Xbox Series X - The next Xbox that's boxy but sexy xXx

Thanks for the detailed breakdown.

I ended up just getting the cheapest Sony headphones that they offered (on sale now for like $10). Sadly they don’t still have those nice 1.5" or 2" sized small sized “walkman” headphones of old; even the cheapest have full ear coverings and are much heavier.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/sony-zx-series-wired-on-ear-headphones-black/8618232.p?skuId=8618232

It took a bit to figure out but for whatever reason the Xbox defaults to a very quiet halfway volume, so initially it sounded like this just wasn’t going to work. Even the cheapest headphones sound pretty good, maybe even better in some ways than TV speakers.

By coincidence I also ordered new headphones this weekend, which should be here today or tomorrow.

I used the Digital Foundry guide to pick “the best wired headset”, the Razer BlackShark V2 X. Hopefully it will be a good experience.

Cross posting, here. Last day of sale for Metro Exodus on Xbox Live tonight. It’s getting ray tracing support and upgrade to Series X for free.

EDIT: Oh oops, I was thinking of last week’s sale. So last Monday was the last day for that sale. Oh well, will wait for next sale on Metro Exodus.

The really important bit:

With the Xbox Wireless Headset, you can play wirelessly across multiple devices including Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Windows 10 PCs. The headset also connects to mobile devices via Bluetooth for on-the-go music or chat and to your console via Xbox Wireless technology just like an Xbox Wireless Controller, meaning there are no cables or dongles required. You can also simultaneously pair the headset to your phone and Xbox. That means, for example, that you can chat with a friend or – as the engineering team recalls doing – dial in to a conference call on your phone and play on your console at the same time.

$100 seems reasonable for the slick integration, although I would go for any cheapo pair of BT earphones from Anker or whatever instead.

There’s that marketing speak about “Pulse 3D” that Sony has. I know MS has a similar, but not as proprietary, system, but i can’t tell if this new headphone does or does not have feature parity or at least similarity with Sony’s offering.

I just preordered these - no wires sounds cool, and i can be sure that it actually works as intended - but really the wireless audio situation on this gen of consoles is tré confusing. I gather that many high end headphones last gen actually used optical outputs; i did pick up one set of headphones and tried them a couple of years ago for the PS4 that used optical, and that worked but was such a tangle that i expect it was really best suited for a desktop / console setup like for a streamer, not in the living room.

The other thing for me is that i don’t care about mic quality or chat, just want the best quality audio, so i can’t tell where that balance lies when the emphasis is entirely on being a headset rather than headphones first.

Make that “Très confusing” and we’re good. :)

It’s like getting accosted for misspelling in pig latin! ;)

Of course they announce these right after the day I ordered new headphones.

LOL! sorry. I just loved the idea of pulling you up on confusing French accents (I mean, they make sense to us French speakers… Mostly) in the middle of a discussion on confusion. Could not resist.

More on topic, I feel like I might be tempted by a pair of those headphones once I finally get a Series X.

MS actually observes President’s Day, so everyone there was off yesterday.

To follow up on this. This was an amazingly well-spent $3. This game was lots of fun. My gal got her second Vax shot on Thursday, and took the next day off work because she heard it could be rough (it was). So she stayed at my place Friday so I could take care of her… and Seattle promptly gor hit by the biggest single-day snow in decades. So we stayed in all weekend and played a ton of this. It’s somehow both casual goofy fun, and crazy serious 2d gravity/orbital physics. The progression is neat, constantly jumping to new systems with new quirks, and trying to figure out how to survive them. We really dug it.

The sale this week has the whole Xcom 2 Collection for $20. I was tempted by it last week, and thought I’d successfully resisted, but it’s on sale again this week, so I’m still tempted. But I’m waiting for Phoenix Point to scratch that itch. It sounds way more interesting, and it has to come someday, right?

Ok, update on this. So I have two options on how to plug this in.

  1. Option one, I can use the 3.5mm cord to plug into the Xbox controller. This lets me use it to hear audio, and also use the microphone, so it’s like a headset and headphones in one.

  2. Option two, it comes with a splitter, so I can plug the headphone part into my amplifier, and the microphone into my PC. That way I can use the mic on the PC, and also I can use the headphones to hear 3D audio both from PC and Series X depending on what I set on the amp.

Ok, first let’s do option 1. As expected, this eats up my rechargeable batteries, and the sound itself isn’t very good. Even at maximum volume on the headset, it isn’t very loud, so if this is a primary way to hear audio from a game, it’s not a very good one. However, I could see this being a good way to play Halo with my friends on Fridays, since I don’t need fancy audio for multiplayer, but I will be able to talk to them while playing on Xbox.

Ok, Option 2. I have an HDMI splitter thing I got so that HDMI goes from Series X to the splitter, and another HDMI cable goes from there to the monitor, and two red and white cables go from the splitter to my amplifier, which then outputs to speakers, and headphones. I have to admit, this sounds amazing. I played Tetris Effect to test this, and I turned off the speakers coming out of the amp so that the audio was only coming through my new headphones, and the bass, middle range and high notes are amazing. When I pick a menu option in Tetris Effect, I had no idea that the bass on that sound effect was so deep. It shakes my whole body when I select it with the headphones on. So cool.

I can’t wait to try Dolby Atmos with Option 2. The list of games that support it is pretty light at the moment. But there is Gears 4 and 5, and Forza Horizon 4 and Ori and the Will of the Wisp, all of which are on Game Pass. Call of Duty Warzone also supports it apparently, but I don’t have that kind of hard drive space. Only @Mellified can install a game that big. :-P

That’s a lot of FPS!

Starting this Spring, you can go into the “Manage Game” section for any title, where you’ll be presented with a new “Compatibility Options” button that will allow you to toggle FPS Boost (as well as Auto HDR) on or off.

I know a few people who are going to be really happy about individual game options.

Microsoft’s commitment to backwards compatibility is the gold standard. They didn’t have to do any of this-- it’s debatable whether backcompat is worth any substantial effort at all.

It’s a big reason why I stick with the Xbox ecosystem - a lot of those older games are still great fun to play and I love having the option to continue doing so without concern for older failing hardware or hoping for a remaster.

Well, sure. Particularly with the Xbox Series, as it doesn’t have any next-gen games. Without back compat you couldn’t use it to do anything but stream Netflix.