Oh hey, Sony, how nice of you to sign up for the party! The console gaming headset party, this is (no, Bluetooth earpieces don’t count). Over a year ago the corporate had us craving for a PS3-oriented headset after letting loose its duo of Ultimate Weapons headgear for PC gamers. Then in May, a glimmer of hope shone upon us when its PS3 Wireless Stereo Headset was announced for the DualShock-wielding gamers — and priced at a modest $100.
There is not any doubt that this playing field’s been blanketed with a saturation of wallet-tempting selections (we’re you MadCatz , Turtle Beach and Astro ), but Sony’s official kit has just a few tricks up its sleeve for a possible home run. Despite the moniker, it’s in a position to virtual 7.1 surround sound and displays onscreen status reports exclusively when used with a PS3. We spent about a fragging-hours over PSN to listen to how well lets pin-point our enemies with sound to maintain the kill streaks coming. You will see that out the solution by hitting that “read more” link below.
Hardware
After the standard unboxing ceremony, we were left with the Wireless Stereo Headset itself and USB transmitter. Concessions were obviously to made hit that hundred dollar sweet spot, though — a case isn’t included, neither is a measly USB cable for charging, which you can be doing often given its seven-hour battery life. Thankfully, though, the build quality hasn’t suffered much for this reason. The vast majority of the WSH is done in a textured matte plastic, with hints of gloss at the inner edges and a skinny slab of brushed metal at the headband. Our central nitpick is that the WSH did creak and squeak while getting it off and on our head. Overall, we wouldn’t be shocked if it was constituted of the leftover mold plastic of 5 PS3 slims 5 .
For sure, here is Sony and naturally that suggests this headset sports an 6 excessively forward-thinking aesthetic 6 . It’s tough to convey its fun design because the headset is way from photogenic, but it’s quite dashing in person — the same as a completely realized concept design sneaking into retail. Still, its thick stature and exaggerated curvatures are going to be either love or hate for many at the looks front. Regardless, it’ll ideally be on heads engulfing ears with in-game sound.
Moving right along to that USB dongle, it’s similar in size to a pack of Wrigley’s gum and shares a similar texture because the headset. Sandwiched between the stick’s plastic shells is a skinny blue LED light, which simply blinks because it searches for the headset and glows solid while it’s connected. During use we found the wireless signal to be fairly consistent — we were ready to walk around our two-story condo with minimal signal degradation, and only noticed occasional staticky hiccups while walking a couple of rooms over. So long as we were inside the same room as our PS3 the signal was peachy.
Many gaming headsets we’ve used (wireless and wired) have required multiple cable connections and frustrating setups, but this little USB stick is a pleasant departure from those hassles. We simply plugged it into our PS3, turned at the headset and that was it. Able to play in mere seconds. Better yet, the WSH will automatically turn off if it doesn’t receive a signal from the USB stick for a couple of minutes, saving us from undue battery drain.
Controls and layout
Many headsets opt for cluttered in-line controllers and annoyingly laid-out on-earcup buttons. While the WSH is a member of the latter camp, it still keeps functionality an utmost priority. At the left ear cup’s panel there are four discreet controls. Front has a vertical slider for balancing game and chat levels, while the rear handles the key volume — also, tucked in at the back end is a micro USB port for charging it’s internal Lithium-ion battery. The topmost portion of the panel functions as an influence / microphone mute button, and positioned horizontally above it is a button for enabling virtual 7.1 surround sound. Using a thumb and a single finger allowed us to quickly make audio related adjusts, while a lightweight inward push with our palm handled our muting, battery info, and tool related needs. We did perceive a split-second delay before our settings took hold, though. A number of this data is likewise visually and audibly relayed whenever a setting is modified (we’ll detail this a section). The embedded control layout in place here lends itself well for quick adjustments.
0 While the button layout at the WSH is pleasant, the similar cannot be said of its retractable microphone under the left earcup. Although it’s adjustable to a few lengths, it is not flexible and it’s set to a hard and fast angle, which annoyingly left it in our peripheral vision — unless pushed back to its stowed position. This do not have been this kind of problem if a multi-color LED put on its inner tip hadn’t been glaring in our left eye.
Notifications
1 That annoying LED we mentioned earlier? It’s portion of the headset’s audio / visual notification system we mentioned above. It glows purple when the mic’s muted and blue when it’s engaged, while a double tap at the power button indicates the battery level using as much as three red blinks. It is a fairly sound idea, but in practice the sunshine was a nuisance and almost unnecessary considering the headset also uses onscreen prompts when connected to a powered-up PS3.
Once the headset is turned on, it quickly beeps twice and begins to go looking for the USB stick. Within a couple of seconds it confirms it’s set to compliment a mixture of another beep and an onscreen notification bubble. The bubble briefly pops up at the top right of the screen, exactly as a PSN notification would anytime most settings are changed (for those acquainted with Sony’s Wireless Bluetooth Headsets, it’s nearly an analogous). Using icons corresponding to a mini dashboard, it displays the amount level, mic and surround sound modes, in conjunction with the battery level.
