Sony PlayStation Pulse 3D Wireless Headset review
Our Verdict
Sony'due south given the states a convincing reason not to wait beyond PlayStation for your gaming headset with the Pulse 3D. For a very reasonable cost, you get balanced 3D audio in a handsome parcel designed for the PS5, although if you want more than than just effectively executed basics, this headset volition leave you lot wanting.
For
- Bully looks
- Effective and customizable sound
- Suitable for music, movies or gaming
- Well-priced
Against
- Poorly-designed avant-garde controls
- Underwhelming microphone
Tom's Guide Verdict
Sony's given us a disarming reason not to look beyond PlayStation for your gaming headset with the Pulse 3D. For a very reasonable price, y'all go balanced 3D audio in a handsome bundle designed for the PS5, although if you lot want more than just effectively executed nuts, this headset will leave you wanting.
Pros
- +
Great looks
- +
Effective and customizable sound
- +
Suitable for music, movies or gaming
- +
Well-priced
Cons
- -
Poorly-designed advanced controls
- -
Underwhelming microphone
PlayStation Pulse 3D Wireless Headset: Specs
Compatibility: PS5, PS4, PC, Mac
Drivers: 40mm
Wireless: Yes (with iii.5mm cable option)
Bombardment life: Approx. 12 hours
If you're in need of a headset to go with your PS5, so Sony has a competitively priced but effective first-party selection. The Pulse 3D Wireless Gaming Headset is a cracking buy for the average PS5 owner who wants a well-priced headset that'due south guaranteed to piece of work well with Sony's latest games panel.
Designed to tap into Sony'due south proprotory 3D Sound Tempest engine that targets more immersive audio when gaming, the Pulse 3D Wireless Headset makes for a compelling first-party accessory for your PS5. But if you're prepared to pay a bit more, you can get a more characteristic-rich headset.
Keep in mind too that the Pulse 3D does have a couple of issues besides just being a little feature-lite. Then read on every bit we'll explain why it deserves its place on the best PS5 headsets.
Sony PlayStation Pulse 3D Wireless Headset review: Price and availability
You can find the base of operations (white and black) Pulse 3D headset or the monochromatic Midnight Black headset for $99/£89 at retailers offline and online.
You lot should be able to purchase information technology without hunting besides hard — the headset is not having near as bad a stock shortage every bit the PS5 console is.
Sony PlayStation Pulse 3D Wireless Headset review: Design
Sony did a skilful job of matching the PS5'due south unusual design with the look of the Pulse 3D. A mix of curved lines and straight edges makes this headset look restrained and mature compared to most gaming-focused headsets. Information technology'south not as sleek every bit higher-end wireless headphones, similar the Sony WH-1000XM4, but equally for the toll, the Pulse 3D headset is surprisingly refined.
There'south just one single LED on the whole product, and information technology'south only there as a status light. There isn't even a mic arm because the microphones are hidden within the earcups. This already makes the Pulse 3D a strong choice for PS5 owners who are put off by the traditional overly elaborate and brightly-lit 'gamer' aesthetic.
The headset pictured is the original white version. However, Sony just revealed a Midnight Black edition. It doesn't friction match the console quite as well, but it withal looks expert. Plus, information technology looks even less like a gaming headset, which would make this color ideal if you're using the headset for a video telephone call or some other not-gaming purpose.
Sony PlayStation Pulse 3D Wireless Headset review: Comfort
The Pulse 3D excels at being a pleasant headset to vesture. Information technology's very light and the circular ear cushions are soft and don't get also warm later on wearing them. Topping this off is a ski-mode headband that suspends the headphone perfectly without needing any adjustment. About the only affair missing are rotatable earcups. They're fixed in place which means y'all don't get the choice to customize the angle, nor the selection to completely flatten them out for storage or hanging them around your neck.
However, accessing the controls is a less comfortable task. All of the on-board functions — volume controls, chat/music mix, mic mute, mic monitor and the on/off slider, are all crowded into a unmarried line on the left cup, and they're quite minor as a result. It can sometimes exist hard to detect the verbal slider, button or rocker that you need at speed. This feels like a outcome of Sony prioritizing the headset'south looks, since having the cramped controls ways the exterior of both ear cups are left apparently. I think Sony went also far in this example though.
This gets even worse if you want to check the headset's battery level. This is a characteristic you lot may non even know the Pulse 3D offers because it'due south hidden in the manual. And the reason it's probably hidden is that to exercise it Sony expects you to printing 2 of the cramped rocker switches at one time. It took me a long fourth dimension to acquire to do this consistently, since the express gaps between the identical-feeling buttons make information technology hard to figure out where your fingers are. In fact when I first tried out this feature I thought my headset was faulty, but nope, it's simply incredibly hard to do past touch alone.
The result? You get a series of beeps that represent how many quarters of the headset's battery is full. You can technically practise this without wearing the headset as the LED flashes in dissimilar patterns to also prove you lot a crude pct. It's definitely far also complicated a procedure for the limited amount of information you eventually get. But if y'all're using the headset with a PS5, then just pressing the PS button on the DualSense controller will serve up an interface that'll show how depleted the Pulse 3D's battery is; that's much easier than fiddling with the earcup-mounted controls.
