Let me get this straight. The bluetooth technical standard is such that i can either use the headphones as Stereo headphones WITHOUT a mic, or I can use them with the mic in mono crappy sound quality mode.
How are other premium headsets able to provide this then? (Wow headset, alienware, etc)
Kinda an expensive product to find out it won’t do a seemingly basic thing (speaking in discord). Sony’s response is apparently to buy a separate microphone….
I think most high end headsets don’t use bluetooth.
This is why most users of the Sony XM3/4 have attached the V-Moda Boom Pro mic. Reviews vary if it fits snugly or is loose.
The XM4s aren’t really a headset, so I’m not sure why this is surprising. They’re bluetooth headphones with a mic for answering phone calls. I’ve got a pair of Bose QC35s, and they’re great, but I wouldn’t dream of using them for gaming.
Ah, they have a neat function of being able to pair with 2 different Bluetooth devices, so I chose my phone + PC. I thought it would be a nice bonus to use discord with them as well, then i could chat with friends playing Monster Hunter or whatever
I tested them for a phone call as well, my friend could not hear me at all so I guess the mic is not great.
Sounds like you are right, I will recalibrate my expectations.
I have a modmic lying around but the pain of making it wireless is making it less likely i’ll do so. Yet another device to keep charged for occasional use is not ideal.
I kinda feel the whole wireless headset thing is a borderline scam and certainly mis-advertised. A lot of people are buying these extremely expensive things just to find out that it comes with pretty huge caveats that may, at best, be listed in small font on the back of the box in jargonistic terms few will appreciate the meaning of when they buy them.
Put simply, Bluetooth is a total write-off for gaming regardless of manufacturer or what fancy codecs they claim to use. I’ve had Bose QC35 and Sony XM3s and they both suck. I didn’t really buy them for gaming though, the priority was noise-cancelling wireless at work with the ability to answer video calls. Which I still use them for and am almost happy with.
Almost, because the technical switcheroo they both do to alternate between stereo/mono mic modes is a dirty and unreliable technical hack if ever there was one. It works fine talking in mono on, say, Skype - until you get some sort of notification sound in the background that tries to play in stereo. At which point you lose all input/output to your call until the stereo sound stops.
I’ve taken to manually setting the audio output to the ‘handsfree’ version when I go into calls, then back to stereo for my tunes when I leave 'em.
Back to gaming, I did get a little plugin mic for my XM3s to get around that, but it’s sorta cheap and crappy. I’m considering giving the V-Moda mic @rei mentions a go but am undecided. I’m undecided because I’m currently falling down the rabbit hole of trying to find a ‘proper’ wireless gaming headset.
Last week I bought myself the Sennheiser GSP 670. Unfortunately it also sucks. Despite the 2.4ghz wireless connection the communication part of it I think does almost the same trick and opens up an additional, separate, mono stream for the communications part. The problem is, while the game sounds fine, great even, everything I’m hearing (and apparently sending) through voice chat gets completely distorted into annoying ol’ robovoice. NB I did go back to my crappy mic/XM3 setup and voice chat went back to sounding normal. So its definitely the 670s.
So I’m returning them. I was eyeing up the Audeze Mobius last night on Amazon as an alternative and flat out asked them “If I’m using these wirelessly with the mic, will I still get the full 7.1 audio experience in-game while I’m talking to my buddies?” to which the answer is very interestingly:
No, there is NO support for 5.1 or 7.1 wireless via ANY headset. If you want quality audio 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound, you need to be connected via USB.
I’m not quite sure what the scope of the ‘any’ is. It certainly seemed like the GSP 670 delivered quality 7.1 audio when not using the mic, so perhaps they were just talking about their own products or glossed over the fact that wireless does not strictly mean ‘bluetooth’.
Long story short, though; I don’t think a true, high-quality wireless headset currently exists. Headphones, maybe, but if you’re wanting to talk at the same time I think it’s best to accept that a separate purchase for a mic, preferably wired, is the only choice.
That said, my brother is using the wireless PS5 headset (on PC) and thinks highly of it. Unfortunately for myself, I really missed the active noise cancelling on the QC35/XM3s when I used the GSP 670, as great as the 7.1 may have been. Consequently I feel that the PS5 headset looks a little ‘light’ to give much in the way of muting external sounds and that I’d likely not be happy with them.
The https://old.reddit.com/r/gaming_Headsets/ subreddit recommends the Cooler Master MH751/752 for reasonable acoustics and decent mic.
Despite some shots showing them without the cable attached, it looks like those are wired only.
Away from the GSP 670s, it looks like there are only two other choices for a 7.1 wireless headset; the Steelseries Arctis 9X and the Corsair Virtuoso RGB Wireless SE. I’ve ordered the Virtuosos, will give them a go over the weekend.