Headphones for the Xbox Series consoles

Gaming
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So with the arrival of the Xbox Series consoles we have to be aware that some headsets will be supported and some won’t. Xbox Series won’t have a optical port, so this means if you have a Turtle Beach Elite 800x like i do it’s not going to work. The dock needs to be connected via optical.

Now ASTRO will be bringing a adapter that will make their A50s compatible with Xbox Series and earlier here on XboxEra some people said it should work for the TB too. That would be great. That being said, as much as i love the sound of my 800x, i don’t love the sound cutoffs that occur way too often. So i’m strongly considering getting a second pair of headphones. I thought it’s maybe a cool idea to have a thread for it.

With all the upcoming new ones with the prices too and also some video reviews/previews. And i’ll add some older ones as well, because there are some damn good ones out there. All wireless by the way because wires are…nah!

I’ll start with one that i’m currently eyeing. Because 150 is still doable, especially after buying a brand new console i can’t be spending 300 bucks for some of these…even if they may end up being incredibly good.

Turtle Beach Stealth 700 gen 2 - $150

Rather nice design, pro spec which means won’t clamp too badly if you wear glasses,metal frame, according to reviewers very comfortable, powerful thumpy bass (better than Astro A50 apparently) without drowning the mids and highs. 20 hours battery life (depending on max volume) . Great mic quality.

Two reviewers that are very positive about them:

Turtle Beach Stealth 600 gen 2 - $100

Apparently not as bassy as Rig 800, everything gen 1 was great at, this has it all and is better. pro spec, so good for those with glasses. More robust than gen 1, easily one of, if not the best sub 150 dollar headsets. From what i heard it’s about 15 hours battery life.

Audeze Penrose - $300

You can get 50 bucks off of the 300 price if you pre-order, according to The Verge and Gamerant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z23qNERGe8

https://gamerant.com/audeze-penrose-x-confirms-xbox-series-x-s-compatibility/

Older ones:

Astro A50 - $300 , lower if you look around.

Steelseries Arctis 9x - $200 , can be had lower.

Lucidsound LS35X - $180 , can be found lower in price

So that’s it for now. I might end up with none of these simply because i can’t try them out. That’s the downside to this. It’s kind of a gamble to buy them and if the store doesn’t accept returns…that’s not good. I am gonna try and see if i can find a shop where i CAN order a pair, try them and if they are not good enough that i can return them. I absolutely would like to compare Audeze with TB for example.

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And we are still waiting to see anything in partnership with B&O on the high end side. Curious to see what they are preparing…

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Ooooh indeed, I totally forgot about B&O. But those sure as hell will not be on the lower side, price wise. :slight_smile:

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I’ve had the original Turtle Beach Stealth 600s for 3 years now. Solid set of headphones for the price. Definitely considering the Stealth 700 gen 2

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This is what I’m waiting for to see if I replace my GameOnes from Sennheiser. When I wire in to my AVR they’re still AMAZING.

I’m hesitant about the LucidSounds. My son and his friend both had a pair (they picked, I paid for) and while the audio quality got glowing reviews from the kids, both sets fell apart literally and figuratively within a year. Very disappointing for the price.

I can’t speak to the build quality and longevity yet, but as a reward for great schoolwork last year I bought my son the Steelseries Arctis 9X. He says the sound is better than the LucidSounds while being lighter and more comfortable. Also, it connects directly via wireless rather than a dongle, like the LucidSounds. I did listen to a game and they sounded quite good! Something seemed a little off when he had me try music via FLAC file on his phone. It could be a preset or EQ? One big reason I settled for the Arctis 9x for my son is that he has another year of school and we are starting the year in remote learning. So the capability to connect to his Win 10 laptop via MS wireless adapter is nice.

While I wait for B&O info, the Audenze is interesting! I’ll have to wait for in-depth reviews, though. I have scarring by my ears so they are overly sensitive to headsets. I generally need overly large, over-the-ear styles that have often ended up being too heavy for use more than 20 minutes or so. Also, closed back sets seem to get too hot (and contribute to some weight).

Knowing I still have a set of comfortable, great sounding headsets in the Sennheisers makes me hesitant to change sets. But if I complain about the time it takes to load a current gen game in my limited gaming time, the set up and storage of wired headsets (comparted to pick up and play wireless) has to be held to account as well. Not to mention that while wearing my headset my expensive THX/Atmos 7.2.1 set up is silently judging me. . .

