Game loud and clear with the all-new Xbox Wireless Headset, featuring auto-mute and voice isolation for crystal-clear chat, intuitive design, and direct pairing to your console.
Microsoft has announced a new wireless gaming headset for the Xbox Series X and Series S. Called the Xbox Wireless Headset, it launches on 16th March and will cost £94.99 ($99.99, AU$129.99). It includes support for Windows Sonic, Dolby Atmos, and DTS Headphone: X, allowing for a full surround sound experience.
The new headphones come in black with leather-cushioned earcups and adjustable cushioned headbands. The earcups also have the Xbox-green accent around them and have borrowed the Surface Headphones‘ rotating earcups design for adjusting the volume.
The Xbox Wireless Headset also has an adjustable microphone with an auto-mute function that is activated when you stop talking. There is also a dedicated mute button and an LED that lets you know when the microphone is active. The headphones have “dual beamforming microphone elements that focus on speech audio vs surround sound”.
Three high-quality spatial audio standards are supported: Windows Sonic, Dolby Atmos and DTS Headphone:X. You may need a Bluetooth 4.2 (or higher) dongle to connect with your PC, the Xbox consoles have the functionality built in.
"We spent a lot of time in the audio testing chambers trying to characterize and understand how the headset reproduces audio in different room environments. It goes in your living room, game room, and dorm room and we want it to sound the best for all types of audio." said Erik Garcia, Project Architect and Lead at Microsoft. "In the same way, the team studied game-play to ensure great sounding chat, sensitive mic to prevent background noise."
The headset can be wirelessly connected to any of the Xbox consoles and Windows 10 computers, or to mobile devices via Bluetooth. It's also possible to maintain simultaneous links to a phone and an Xbox, meaning you don't have to stop playing if a call comes in. Then there's the Xbox Accessories app, which unlocks access to equalizer settings, bass boost, auto-mute sensitivity, mic monitoring, and the brightness of mic’s mute light, so you can tweak the audio until satisfied.
