Just a few years ago Xbox dropped its Wireless headset that was one of the best value for money wireless headsets on the market, and in the last few weeks its released an updated version, which is priced just at tiny bit higher but offers some solid improvements.
As far as the design of the headset goes, it’s pretty much the exact same thing as what released some years ago, but the green accents have now been also swapped out for black finishes which I much prefer as it takes the premium feel of the headset to the next level. The band feels durable, the earcups are an extremely comfortable faux leather that can also be taken off and replaced and the fit feels exceptional, without pressing down too much on my glasses.
In terms of build quality and fit, I’d put this ahead of the Pulse 3D Headset, which is the same price. You’re not getting any kind of noise-cancelling with this headset, which is to be expected for the price, but it does a good job of blocking out external sounds.
My absolute favourite thing about the headset is still how accessible the buttons (or lack of them) are. I really dislike how many buttons there are on the Pulse 3D headset and the fact that they’re all on one side but on the Xbox Wireless Headset, the entire earcups act as volume controls, so your right cup controls the main volume whilst the left earcup does your game/chat balance.
You’ve also got an easy to access mute button on the microphone as well as a button to turn the headset on and off (complete with a matching startup tone to what you’d be used to with your Xbox Series X). As far as buttons go, that’s literally it and compared to other units on the market, that’s a godsend. Xbox has kept it simple and that’s exactly what you want with a headset. Even on day one, I was never second-guessing where to find one of the buttons or how to turn my chat volume up. It’s perfectly designed.
The headset is incredibly easy to pair to either your Xbox Series X/S or PC and all it takes is just holding down the power button to set it into pairing mode. Your Xbox or PC will then recognise the headset and connect each and every time it powers on. You can also connect the headset to multiple devices at once, meaning that you can connect to your mobile via Bluetooth whilst playing on your Xbox, and hear both devices at once, which is really helpful. You can also connect the headset to an Xbox wireless adaptor, which I highly recommend if you’re using a PC as it’s just going to be more stable than Bluetooth. This is still one of the best parts of the headsets as I feel that a lot of headsets at this price range don’t provide simultaneous connectivity.
As far as battery life goes, these have now been improved with a 20 hour battery life (up from 15 hours in the original version). It’s now the best in class in the market by any stretch these days, but it’s still perfectly fine, and you’re getting a quick enough charge from USB-C that it’s never an issue.
One of the original negatives on the original wireless headset was the microphone, and this has been improved quite significantly on the new headset. It does a fairly decent job at muting out background noises and also auto mutes when you’re not speaking. Again, it doesn’t rival the likes of the Arctis Nova Wireless but for sub $200 it’s perfectly fine for casual online gaming.
I was pleasantly surprised by how good this headset sounds for $150. Whilst it doesn’t experience the deep bass that I got with the SteelSeries Arctis 7X or similarly priced headsets , those headsets are more than double the price. What I did get though, was an exceptionally crisp sound even when at the loudest volume. The difference between these and something like the Arctis 7X is probably closer than it should be given the price difference.
The headset now comes with a Dolby Atmos license out of the box which is a big improvement compared to other headsets in this price range. Whether you’ll be able to tell the difference is obviously down to your ears and how much you care about that kind of audial fidelity, but it’s great that it’s included.