Sony Reveals Gold Wireless Stereo Headset for PS4, PS3, Vita and PC

[StewShearerOld]

Sony Reveals Gold Wireless Stereo Headset for PS4, PS3, Vita and PC


Sony's Gold Wireless Stereo Headset will cost $99.99 and be compatible with PS4, PS3, Vita and PCs.

To Sony's credit the PlayStation came packaged with a headset. Granted, it was more than a little bit on the dinky side. That in mind, if you're the type that likes your video games blasting in your ears and blocking out the world, Sony may have just revealed your ticket to happy town: the Gold Wireless Stereo Headset.

According to an announcement by the company, the Gold headset will offer "7.1 virtual surround sound, custom audio modes created by developers specifically for PlayStation games, a hidden noise cancelling microphone for voice chat while playing online, customizable faceplates" and more. While Sony has yet to reveal a specific release date for the new headset, it has confirmed that it will cost $99.99. The company also revealed that the PS4's 1.60 firmware update is releasing tonight, bringing support to PULSE headsets to the console.

What interests us in particular about the Gold headset are the promised "custom audio modes" that PlayStation developers will apparently be able to integrate into their games. The custom modes, which will utilize the free Headset Companion App releasing this month, will allow developers to create "game modes that are specifically tuned to enhance a game's audio." Sony has confirmed, for instance, Sucker Punch will be implementing this feature in inFamous: Second Son. The Gold headset won't just limited to the PS4 however, gamers will also be to use it with the PS3, Vita or PCs using a wireless adapter "for eight hours of straight gameplay." What do you think? Will this be a must buy for you PlayStation experience, or do you have your eyes (and ears) set on another headset?

Source: PlayStation Blog


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[Veldel]

Sony's Gold Wireless Stereo Headset will cost $99.99 and be compatible with PS4, PS4, Vita and PCs.

Looks like you hit the 4 twice there lol



OT: Great and I just got some headphones why must this always happen lol

 

[StewShearerOld]

Sony's Gold Wireless Stereo Headset will cost $99.99 and be compatible with PS4, PS4, Vita and PCs.

Looks like you hit the 4 twice there lol



OT: Great and I just got some headphones why must this always happen lol

Nuh uh! Clearly Sony just has two identically named consoles on the market that you just don't about! Yeah... that's what happened...

 

[Covarr]

I'm kinda debating whether I want one of these or not, but I already have the wireless PS3 headset so I'm not sure it's worth the money... especially since the only PS4 game that's particularly enticing to me at this point is Metal Gear Solid 5, which is single player.

 

[Kahani]

I'm disappointed that it's not actually gold.

7.1 virtual surround sound

How exactly is this supposed to make sense? 7.1 means that there are 8 speakers used to create the impression of sound coming from all around; surrounding you, if you will. This headset has two speakers. It doesn't have two speakers that pretend to be eight speakers, it just users fewer speakers to try to produce the same effect of having the sound appear to come from all directions. Describing it as "virtual 7.1" is entirely nonsensical bollocks. But particularly bizarrely, it's not even bollocks in their favour - they're pretending that they're doing a lower quality reproduction of something which is itself only a lower quality reproduction in the first place. "We've attempted to reproduce the sound of someone else trying to use a few speakers to make it sound as though there's sound coming from everywhere". Great. You've managed to lie and make your product sound shit at the same time.

 

[Michael Legault]

I'm kinda debating whether I want one of these or not, but I already have the wireless PS3 headset so I'm not sure it's worth the money... especially since the only PS4 game that's particularly enticing to me at this point is Metal Gear Solid 5, which is single player.

I would say there is a good chance of metal gear online coming with or soon after either ground zeroes or phantom pain. Though with how ground zeroes is being sold separately, I am having suspicions that online will be as well.

 

[omega 616]

oooh, I dunno ...

I mean, I live alone so the whole point of wearing headphones is kind of null but getting 7.1 surround sound usually costs a lot more than $99 and you only need one system if you have headphones, as opposed to buying one set up for my PS3, one for the PS4 and one for the PC.

And you do feel like a bell end sat home alone with huge headphones on.

 

[Covarr]

I'm kinda debating whether I want one of these or not, but I already have the wireless PS3 headset so I'm not sure it's worth the money... especially since the only PS4 game that's particularly enticing to me at this point is Metal Gear Solid 5, which is single player.

