Console headsets...wtf.

E

equalme

Gawd
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Sep 15, 2005
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I don't play console so I'm not familiar with the equipment. I purchased a Turtle Beach Elite Pro as a Christmas gift for a family member...after looking at some reviews I started noticing people mentioning amp/mix-amp. Never knew headsets for consoles are amped up now a days.

Will the Turtle Beach Elite Pro still work well without the pricey as hell $200 amp?
 
I use my Astro A40 purchased for $100 using the stereo jack in the Xbox ONE controller and games sound pretty damned good with spatial awareness. Those "amps" are just a way to upsell the uninformed. My philosophy on headsets is it's better to buy stereo cans with a pair of powerful drivers than "surround" cans with several smaller, less powerful drivers.

By the by, Turtle Beach isn't what they used to be. They sell purely on brand recognition alone these days.
 
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Short answer is you do not need a mixamp unless you want virtual surround sound. Easy to power headphones will work perfectly fine out of the controller. Virtual surround sound does actually sound decent on high quality headphones though.
 
Also consider Turtle Beach's EarForce DSS for surround. I have the first-generation EarForce DSS connected to my Xbox One using an optical cable, and it outputs Dolby Digital. Drives my Sennheiser HD650 just fine.

Edit: Wanted to answer OP better...

Console / gaming headsets aren't all that, but that's just my opinion. I see no reason why a good pair of headphones can't pull double duty. Less is more.
 
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Not going to lie, but Turtle Beach does a piss poor job on build quality for console headsets. Awesome sound quality, but are literally all plastic. Even those elite 500s. I'll never recommend a wireless Turtle Beach headset for consoles until they start making some with metal bands.

I took amazing care of my old stealth 400s and they still managed to snap at the ear cup and the band. My head isn't excessively big but big enough I guess to where the head set was fully extended to fit me.

I don't use Xbox, but the new Sony Platinum headsets for the PS4 are absolutely superb.

I've been using these for almost six weeks now(got them from a good friend who works R&D for Sony) and they're better than my old gold edition in pretty much every category.

Battery life- getting about 10-11 hours before dying, over 7-8 with gold edition.

Comfort - they seemed to have made the bands slightly bigger, creating more space between your head and the bands. After a while on the gold edition, the only discomfort for me was the band pushing on my head.

Options - they've added more sound options. Options 1 and 2 now each have a default setting.

Sound quality - sound quality seems a tad better. More thump in the bass too. Never had an issue with the sound quality with the gold edition.

Mic quality, - no more scratchy sounding mic. Everyone has said they hear me loud and clear.

Range - Range is practically doubled(about forty to forty five feet) over the Golds 20-25 feet.

Durability - these have metal bands now(gold edition does not) and the ear cups don't require you to extend the band like those Turtle Beach do, instead they just slide up and down(just like the gold edition) , creating less stress on the entire headset when adjusting their position.


If you're using the PS4 or PS4 pro, I highly recommend checking these out.
They release in like a week.

https://www.amazon.com/PlayStation-4-Platinum-Wireless-Headset/dp/B01LW6SOV9

And yeah, the selections and prices for these console headsets are ridiculous.
 
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Are there headsets that work wirelessly with Xbox One, PS4, and the PC? I've wanted one for a little while, but I didn't want to have to buy 3. Especially with how much they cost.
I don't actually care about surround audio or anything like that, more just like a good mic/earpiece combo. The closest I've found is a normal bluetooth earpiece, but those aren't universal.
 
I got this set and it is cheap, sounds great, and I don't have to worry about charging it. Oh, it does really good with surround, and also has a set of adapters so it works with all consoles and PC. (You don't need the adapter for PS4 or PC as long as your PC jack is a 3.5mm mic/headset jack)
You'll need the adapter for xbox though.
 
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