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The Worst Modern Gaming Headset
Gaming headsets blend tech features and audio performance into one affordable package, and they’re probably the best entry point into better audio for gamers. Audiophiles and studio gearheads might not like to hear that, but it’s true. Headsets blend headphones and microphones together into one easy package, and are simpler to setup than bespoke separate devices.
They also used to have a justified reputation for sounding terrible, but in the last half decade or so they’ve dumped their “bass bass bass all the time” strategy in favor of better raw performance. In today’s peripheral market, it’s not at all hard to avoid the booming nightmare of headsets past and get something that does a reasonably good job of producing accurate audio for games, movies, and music.
Microsoft seems to have missed the sound memo when crafting the current Xbox Wireless Headset. It has a beautiful design and smart feature list alongside some of the worst sound performance I’ve experienced in a modern headset. It’s a hilarious bass cannon the likes of which I haven’t heard in many years of reviewing gaming headsets. The bass is boosted so absurdly high that it’s all you’ll be able to hear. Directional cues get lost in a mess of booming mud and voices all sound like they have a layer of haze on them whether they come from the game or through your chat channel.
The headset does talk to Microsoft’s Xbox accessories app — and ludicrously one of the available features is an optional bass boost. The headset already has so much bass I have no idea why the smart folks at Microsoft thought someone would want even more as a default feature.
Back when Windows Sonic and Dolby Atmos were launching, I had the pleasure of a few quick polite online chats with a member of the sound team at the company. It was obvious that they had a wealth of knowledge about good audio, and that was also backed up at the time by the launch of the Surface Headphones, which are well-regarded. I don’t know why this headset is such a bass monster. Maybe they had data that suggested this is what many players want? That same telemetry-driven thinking also led to the disaster of launching the Xbox One with mandatory Kinect inclusion and tons of TV…
