Playstation Gold Wireless Headset Unboxing/Review
It’s my birthday this month, so I’ve decided to treat myself with a new headset, and why not get the official PlayStation headset? Here’s my thoughts about it, but I’m no audiophile, so for those expecting something about hertz and gigastuff, you’ve come to the wrong review… but their are plenty of pictures!
So I’ll start off with how easy it is to unpackage, pretty easy, it came in a nice box (and Sony did their signature thing, box-ception (box in a box) but for some reason, they’ve named it Stereo Headset 2.0 but when they announced it, it was named Gold, and that sounds cooler so I’m sticking with that. The whole package just screams Sony, from the box inside a box to the short cables, if the whole product/packaging was blank, you’d be able to tell it was Sony that made this. First of all, on the picture above is the box it came in, and below is the box inside the box:
This is how the headset was when I opened it, but it came in a thin, long plastic bag, which was a pain to get off.
Underneath here is a small black box.
What’s in the box you ask? Well I’ll tell you anyway: It came with:
- A Micro-USB Charging Cable (30cm)
- A Jack-Jack adapter so you can plug it into your PS Vita/Phone(1.5m~)
- A Playstation Bag to put your headphones in
- Safety use guide
- Quick start guide
- And most importantly, a connector USB
That’s everything that came in the box, let’s have a look at the headset, shall we?
The headsets ear cuffs are huge, and definitely go over your ear. As you can see in the photo above, they’re tilted inside to help with the surround sound and also make it comfier, the black cushions are pretty nice as well, and are a lot softer than I thought they would be. There’s also the same style cushioning just above where the top of your head is:
As you’ve seen in a couple of the photos there’s buttons on the left side of the headset, you can control the volume, mute the microphone, turn on or off the 7.1 VSS, choose to make sound/chat louder and also a selector for 2 profiles, which I’ll get into in a bit. That side of the headset also holds the charger and jack input. The headset, as you’ve probably guessed it can fold up, here’s a photo of it folded up, and another of it in the bag:
This is quite nice how it folds up, but it’s a bit of a pain as well, if you hold the headset by the ear cuff part, the whole headset will collapse,so it’s best to hold it from the top (even so if you hold it sideways, the top end will fall in, here:
This isn’t too much of a bother though, being as I’m going to be wearing it more than holding it on it’s side or in a strange position. My previous headset was the Tritton Kunai, and the cable set up to get 100% of the sound out of the TV for the PS3 was ridiculous, and wearing them now seems like such a downgrade. Being able to just pause, getting something to eat without taking the headsets off seems like a godsend to me. The range on them are pretty good too, I can walk to the other side of the house without it disconnecting. How long does it take to connect? well once you’ve plugged the USB in and turned it on, you get the initial ‘I’m on’ beep, and then after to confirm you’re connected, after timing it it’s a measly 5 seconds. So let’s get into the nitty gritty bits then:
Sound Quality
The sound quality is top notch, with no recognizable input lag whatsoever testing them out on The Last Of Us, Ratchet and Clank: Nexus, Outlast, and a few films and a couple hours of music, I couldn’t have asked for a better headset for the price of £80/EUR100/$100. The VSS was amazing on The Last Of Us, and if you’ve played Ratchet & Clank: Nexus, the sound design is brilliant and sounded even better with the headset on.
Battery
I’ve been charging it while I’m not using it, so battery hasn’t been a problem with me, even after about 3 hours of gaming only 1 out of 4 bars were gone, I’m not entirely sure how long it lasts in total, but the US PS Blog says 8 hours, which is good enough for me 🙂
Wait, Does It Have A Microphone?
Yep. The only reason I knew where it was is because I watched the promotional video, otherwise I wouldn’t have known. After seeing it I wasn’t too sure about how good it was going to be, a 1mm hole, and after testing it out on skype, it’s a lot better than I expected it to be:
The microphone is only visible when the earpiece is all the way down, when in normal use you can’t see it (unless you have a big head, of course).
‘Profiles’
Much like what happened with GTA V and the Playstation Pulse headset, you can have personalized sound types for each game, so say you’re playing a game where you want the bass to be quite dominant, like a shooter where you want to hear those explosions, then you could set that game to profile #1, and say you’re playing another game like Assassins Creed, and you want the Treble/Mid to be dominant, you could set that to profile #2 to hear those awesome shanties! Developers also have the option to customize profiles for their games, and the first PS4 game to have a custom sound profile for it will be inFamous: Second Son, and I can’t wait! There isn’t currently an app for it on mobiles/Ps Vita, but there is on PS4 and PS3, so if you want to customize the output, download them from the PS Store.