2 Oddly enough, checking the battery level (as described earlier) doesn’t pull up the notification bubble, and there is no visual relay of the sport and chat balance. Notably, the headset also beeps to make sure whether the mic mute is engaged, when it’s turning off and to inform of low batts together with a screen prompt. We found many of the prompts useful, however the system as a full felt rather disjointed.
Fit and luxury
3 So, how does this big honking gaming apparatus feel? Sure, the headset’s bulky, but we didn’t actually notice its heft while wearing it. Actually, its ultra-wide build helped the fit by keeping any pressure at a minimum. For adjustment, the headset’s side panels slide along the headscarf leaving enough space for smaller and bigger noggins — and that is the reason about it. The ear cups only tilt vertically and leave no choice to fold flat, but thankfully, the headscarf has an outstanding amount of flexibleness. Most significantly, the padding at the ear cups and headband was excellent for keeping things cushy for hours on end — Sony isn’t kidding after they say these may be used for long gaming sessions.
The headset’s fit wasn’t always like floating on a cloud, though. Its faux-leather at the earpads allowed for absolutely zero breathability, and our ears usually got toasty after a half hour — a fabric set of pads will be a welcome alternative. More frustrating for some, though, stands out as the driver placement which has the possible to cause cartilage cramping. They’re set moderately deep in the earcups at an angle, but with none padding. For our usage, we would have liked to often slide the cups slightly forward to prevent sore ear tips. In case you are not keen on your ears grazing the within of headphones, it will be worth it to double check the fit on these.
Sound
4 Let’s be real here, the key reason behind procuring one of these kit is most definitely for increasing your killing streaks with better sound cues. For this price point, we’d say the Wireless Stereo Headset’s well positioned against headsets like Turtle Beach’s PX21, and Nox Audio’s Specialist while in stereo. The audio fidelity wasn’t amazing and there is a slight, ever-present hiss, but it surely performed respectably as an improvement over our HDTV’s built-in speakers. With music, the highs tended to be exaggerated (tinny even), while mids were thin from a low level of bass.
Although the headset isn’t as much as snuff for music listening, it isn’t to claim the WSH can’t perform its duties as a gaming headset. Its soundstage wasn’t very wide — not that we might expect it at this price — however it proved spacious enough for gauging sounds across multiplayer maps in 7 Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 , and particularly so in Battlefield 3 Beta matches. We’d be remiss to not indicate — with shooters especially — that we never had qualms with the clarity of the mids and highs while gaming. The obvious loss of bass was less noticeable, too, as explosions managed to rock our ears without totally overwhelming its 40mm drivers.
5 In case you are eying that virtual 7.1 simulation, expected to be mildly disappointed. While the soundstage became all encompassing when it was enabled, it didn’t relay clear positioning to us. We found ourselves confused as to where important sounds were coming from, and we particularly had trouble picking up on gunshots and footsteps around us. Oddly enough, Sony states that with PS3 games a surround signal is in truth being down-mixed for a virtual surround sound simulation in stereo. If we weren’t acquainted with this, our ears would have us believe the headset was simply up-converting a stereo signal to faux virtual 7.1 surround. Notably, the virtualization may be engaged for other media apart from games, but surround sound isn’t officially supported with Blu-ray movies, et cetera. With what our ears heard, though, it is not find it irresistible mattered much because the effect was similar. We never did get the feeling of bullets whizzing by us in games.
6 Thankfully, the WSH does have a couple of more positive factors to it in regard to sound. With the quantity jacked up, it remained freed from any crackling, and the chat / game balancing was ideal for drowning out vivacious teenagers on PSN. The onboard microphone never allow us to down besides. Our PSN buddies reported that our voice was always “very clear,” and that they heard minimal difference between having the boom extended or stowed. Sadly, there’s nothing inside the way of talkback monitoring, so expect to shout when the amount is cranked.
Wrap-up
7 Powering all of it down, and reflecting back on our time using the PS3 Wireless Stereo Headset, it’s clear that Sony put a substantial amount of thought into this. The design and control layout is geared for long gaming sessions and the notification system is a welcome — if slightly fragmented — addition. Better of all, this stands as among the many least frustrating headset setups we’ve utilized in recent memory. That said, there are some odd quirks like its sweat-inducing ear pads and the microphone’s eye-nnoying LED. The audio quality works well enough for gaming, but overall it’s strikingly average, and the surround sound simulation is decent at best — for the cost, we’ve experienced better surround sound from headsets like 8 Tritton’s 8 Dolby Headphone-enabled AX720. As an overall package for PS3 owners searching for an outstanding, hassle-free headset, though, Sony’s $100 WSH is tough to not at the least consider. We’re just surprised it’s taken six years of PS3 until something like this landed on our heads. Better 9 late than never 9 , right? Right?
Samsung Zipel oven takes instructions out of your Android phone
White House gets behind online ‘bill of rights,’ companies to adopt ‘do not track’
