsoft’s Xbox Wireless Headset mirrors the plan connection of the Xbox Series X to an awesome degree. 

The all-black plan is embellished with tasteful touches, specified arsenic the bladed greenish rings that situation the extracurricular of each earcup and the embossed Xbox logo connected the right-hand side. The wrong of the earcups, which are handily marked with ample ‘L’ and ‘R’ letters, besides person a faint greenish hue that seeps done the mesh, arsenic the driver’s are besides coated successful Xbox’s acquainted marque color.

Powering up the headset, which is done by pressing the airy greenish powerfulness fastener located connected the left-hand side, greets you with the acquainted Xbox Series X footwear up sound. You besides get audio cues that Xbox owners volition instantly recognise erstwhile you powerfulness them down, mute the microphone oregon brace the headset, too.

Adjusting measurement oregon balancing crippled and dependable chat is thing abbreviated of a pleasance connected the Xbox Wireless Headset acknowledgment to the rubberized dials that we’ve seen successful different of Microsoft’s audio products, the Microsoft Surface Headphones. You simply crook either the near oregon close rubberized earcup dial to set the measurement oregon chat to your liking, and it’s ace casual to marque incremental adjustments.

Despite being a mostly integrative design, the Xbox Wireless Headset feels built to past and the materials utilized convey a existent premium consciousness that belies the $100 terms tag Microsoft has someway managed to hit. The Xbox Wireless Headset wasn’t prone to immoderate creaking during our testing, and the wide clamping unit was much than tenable to guarantee a comfy fit.

At 312g, the headset is besides airy capable that you won’t consciousness it weighing down connected your caput aft hours of play. You tin besides comfortably crank up the measurement with country to spare acknowledgment to the headset’s 32 Ohm impedance, and the talker effect of 20Hz - 20kHz should mean nary audio details you’ve travel to expect successful your go-to games are missed.

While it won't interaction everyone, 1 flimsy we bash person against the Xbox Wireless Headset, is that the receptor cups could beryllium a interaction excessively tiny for those with larger heads and ears. They’re not uncomfortable by immoderate means – the oval receptor cushions are made of polyurethane leather and person foam cushioning, but we did announcement that this reviewer’s peculiarly ample ears would consciousness a small tender aft a fewer hours.

Xbox Wireless Headset: audio performance

When we archetypal enactment the Xbox Wireless Headset on, we were impressed and acrophobic successful adjacent measurement by however bass-heavy the dependable signature was. If you’re idiosyncratic who loves thing much than a hard thumping bassline, the Xbox Wireless Headset won’t disappoint. It provides genuinely unthinkable bass reproduction – and determination were times erstwhile we felt arsenic though we had our ears pressed up against a DJ’s subwoofer. 

Seriously, these are superb astatine delivering that low-end dependable that truthful galore radical crave and enjoy. There’s adjacent a bass boost enactment that goes up to +12, which honestly, seems downright excessive considering conscionable however debased these headphones tin go.

But portion that’s each good and good, having a purely bass-driven brace of headphones isn’t perfect erstwhile you’re playing competitory shooters oregon adjacent much cinematic single-player experiences. Too overmuch bass tin overpower and muddy the different frequencies that are arsenic arsenic important, leaving you with a muffled dependable that won’t bash you immoderate favors successful online multiplayer games.

Thankfully, Microsoft has designed the Xbox Wireless Headset to suit everyone arsenic you tin customize the dependable to your liking. If you caput into the Xbox Accessories app you tin prime from a enactment of equalizers that see Game, Movie, Music and Speech. And portion neither of those were rather close for this reviewer, there’s besides an enactment to customize six EQ levels to your liking. It’s present wherever the Xbox Wireless Headset genuinely comes into its own.

We’re utilized to a flatter soundstage overall, truthful headed to the Xbox Accessories app to dial backmost the bass to a constituent wherever it could inactive supply a satisfying thud, but not cannibalize each different frequence arsenic a result. We besides wanted to beryllium capable to perceive voices somewhat clearer. After immoderate cautious tweaking implicit our testing, we ended up with a dependable signature that ticked each container and sounded astonishing nary substance what we’re doing: beryllium it listening to music, playing our favourite games oregon simply watching videos connected YouTube.

These cans besides dependable fantastic erstwhile utilizing spatial audio specified arsenic Windows Sonic and Dolby Atmos. If you don’t ain Dolby Atmos, simply connecting the Xbox Wireless Headset volition springiness you six months entree for free, truthful there’s nary excuse not to experimentation with the wonders of spatial audio. Despite being a closed backmost brace of headphones with large sound isolation, we were pleased by however wide and elaborate the best Dolby Atmos Xbox Series X games sounded. The dependable ne'er felt excessively closed off, with a wide capable soundstage to supply a convincing 360-degree audio effect. 

We can’t understate however engrossing the audio prime is connected these headphones erstwhile you’ve played astir with the EQ settings. It’s astonishing to deliberation that you tin get this benignant of audio show for little than $100, and Microsoft deserves a large woody of recognition for including a brace of 40mm drivers that are truthful responsive to changes from the user. EQs aren’t caller aft all, but we’ve often recovered that immoderate headsets can’t truly beryllium tweaked to nutrient affirmative results, nary substance however overmuch we fiddle with definite levels. The Xbox Wireless Headset, successful comparison, are highly malleable successful this regard, and it pays disconnected successful a large way.

Good audio volition ever beryllium subjective owed to the quality of our ears, age, and quality to perceive definite frequencies. It’s a alleviation past that Microsoft didn’t instrumentality a “one dependable suits all” benignant of dependable that immoderate manufacturers opt for and gave america an unthinkable instauration to observe what sounds best. The Xbox Wireless Headset tin person aboriginal improvements acknowledgment to its quality to person implicit the aerial updates.

Xbox Wireless Headset: microphone prime and wireless connectivity

The Xbox Wireless Headset’s microphone opts for a unsocial plan that works admirably. Instead of opting for a detachable oregon retractable roar mic, the microphone simply pulls down and tin beryllium tucked distant erstwhile it’s not successful use. It sits a fewer inches distant from the left-side of your face, but inactive does a superb occupation of picking up your dependable intelligibly acknowledgment to Microsoft’s dependable isolation technology.

A achromatic indicator airy is contiguous erstwhile the mic is active, truthful you cognize whether oregon not you’re broadcasting to the world. The mute fastener is located astatine the extremity of the mic’s housing, which tin beryllium recovered easy utilizing your near thumb. Clicking it volition springiness you a useful audio notification, too, truthful you tin beryllium doubly definite your mic is turned off.

The microphone besides has a clever auto-mute diagnostic which works amazingly well. The microphone volition effort to artifact retired persistent inheritance noise, similar you mightiness get from an aerial conditioner. We recovered that connected the precocious mounting the Xbox Wireless Headset did a good occupation astatine isolating the euphony we were playing disconnected our telephone erstwhile we stopped speaking.

We didn't brushwood immoderate drops oregon disconnects erstwhile utilizing the Xbox Wireless Headset, thankfully. Battery beingness was besides much than reasonable, lasting betwixt 12-15 hours connected a azygous complaint during our testing. It takes 3 hours to afloat complaint the headset, but you tin get 4 hours of powerfulness from 30 minutes of charging, which is useful to accidental the least.

Should I bargain the Xbox Wireless Headset?

Buy it if… 

• Best Xbox Series X headsets – the apical Xbox Series X gaming headsets