Build Quality
Well, with all the features it has it has to make some sacrifices, and although they are brilliant, I certainly would do any sort of drop test on them, the hinges don’t seem to hold up that well, like I mentioned above, and rather than clipping into place, they fold and aren’t very strong. Other than that however, they seem to be pretty good, the earpieces itself are built brilliantly, and the opposite side where the PS logo has a rubbery feel to it, which is quite nice.
Sum Up
So to end this article, this headset is the best headset I’ve purchased, and I’m over the moon that I have. They’re comfortable, they sound great, they’re easy to set up, with a couple of flaws. What else could you want from a headset that cost £80?
9/10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEmi54V44bs#t=1
Question, if I already have the PULSE Wireless headset ELITE Edition, is it worth it to trade it in for this?
Same question, i bought the two previous models of and even wanted to get this one but i much prefer the design of the Elite PULSE one.
Also i heard that this new headset has little to no bass is that true?
this is true since that extra bass vibration is what killed the batteries lifespan for the elite. me personally I prefer confer over useless vibration that destroy the actual sounds. but that just my opinion.
I’ve been playing lightning returns with this headset and turned the bass all the way up, you can notice a higher bass but I couldn’t tell you how they compare to the previous models
But the bass is pretty dominant when turned all the way up, sounds awesome on the soundtrack 😀
Nice review. Showed the features of the device with some personal commentary.
I think that you made a good buy. Now I’m thinking of getting one myself!
But I personally prefer in-ear headphones. I use a Sony SBH50 Bluetooth adapter – which I use with my AKG K375 and replaced the buds with Comply Foam Tips. Good thing about this is that I can simultaneously connect my phone with it so I can still receive (and make) calls and SMS (receive only). But ignore, that’s just my opinion.
Again, great review and congrats on making a good purchase.
And, happy birthday to you!
I wonder if its PS devices only or will it work with other consoles too? (WiiU)
I’m guessing I will have to plug it in to get it to work with the WiiU.
So its bluetooth to the PS3 and cable to the Vita?
Going to see if they are at the local shops and if the price isn’t stupid I might get one today. 🙂
for pc, ps3, and ps4 is wireless technology that is why you need the dongle and for vita or headphone jack you will use the 3.5mm aux cable that has two male headphone jack. when you use the cable you don’t need to turn on the headphone or need battery. if you are wondering there us another way to get wireless sound, the dongle has a female headphone jack where you can plug it to another audio source for as long as you power the dongle to a USB power
I can’t find anything that says they do work, but I’ll test it out later when the TV isn’t being used 🙂
These headphones are supposed to be able to be connected with the Vita’s bluetooth too. Can you confirm if it’s possible in a way where you can use them wirelessly with the Vita ? I’m looking foward to buy them. Tahnk you !
Considering the PS4/3 need a USB dinglz I doubt it will work for the Vita
As a mic it should work fine tho but actual game audio will need to be wired
Yes, for the vita, it must be plugged in….. Ths also means you loose 7.1 for just stereo…. But Im not going to pack it around for vita anyway.
these are not Bluetooth but another wireless technology that does not have the lag like Bluetooth. that is why you have to use the cable for the vita/media player
Im jelly
They aren’t even available here and there is no release date either (Australia) so we are SOL again. Thanks for nothing $ony for making us wait for no good reason again.
Its not like you have a censor to get around or hardware to change.
Looks like I’ll have to import them. I’ll get it the same time I get South Park Stick Of Truth as that will also have to be an import. Dont want some censored ***.
What happened last week >_<
I was going to buy these with my next paycheck but since I have to plug them in to use em on the vita I think ill go another route. I don’t play online and my ps3 is hooked up to my stereo.
yeah, it’s a jack-jack connector for the PSVita, but it works fine like that and the cable is long enough. but you wouldn’t be able to do wireless on the Vita 🙁
I think that headset is biggest for use with psvita system
Is there a way to get the 7.1 on pc with cable or usb-bluetooth connection? I’d like to use the 7.1 not only on the ps4…. 🙁
The gold thing must be US only … Mine is called Gold.
I thought it was bluetooth but I had to read it again and found out its USB dongle. well I’m no longer interested then.
They do look good but I want total wireless as everything these days has bluetooth so why not get bluetooth headphones.
I already have a bluetooth headset I use so I might as well stick with it till I can find a good set to upgrade to as these wont do I will now have to find another set that will.
Pity as they do look good.