I would say there is a good chance of metal gear online coming with or soon after either ground zeroes or phantom pain. Though with how ground zeroes is being sold separately, I am having suspicions that online will be as well.

True, but after having played Metal Gear Online with MGS4, I can't say I'm particularly excited. MGS has always been great when it was about stealth, but MGO just felt like a really slow run-and-gun, which at its best felt like Gears of War Light. I'd much rather see something more like Splinter Cell's multiplayer. I can't believe I'm comparing Splinter Cell to Metal Gear positively, but the fact is that Splinter Cell always made it about sneaking. The games are small enough that it doesn't just become a massive warzone, you're judged solely by completion of objectives and not by K/D, and those objectives are actively interfered with if you are spotted. Why isn't Metal Gear doing this? MGO (at least in its MGS4 incarnation) was extremely generic, and felt tacked on.

Suffice to say, MGO is not worthy of a headset purchase, IMO.

P.S. Thanks

P.P.S. Edit - I really needed to touch on this:

I'm disappointed that it's not actually gold.

7.1 virtual surround sound

How exactly is this supposed to make sense? 7.1 means that there are 8 speakers used to create the impression of sound coming from all around; surrounding you, if you will. This headset has two speakers. It doesn't have two speakers that pretend to be eight speakers, it just users fewer speakers to try to produce the same effect of having the sound appear to come from all directions. Describing it as "virtual 7.1" is entirely nonsensical bollocks. But particularly bizarrely, it's not even bollocks in their favour - they're pretending that they're doing a lower quality reproduction of something which is itself only a lower quality reproduction in the first place. "We've attempted to reproduce the sound of someone else trying to use a few speakers to make it sound as though there's sound coming from everywhere". Great. You've managed to lie and make your product sound shit at the same time.

While I will grant that using 2.0 to imitate 7.1 instead of true positional audio is stupid, it's not as cut-and-dry "nonsensical bollocks" as you seem to think. Human beings only have two ears. The reason behind, in front, to the side, above, and below all sound different is because of the path the sound takes to get to our ears. If it comes from behind, it's hitting our hair, hitting the backs of our ears, suffering an unnoticeable delay, etc. The virtual surround technology in products like this aims to recreate that effect with post processing. If you know WHY audio from behind sounds different, you can recreate it.

I will grant it's not perfect. Some headsets simply do a poor job at this, and even the great ones can't account for the fact all of us have different head and ear shapes and will therefore hear true surround slightly differently. I can't speak for this particular set, but I have used good "virtual stereo" headsets before. They might not produce audiophile-level sound (I have a different pair of straight 2.0 headphones for that), and they might not be a perfect recreation of what surround sound actually sounds like to the listener, but they tend to do a fine job at serving their core purpose of helping players identify where bullets, grenades, and other sound effects are coming from.

When you're playing a shooter - and let's face it, that's what most people are playing - the difference between front left, straight left, and back left can make a huge difference. Even if it's not true to life, as long as it can successfully do that, players are getting what they expected and what they paid for.

P.P.P.S. Thanks

 

[Lightknight]

Well, it's not the worst prices I've seen for this kind of headset.

As a person with single sided deafness, I just hope they continue to offer non-surround sound solutions where headsets are concerned. I'm truly tired as hell of only getting a portion of the sound because they think it's cute to put a portion of the sound on only one side of a headset without giving the option to make it mono.

I've really been enjoying the headphone jack in the PS4 controllers. It's great to have full sound without turning the TV volume on. I haven't noticed an mono/stereo issues as far as I can tell. But I'd only really notice if sound was obviously absent.

Can't tell you how many songs I've thought were garbage because they fed other music feeds through a different ear. Imagine songs without the bass or percussion? That's the only way I caught the fact that that was happening. Because I felt the rumble of bass/drums in a deaf ear that I wasn't hearing in the good one.

 

[Ace O'Hagen]

this intrigues me, price is nice, though I'd like to see if that 8 hr battery for the PC proves true

 

[IamLEAM1983]

Uh, no. I got an entirely decent non-console-affiliated Sony headphones for 35$. No way in Hell am I paying a hundred smackers for a PS4 design and fancy-pants game-dev-controlled equalization.

