Xbox wireless headset review: $ 99 with engineering wins, first-generation stumbles

Tomorrow, March 16, Microsoft will launch its first official pair of Xbox branded headphones – a leap beyond the cheap one-ear headphones packaged in original Xbox 360 consoles. Headphone expectations have changed a lot since those days, and potential buyers need to weigh crucial elements like sound isolation, microphone quality, voice chat volume management and device compatibility before spending $ 100 or more.

While the Xbox Wireless Headset is not really my choice for the product category, it is certainly a solid option for its $ 99 price tag. In addition, I am looking for a reason to catch up with other gaming-specific headphones I have tested recently. Therefore, this analysis compares XWH with some options for PC and console players looking for versatile, high-quality headphones.

Cool dialers, support for dual fonts

Microsoft Xbox wireless headset

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I’ll start with Xbox-specific things, because this $ 99 headset is not just a matter of reusing existing headphones with neon green accents. XWH includes built-in compatibility with the 2.4 GHz wireless protocol unique to Xbox consoles and accessories – arguably a clearer and more stable connection option than Bluetooth, depending on your ideal game room. If you have any Xbox console that dates from Xbox One 2013 to today’s Xbox Series X / S, you can sync this headset in the same way that you sync a wireless controller. (The same goes for Windows 10 PCs, but you will need an Xbox Wireless Adapter to wirelessly connect the XWH to the PC.)

You’ll find the same built-in 2.4 GHz option in other Xbox-compatible headsets. Unlike many of them, XWH adds a nice hardware option. Once synchronized in this way, XWH users gain access to two convenient volume dials, attached to their external headphones. The right button provides “master” volume control synchronized with your Xbox. The left button controls the “chat balance” to emphasize the game’s audio or voice chat. Both dials appear robust to rotate in real time, and the chat button offers a well-designed and clicked “equal balance” position in the center. It is certainly more convenient than touching the “Xbox” button, using the joystick in the menus and adjusting the headset volume and chat balance in this way.

In addition, unlike other Xbox-compatible headsets, the XWH offers a neat simultaneous source option. Its “wireless sync” button simultaneously searches for Bluetooth and Xbox connections so that you can sync it with your smartphone or other Bluetooth devices (although, unfortunately, not PlayStation consoles yet). You can think of it as a way to take XWH for a walk when you’re not using Xbox, and in fact, that’s an option here.

But the best reason for this option is that you can have a Bluetooth device and an Xbox device connected simultaneously. And XWH handles this with agility, at least in my initial tests. Xbox consoles natively support third-party multimedia applications because of the background audio, which is great when you want to activate your favorite music while playing a game. XWH opens up this use case widely, allowing you to activate any arbitrary application on your Bluetooth device. Podcasts, white noise generators, anything: direct the audio directly to your XWH.

In addition, when your Bluetooth device requires control of the microphone, whether through a phone call or a voice chat application like Discord, it takes precedence. This is my ideal use case, but if you’re trying to keep your microphone on with your native Xbox “group” while also calling Domino via Bluetooth, you’ve been warned: pizza (or your Discord group) will take priority over any native Xbox voice chat option. In addition, the chat balance button does not allow you to adjust the volume natively between the Xbox and Bluetooth sources; you’ll need to manually adjust the Bluetooth volume using the device’s controls. (Apparently, the chat balance button doesn’t work in Windows 10 either, which is a shame.)

Impressive first-generation microphone

The other unique aspect of these headphones, which I haven’t seen in other Microsoft brand headphones, is an automatic microphone mute option built into the firmware level. Furthermore, in my tests so far, it seems to be very well designed.

I synced XWH to my Windows 10 PC and ran some audio recording applications to see how this firmware level standard works, while leaving the slightly flexible 9 cm microphone in its standard “hovering near my left cheek” position . The microphone has two behaviors: wait between 3-5 seconds after speaking loudly to be silent and wait between 1-2 seconds if awakened by a sniff or loud sigh. I left the recording during normal breathing without firing a single shot. Whenever I interrupted that silence with a random, low-volume speech, he would wake up instantly without missing a single syllable.

With a podcast playing on a smartphone speaker 2 meters away, the behavior worked the same way. The XWH dual microphone set constantly evaluates the difference between background noise and speech activation up close and does a phenomenal job of managing the difference. Building this monitoring into the firmware of a headset, as opposed to voice chat apps like Discord, which monitors the decibel level, is a much more effective control for background noise, and anyone who wants that control adjusted in your Xbox or Windows 10 voice chat of choice you may want to put XWH at the top of the shopping list just because of this privilege.

(If you hate the idea of ​​automatic muting and want your friends to hear all the noise in your home all the time, you can disable this feature through the Xbox Accessories app on Xbox consoles and Windows 10 PCs.)

The XWH microphone can be repaired in another way. It does not add background noise cancellation to your speech, so if you are giving orders in a game, the background noise will persist until you stop talking. Your sample rate is noticeably low – not necessarily low fidelity, but it is certainly not something you would like to use to record a podcast. But the voice quality is quite clear for such a small, unobtrusive microphone, and the hardware does a good job of managing peak volume without sending cut audio to your online team while you scream in victory or defeat.

Better than the $ 99 option on the other console – but that’s a low bar

XWH’s sound profile, in its standard “flat” equalization, unfortunately falls into the Beats field of low-end dominance – not a smashing madness, but probably a matter of taste. I think it’s good for the likely Xbox video game use case, in terms of thick, substantial sound that doesn’t cut or feel stuffy. Hilarious, you can access the Xbox Accessories app and increase the bass response, but do not diminish it; my listening preference would drop perhaps a step below what the XWH bass response scale currently offers.

For a basic comparison, this Xbox option sounds much better than the other $ 99 “official console” currently on store shelves, the PlayStation Pulse 3D Wireless Headset. This is not a great feat; Sony’s 2020 headset is one of the most flat frequency earphones I’ve ever tested.

When compared to similarly priced “gaming” headphones, however, the XWH is insufficient in terms of sound quality to express caution. The problem is not sound clarity; despite the emphasis on bass, the rest of the sound profile leaves significant room for mids and trebles, and I thought it did well to contain the overwhelming sound profile of Mad Max: Fury Road, one of my favorite Blu-rays to test things like frequency balance and dialogue.

The problem starts when you test XWH in an action-packed video game, where the placement of the audio and the noticeable directionality sometimes becomes the key to survival. Gears 5 and Call of Duty: Warzone landing at opposite ends of the headset’s surround spectrum, with Gears 5 offering support for native Dolby Atmos virtual surround headset and CoD: W shrugging with a generic stereo headphone mix.

Still, in the case of both games, XWH strives to place sounds in satisfyingly clear ways within the huge sound field. It looked decent enough in terms of “enemy on the left, enemy on the right” indications, but other headsets did a much better job of illustrating finer hints of how far to the left or right, along with a clearer “dome” effect of the exact 3D positioning. This may be due to the XWH’s abundance of bass or something else about its frequency juggling, but I got noticeably better sound separation results with the $ 150 Razer Kaira Pro, which also includes support for the Xbox’s native connection.

Big reminder: It doesn’t matter if your headphones are advertised with “virtual surround” or “Dolby Atmos” support! This material is never built into the headset. Virtual surround works by adding frequency tricks to a generic stereo signal. To prove this, plug any headset into the 3.5 mm slot on the Xbox controller, then switch one of the console’s headset surround options to an audio menu. Presto: You have virtual surround.