Sony PlayStation Pulse 3D Wireless Headset review: Performance
In keeping with the unfussy way of the headset, it's simple to prepare and get going. Just brand sure the dongle is plugged into a USB-A port on your PS5 or other device, and so slide the power push button. A couple of seconds later, and afterwards two beeps in your ears, you know you lot're good to go.
To put bated the special gaming-related audio features information technology offers with the PS5, I put the Pulse 3D on a level playing field at outset past plugging it into my PC. Listening to Piffling Simz' Introvert, there was incredible detail in the percussion, though Simz's cogitating verses weren't left out, nor was the complex mix of orchestra and beats sitting between the two.
Comparison this to the Audeze Penrose, a much more expensive headset, it was clear that the Pulse 3D isn't quite as powerful in full general, particularly when information technology comes to the low end of the mix. Only that'south typical of gaming-focused headsets, and for listening to music, the Sony headset'southward more counterbalanced contour makes it the victor.
As you'd hope from 3D audio headphones, there was a well-designed surround upshot, fifty-fifty though the Pulse 3D isn't primarily designed for music or for use with a PC. The flipside is that the audio can sound a lilliputian distant. It'southward not something I noticed when gaming, merely yous may notice it annoying if you're listening to something else.
According to my colleagues on a video telephone call, the audio from the dual microphones sounded fine. After recording myself speaking through the Pulse 3D on a vocalism note app, I likewise would agree I sounded perfectly aural, with trivial to no popping. Withal, the sound is kind of muffled, as if I was speaking through a window or door. Unlike the sound, which I call up is genuinely good, the microphones are not much more than serviceable.
Sony PlayStation Pulse 3D Wireless Headset review: Features
The 3D sound feature, the one the headset's partly named after, isn't available on all PS5 games only when information technology does, information technology works very well. It certainly made a departure with games like Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart. Standing in the market plaza of Nefarious City, you can easily pinpoint the robots moving around the stalls, the ships flying overhead, the PA system spewing propaganda to one side and the bassy thuds from Club Nefarious to the other.
I wish I could avoid invoking the cliché of saying these headphones make the game more "immersive" only they do. When audio behaves like it does in existent life, coming at you from multiple directions instead of just in stereo, the game globe makes more sense, and y'all tin accept the soundscape equally normal and become on with playing. That'due south exactly what the Pulse 3D headset does.
I appreciate how Sony has engineered the sound to be immersive just not too broad. Some inferior environs-sound headsets I've tried just make everything sound distant, but this wasn't an issue for the Pulse 3D on the PS5.
While the name of the headset sounds like it'due south a unique feature, go along in listen you can access the PS5'south 3D Audio system with any pair of wired or compatible wireless headphones. If yous are using wireless, you demand to brand certain they work with the PS5, equally it doesn't support Bluetooth headsets, just those that use a 2.4GHz wireless dongle.
Within the Audio card of the PS5's card bar, you'll find the EQ options for the Pulse 3D. It's a feature unique to the headset, as other audio outputs just get a simple volume slider and aught else. In that location are three EQ presets — Standard, Bass Heave and Shooter, with three custom slots besides on offer. Having the pick to tweak your sound profile between up to vi options, while still in game, is a welcome convenience. Although you would also be within your right to complain that this should be something the PS5 offers for whatsoever headset or speaker system, rather than as an exclusive characteristic for the Pulse 3D.
Sony promises 12 hours of battery life from the Pulse 3D, and that seems pretty accurate from my feel having to accuse information technology twice a week after spending my evenings replaying WipEout Omega Collection. It's adequate, just not outstanding given some headsets can offer upwardly to double that longevity.
While hardly an earth-shattering feature, I greatly capeesh USB-C charging on the Pulse 3D. Information technology'southward a common connection and filling up the headset's battery simply takes a short amount of time, even when plugged into a low wattage ability source such as one of the USB ports on the PS5 itself.
The wireless adapter means you're able to easily switch the Pulse 3D between PS5 and PS4 consoles, or to Windows or Mac devices. That said, information technology seems susceptible to some kind of interference. I was plagued with constant disconnects during both video calls and gameplay on two divide days, but I've been unable to replicate the result since.
If you are afflicted with disconnects, or take simply forgotten to charge up the battery, and so y'all have the option of connecting a 3.5mm jack cable for audio-merely use. Information technology makes for a good back-up selection if you've forgotten to charge the headset, even while gaming since the DualSense controller features a 3.5mm port that you can route the sound through. The microphone on the Pulse 3D doesn't work with a cable plugged in. But the controller's built-in microphone ensures yous can all the same talk to party members and teammates when needed.
Sony PlayStation Pulse 3D Wireless Headset review: Verdict
If you aren't looking for a gaming headset with all the possible bells and whistles, the Pulse 3D delivers the basics, on the whole, at their most finely tuned. Sony'south making a cracking case for buying extra PlayStation-branded gear with this handsome, smashing-sounding pair of wireless headphones, even if it'south not also hard to get much more than impressive performance if you spend a little more than for something similar the Steelseries 7P.
Information technology'southward just a pity that the controls are not up to scratch. That's the simply major irritation, but anyone wanting a more customized fit or rotating earcups may desire to await elsewhere besides. Happily, I believe that you are more than likely to be able to live with these issues than you think, thanks to the agreeable asking price.
If you want more of an all-circular headset then it might be worth waiting for the Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones that could exist in the works.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/pulse-3d-wireless-headset
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