Why Won't My Xbox One Headset Work

Laptop Mag Verdict

The Xbox Wireless Headset offering 3D sound, solid battery life and easy-to-use controls for less than $100

Pros

+
Rich, balanced audio
+
Some games back up spatial audio
+
Skilful battery life
+
Very affordable

Cons

-
Mixed mic performance
-
Bland design

Remember that chintzy headset Microsoft used to transport with every new console? You know that thing that looked like it was more than at home in a call heart than in a heated PvP battle? Yeah, these own't those. These are the Xbox Wireless Headset and, at $99, you lot're getting quite a few features for such an entry-level price.

For starters, you lot have bully audio quality that offers rich, counterbalanced sound. And depending on the game, the audio can get an actress boost of immersion by mode of spatial sound engineering science. The controls are like shooting fish in a barrel to navigate and if y'all're so inclined, there'due south an equalizer for you to experiment with. Plus, it's got solid battery life. However, the mic quality is a little spotty, just if you're a die-difficult Xbox fan, this headset is hard to decline.

Xbox Wireless Headset pricing and availability

Currently, at that place's but 1 model of the Xbox Wireless Headset available, which is priced at $99. That's on a par with the Sony Pulse 3D Wireless Headset and $30 more than than the HyperX Cloud Stinger Core Wireless ($69).

Xbox Wireless Headset design

Xbox definitely stayed true to the Series X's design aesthetic. Where the console is a blackness plastic box with neon dark-green accents, and then likewise is the Wireless Headset, a black plastic headset with neon green accents. It makes perfect sense. Yet, I'd dearest to see this in white a la the Xbox Series Southward.

Still, you'll have to forgive me for wishing for something a bit more dramatic, such as what Sony is serving up with the bold white headband against the black earcups on the Pulse 3D. But the Xbox Wireless Headset still looks meliorate than the Stinger Core, which seems to be hewn from a single block of plastic.

(Image credit: Future)

As previously mentioned, the Xbox Wireless Headset is made of blackness plastic. It's entirely matte with the exception of the glossy Xbox logo on the correct earcap. A thin strip of neon greenish lines the earcap to pause up that monochrome await. The power/pairing push along the back of the left earcup is also bright green. Directly below it, curling effectually the earcup, is the bendable smash mic. And if you look along the top of the mic, y'all'll discover a small mute button. On the back of the right earcup sits the USB Blazon-C port.

Both the earcups and the underside of the headband are made of foam wrapped in polyurethane leather. If you lot look inside the earcups, you lot'll come across either a large "R" or "L" to assistance you lot determine the correct orientation. The plastic extenders are hiding a metallic frame and have a pleasant ratcheting sound when pushed or pulled.

Xbox Wireless Headset comfort

Out the box, the Xbox Wireless Headset needs a little breaking in earlier they're comfortable. Initially, I felt pressure in the area effectually the upper portion of my relatively modest ears. The force per unit area receded after a couple of wears, allowing me to utilize the headset comfortably over long gaming sessions. Overall, the large oval earcups easily fit over my ears, creating a tight seal, which helps to keep the outside world at bay.

Xbox Wireless Headset setup

Connecting the Xbox Wireless headset to compatible devices is a quick, painless process. In guild to connect information technology to an Xbox console, you simply hold the dark-green pairing push downward for 4 seconds on the headset forth with the pairing button on the console. The headset needed an update during the initial pairing with the Xbox Accessory app. But from there, it was prepare to become.

To pair the headset with my Samsung Galaxy Note Ultra, I held downwardly the pairing push again and selected the option in the telephone's Bluetooth menu. For Windows x machines like my Dell XPS 17, I simply held downward the pairing button and selected the headset. You tin besides connect the headset to a MacBook in case you were wondering. If yous want to become wired, you can connect the Xbox Wireless Headset to a Windows x device with a USB Type-C cable.

Xbox has designed the Wireless Headset with the ability to connect to multiple devices simultaneously. That immune me to listen to Anderson .Paak and Busta Rhymes' "YUUUU" while making my manner to New Hope in Gears 5. Surprisingly, my chosen music didn't drown out the in-game dialogue, but it did interfere with some of the background sound effects.

If you've connected the headset to too many devices and want to get a clean start, you lot have to hold down the mute and pairing button for 8 seconds.

Xbox Wireless Headset controls

Operating the Xbox Wireless Headset is an practice in simplicity. Quickly pressing the power/pairing button turns on the headset, while holding the button downwardly for 4 seconds enables connection manner. The mute button is pretty self-explanatory: press one time to mute the mic, hit again to unmute. The headset has two book command dials, each built into i of the earcaps as rotating dials. The right cap controls game and music volume while the left manages chat volume.

Xbox Wireless Headset app

When yous outset pair the Xbox Wireless Headset to either your Xbox Series X or Due south, you'll want to launch the pre-installed Xbox Accessories app and make sure the headset has all its updates. From there, if y'all're and then inclined, you tin check out some of the tweakable settings. There's an equalizer with 5 presets (Game, Heavy bass, Movie, Music and Speech) or y'all can play sound engineer and create your own custom sound. The app besides offers a Bass boost option.

Other settings include Car-mute, Mute low-cal (accommodate the brightness of the calorie-free when the mic is muted) and Mic monitoring which allows you to control just how much of your mic audio is really being heard in the headset. You lot tin likewise remap the volume and game/chat balance controls.

If you lot want to wipe the slate clean, the app also has a Restore to default selection.

Xbox Wireless Headset audio performance

After playing through a few games of different genres and listening to some of my favorite music, information technology's hard to believe this headset costs simply $99. Information technology definitely has the chops of something at to the lowest degree twice its price. The 40mm drivers in the Xbox Wireless Headset consistently delivered warm, balanced sound with crisp dialogue and precipitous detail.