 

[Michael Legault]

I'm kinda debating whether I want one of these or not, but I already have the wireless PS3 headset so I'm not sure it's worth the money... especially since the only PS4 game that's particularly enticing to me at this point is Metal Gear Solid 5, which is single player.

I would say there is a good chance of metal gear online coming with or soon after either ground zeroes or phantom pain. Though with how ground zeroes is being sold separately, I am having suspicions that online will be as well.

True, but after having played Metal Gear Online with MGS4, I can't say I'm particularly excited. MGS has always been great when it was about stealth, but MGO just felt like a really slow run-and-gun, which at its best felt like Gears of War Light. I'd much rather see something more like Splinter Cell's multiplayer. I can't believe I'm comparing Splinter Cell to Metal Gear positively, but the fact is that Splinter Cell always made it about sneaking. The games are small enough that it doesn't just become a massive warzone, you're judged solely by completion of objectives and not by K/D, and those objectives are actively interfered with if you are spotted. Why isn't Metal Gear doing this? MGO (at least in its MGS4 incarnation) was extremely generic, and felt tacked on.

Suffice to say, MGO is not worthy of a headset purchase, IMO.

P.S. Thanks

I really enjoyed the sneaking mission mode, it was hard as hell to pull off a win as snake, but when you manage one it is most satisfying. I only ever played pickup games though, never got into clans and the ranked games. Playing zombies was an interesting diversion, though I never played the prison style match. (in case anyone is confused some people played with agreed upon rules to make up their own game modes that were not part of the actual game) I liked how mgo cut off people's MIC when they are neutralized, more games should do that. Hopefully they've used some of the time they've had to make mgo better, they've certainly had enough of that.

 

[truckspond]

My Logitech G330 is doing me just fine

 

[Marik2]

Hmmmm looks pretty cool and might get it a few years down the line.

 

[Roxas1359]

My Logitech G330 is doing me just fine

Same here, and heck I use it for recording on my Let's Plays as well. It's comfy and it won't cost me an arm and a leg like how this headset will.

 

[Strazdas]

worth pointing out that Sony actually allows standart PC headphones to be plugged into their consoles now so this overpriced peripheral will not be madnatory.... unlike that other company that sells overpriced peripherals.....

the price looks extortionate, they better well create something truly amazing with this or its going to costs twice the amount its worth. thank you, my 15 dollar headphones work fine enough (the only problem is lack of microphone on them).

 

[sethisjimmy]

The idea of needing a dedicated headset might be obsolete now that the PS4 finally has 3.5 mm jack output right on the controller. The Vita and PC also have them, making the PS3 the only possible need for something like this.

Also the whole custom audio modes thing was done with their previous generation of wireless headphone and it kinda sucked. They had different settings for different genres like FPS or racing or specific games like Bioshock Infinite, but it was just different equalizer balances, and I never found any one of them better than the default settings in their appropriate situations.

 

[Foolery]

I'm kinda debating whether I want one of these or not, but I already have the wireless PS3 headset so I'm not sure it's worth the money... especially since the only PS4 game that's particularly enticing to me at this point is Metal Gear Solid 5, which is single player.

I would say there is a good chance of metal gear online coming with or soon after either ground zeroes or phantom pain. Though with how ground zeroes is being sold separately, I am having suspicions that online will be as well.

True, but after having played Metal Gear Online with MGS4, I can't say I'm particularly excited. MGS has always been great when it was about stealth, but MGO just felt like a really slow run-and-gun, which at its best felt like Gears of War Light. I'd much rather see something more like Splinter Cell's multiplayer. I can't believe I'm comparing Splinter Cell to Metal Gear positively, but the fact is that Splinter Cell always made it about sneaking. The games are small enough that it doesn't just become a massive warzone, you're judged solely by completion of objectives and not by K/D, and those objectives are actively interfered with if you are spotted. Why isn't Metal Gear doing this? MGO (at least in its MGS4 incarnation) was extremely generic, and felt tacked on.

Did you ever play Peacewalker from the HD collection? Because that's much closer in scope to what you're asking for. The co-op had a decent mix of stealth missions along with taking down mechs, tanks, helicopters, etc. Non-lethal stealth was also the only way to S rank missions.