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Thats interesting about the Arctis 9x, i have been eyeing those as well. How is the bass on those? From here on out I will always be comparing the bass to my TB Elites.

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I have been extremely happy with the Steelseries Arctis 9x, and I’ve been through several other sets (Polk 4Shots, Sony Gold, Microsoft, etc.). My wife and I play a lot together, and I think she’s been swayed after one session with them; the fact that they use Xbox Wireless and they’ll be compatible next gen makes the investment worth it to me.

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they’ll be on the lower end for B&O but for everyone else? Top Tier!

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This, too! It was the final piece the swayed my decision. I forgot to mention, they connect with the kids phone, too, so we can call him when he’s ignoring us while gaming and not have to yell.

I am the last person to ask for bass preference. My hearing quirks make too much bass feel like it distorts everything else. But these seemed fairly balanced with a lean towards more base emphasis.

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I have the Steelseries Arctis 1X Cyberpunk edition. Pretty decent headset, feels sturdy enough and is super lightweight as well as wireless with the included dongle that also works on Pc or phone.

Only issue I have with it is that I can’t adjust the sound in the Xbox menues like I used to be able to with my wired headset. The firmware upgrade apparently allows this but for the love of god I can’t update it on my PC.

Is also quite cheap compared to other wireless headsets.

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I really want to hold out for the B&O but the arctis 9x not requiring a usb port or any optical ports is almost too good to be true. I currently use the RIG 800 and LOVE the way they feel. Has anyone tried both?

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Will the audio controllers for Xbox one work with the new series controllers?

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I was hoping to see some new headsets for next gen come out but there doesn’t seem to be anything yet. I currently have a pair of turtle beach stealth 700’s. There have been a few issues, but overall a good experience.

I’ve been debating getting Astro A50’s for a while now, but I might just go with the turtle beach gen 2 for the time being. Once some sweet new high end next gen sets come out I’ll make the bigger investment

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I will continue to use my $20 Amazon Basics headphones. :+1:

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I am somewhat reluctant about the Arctis. I’ve now seen several user reviews complaining about how the wifi signal gets completely lost way too often and then sound cuts off completely then. I already have these kind of issues with my TB, I want something that has none of that.

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For sure, my RIG 800 has none of those problems. I was considering getting the 1TB expansion and waiting out the B&O’s but I can’t justify the $220. I suppose I will just hold on to my money for now.

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Is there anything specific they were noting that could be causing the drops? Maybe my kid and I could try to replicate them.

My kid uses these ALL DAY between school and an hour or more of games or zoom meets with his friends on most evenings. After he got them connected to his Xbox, phone, and MS wifi adapter for his laptop, he’s reported none of these issues. to me.

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I had the RIG too, the 800LX I think and with the EQ I preferred the most (best balance between bass and treble) the sound would distort way too much, especially with the volume a little higher. The other EQs didn’t have this but it didn’t sound nearly as good for me. I can be very picky with products I buy, but I decided to return these.

I just checked.

It seems most of the issues are about Bluetooth, they say the connection is terrible. And when it does work the volume is way too low.

But there is one person that says this

"The connectivity is where it goes downhill. With the Xbox sound very often just cuts off completely. I then either have to turn the headset off/on and it’s OK or the console. Bluetooth works well only if you’re not in the same room as the Xbox.

Steelseries can’t really help, except for saying I should do a factory reset on them. After a day the issues return. "

That’s just one person though, I do see a lot of praise from others too. If I were him I would try another pair. His could just be faulty.

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If the issue is mostly limited to a few, I’d say they are the outliers. People will complain more often and loudly than they’ll praise (generally. Fanatics excluded).

I’ve never been a fan of Bluetooth. Too many connection issues (partially understood with it’s goal as low power mobile connections.) However, and I could be wrong, I thought Steelseries 9x used the MS proprietary 2.4 ghz band rather than bluetooth.

There are risks we take going wireless!

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Absolutely!

Once the XSX is here I’m gonna see if I can order the TB 150 gen 2 and Arctis 9x and then directly compare them. I do like how no USB or optical is needed for the Arctis.