As I played Yakuza: Rise of the Dragon, I was really impressed with how clear the NPC's footsteps were as they walked upon their programmed routes. And every bit the protagonist, Ichiban, ran to his next objective, I could hear the sound of his suit'southward fabric rubbing. I'm really impressed at the rich timbre in the dialogue, peculiarly in the male voices. I could hear the hurting and ache in Ichiban's voice as he learned the truth about his dearest clan.

When I switched over to Nier: Automata, the orchestra drums set a frantic footstep confronting a bevy of synthed out strings. Despite the powerful instrumentals, 2B'south battle cries were nevertheless at the top of the soundscape as was the sound of metal hit metallic as her swords made contact with enemy machines.

To test out the bass, I queued upwards Megan Thee Stallion'southward "Big Ole' Freak," and was pleasantly surprised by how well the cans handled those dank 808s without submerging the electric wind instrument (EWI) or the staccato of the drum machine. On the contrary, the EWI had a nice blusterous quality that played well confronting Meg's throaty, sultry delivery.

For my final test, I played Diane Krall'due south "Fly Me To The Moon - Live" and got lost in the crisp percussion and rich piano accompanied by Krall'due south playful alto. The soundstage was spacious enough that the drums, cymbals, the piano had plenty of room to exhale. And in some instances, I could nearly hear the hammer hitting the strings

Xbox Wireless Headset spatial audio

Typically, I swear by a headset with 7.1 surround sound. They exercise an fantabulous chore of creating that virtual sound sphere that makes you experience like y'all're immersed in your gaming environment. However, spatial audio technology takes this thought fifty-fifty further, providing greater accuracy in the virtual 360-caste sphere. The biggest difference between 7.1 and spatial sound is that the latter offers actress channels to simulate them above and below the listener.

That means when I played Ori and the Will of the Wisps with the Dolby Access app, the game and its already beautiful soundscape sounded that much more live. I heard the rustle of every blade of grass Ori ran through, as well as the springy creaking of forest planks spread throughout the level. The narrator's deep baritone boomed, filling the soundscape against a litany of flutes and strings. And when Ku and Ori encountered a great tempest, the whipping winds, crashing thunder and pelting pelting fabricated me feel like I was in the elements with them.

And when I switched over to Gears 5 with the DTS Sound Unbound app, it sounded like I stepped into a Hollywood blockbuster. The falling chunks of ice met the earth in a thunderous crunch while a tree exploded, sending pieces of woody shrapnel everywhere. The explosions sounded appropriately massive, but finer sounds like the metallic slats of the skiff scraping against the ice were nice and crisp as were the sharp pings of the bullets from the Tri-Gun hit the Warden'south armor.

Unfortunately, you will have to fork out a little dough to bask that spatial sound goodness. The Dolby Admission app costs $fourteen.99 while DTS Sound Unbound is priced at $19.99. Thankfully, both apps are one-time purchases. Still, unless yous're really excited about spatial sound, I'd hold off since Dolby just supports 35 games while DTS only works with 11 titles.

Xbox Wireless Headset microphone

The Xbox Wireless Headset does a solid chore of carrying my frantic commands to my equally frantic teammates during Destiny ii. And once nosotros picked up a few wins in Crucible, my party members reported that they heard me loud and articulate sans gunfire and wild Stasis powers. For my part, there was a little fleck of an echo, not enough to be bothersome, merely only enough to be noticeable.

I likewise made a few phone calls and everyone'south voices had warmth and depth. But a few of the people I called recounted hearing a slight echo despite my voice sounding relatively make clean. However, my mom said that I sounded a bit distant.

If I have 1 quibble with the headset, it'due south that the mic should be longer. With its current length, it only reaches the middle of my cheek.

Xbox Wireless Headset battery life and Bluetooth

Xbox claims the Wireless Headset lasts 15 hours of battery life. That's shorter than the Stinger Cadre's estimated 17 hours, but longer than the Pulse 3D'south 12 hours. I managed to squeeze 14 hours and 5 minutes out of the headset earlier it was time to recharge. And when information technology'southward finally time to recharge, information technology'll take 30 minutes to go 4 hours of battery life. After 3 hours, the headset volition exist fully charged.

The Xbox Wireless Headset uses Bluetooth 4.2 which has about a 164-human foot theoretical range. I had no problem wandering the top floor of my apartment while leaving my telephone on the dining room table. However, the music began to cut out when I went downstairs or outside into my backyard, making me wish Microsoft had used the newer Bluetooth 5 standard.

Lesser line

Colour me impressed. I idea my ears were going to exist assaulted with grating highs, distorted mids and barely-at that place lows –– all for the sake of cutting the cord. However, Xbox really did its homework with the Xbox Wireless Headset, creating a peripheral that delivers great audio for a wallet-friendly $99. It didn't affair if I was facing off confronting the Swarm, chirapsia downwardly errant gangsters or listening to some of my favorite jams, the Xbox Wireless Headset showed up with warm, balanced audio. And having the power to experience some of my games with 3D sound makes it even ameliorate.

Sure, I wish the headset wasn't entirely fabricated of plastic and the mic could utilise a little tweaking. But for the money, the Xbox Wireless Headset is a serious contender.

Sherri L. Smith has been cranking out product reviews for Laptopmag.com since 2011. In that fourth dimension, she's reviewed more than her share of laptops, tablets, smartphones and everything in between. The resident gamer and sound junkie, Sherri was previously a managing editor for Black Web 2.0 and contributed to BET.Com and Popgadget.