We actually haven’t spent a lot of time talking about those yet aside from the dual sense controller, which i absolutely love, but what is probably the most popular accessory aside from that is, of course, the pulse 3d headset sony’s always been in a bit of an interesting Position when it comes to headsets for the ps5 compared to nintendo and microsoft in that it’s, really the only one that offers its own official option. Xbox and nintendo might have officially licensed options. They push more than others, but ultimately nothing is being made actually in house, at least when it comes to a higher quality, headset Music and having a first party option like this is something that is really appealing to a lot of people, because it’s something that kind Of comes with almost a sort of basic sense of trust. You would assume that sony making their own headset for their own gaming console would be selling something that is, you know, good quality for the price. As a result of this, it is, by default, a very popular choice for a lot of people and is very hard to get right now, if you already own a ps5 or trying to hunt one down. So i really just want to kind of compare this to another third party option, just to get a sense for how badly you really need to use the first party one, whether it is your best choice or not, and maybe what you should look out for.
As far as what it has and doesn’t have to offer to begin with, let’s just talk about what exactly the pulse 3d headset is and what it has to offer and on paper it actually has a lot in common with what was the main line option for The ps4, the gold headset – this is a wireless headset, going for an msrp of 99., which is not the absolute cheapest that a wireless headset can get but is still a very much more affordable price, it’s, definitely on the kind of lower end. But at the same time is offering pretty good build quality and sound quality for that price point. The headset connects to your ps5 through a wireless usb, a dongle which makes sure that it has a strong connection that doesn’t have any kind of audio lag and preserves. As much of the audio quality as possible, like the gold headset, it is a very lightweight trim design that does not feature any kind of protruding microphone and in this particular case it actually makes use of a pair of built in mics that work together to make Sure that you’re getting a nice clean, audio quality, as well as making use of noise cancelling to help make sure that no major ambient noises get in the way. At this point, you might be wondering what’s different about this compared to the gold headset aside from audio quality and there’s, really two major things aside from changes there, one the physical design, is different it’s, not just simply a new shinier look, but it is a different Approach to the headband, the gold headset made use of just a cushioned, singular band at the top, whereas this has that kind of supporting rubber line.
This is a big upgrade over the gold’s design. Comfort. Wise, though i do wish the band was made out of a softer material, it does give a decent bit when you’re trying to get it adjusted on your head, but just something about the kind of hard flat plastic i’m, not as big of a fan of what Is another big difference, though, is the addition of 3d audio support. This is something that playstation did mess around with a little bit back on the ps4, with their more expensive headset option, the platinum headset. But now it is a standard baseline option for the ps5 and is now included in a lot more games and is really one of the kind of pushed features as far as something that is new and cool about the system. Aside from the general power upgrades compared to its predecessor, if you’re wondering what exactly 3d audio actually is well it’s, the headset simulating the experience of sounds not only coming from around you, but more particularly above below and equal height. So, if there’s something happening in game above you you’re gon na hear like it’s happening above you as opposed to having just one blanketed sound effect at all heights. Note that this is not the same thing as surround sound, where you’re getting a clear differentiation of things that are happening in front behind or beside you. That is a separate thing that is not here. This is a stereo headset, stills you’re getting left and right, but it is not surround sound just that 3d audio support now in a void.
This is a great, solid headset to pick up and use. But again, what we’re kind of looking at here is how it actually stacks up to competition, whether or not you absolutely have to get the official first party option, and so what i want to compare it against is one of my personal favorite lines of headset options: Steel series, in particular their new options branded for the ps5, the steel series arctis 7p. Now something about both these headsets is that they are actually pretty tough to get a hold of, especially the pulse 3d. So if you’ve been trying to track one down, it’s really really difficult right now, but something that can help with that by the way real quick is today’s. Sponsor pop cart, smooth, do you hate it when you buy something online only to find out that, just a couple days later, you could have gotten it for 20 bucks cheaper somewhere else. Well, that’s, where pop carts, free chrome extension comes in handy. It gives you a super easy way to quickly compare prices across a bunch of different major retailers like best buy target amazon, walmart and many many more. It is so easy to use and set up. All you have to do is add it through your browser and from then on whenever you’re, looking at a listing for something like let’s, say, call of duty, cold war on best buy’s website. Well, pop cart will give you a little notification right away, saying: hey, guess what you can get this for 10 bucks cheaper over on amazon or walmart what’s really useful about it right now, especially with how many big gaming things you’re just constantly selling out all the Time thanks a lot bots is their genius alert system where you can say: hey here’s, this item i’m.
Looking for, let me know when it’s back in stock at a different store or even let me know if it’s price dropped down to a certain point, because i don’t really want to spend that much money on it. Quite yet. So if you’re trying to find a pulse 3d, for instance, well, you can have a stock alert set up, so it lets. You know when that shows up back in stock download popcart for free today and start testing for yourself to see how much money you can start saving by going to popcart.com kevinkensen. Okay let’s get back to headsets now. So, what exactly is the difference in experience between using a third party option versus the pulse 3d headset? Something worth noting real quick about this particular headset i’m. Talking about here, this is actually a more expensive one. This is the main one right now still series is kind of leaning to branding for the ps5, but it is a 150 headset as opposed to 100. There is a cheaper option called the arc, just one wireless that goes for the same msrp of 100 bucks and the main trade off. There is it’s not as solid of a build quality, and it has a detachable mic rather than a retractable one. But as far as audio quality goes, it is actually the same thing. It uses the same drivers so that’s worth noting that, as far as audio is concerned, you can grab a cheaper version of this.
That does go for that same price as the pulse there’s. Also more expensive ones, with other fancy features but that’s outside what we’re mainly talking about here. The main point is using something like this versus something like this: first off let’s just talk about the physical differences between these two headsets. Now, like i mentioned earlier with the pulse 3d i’m, not a huge fan of the headband on it, it does its job well, it’s, not the most uncomfortable thing in the world. I just wish this was something that was a little softer and to be fair, a main reason why i’m kind of feeling that is because, when i’ve been switching between this and the 7p, i really like this material, a lot more it’s, just a lot more comfortable On the top of my head, both of them fit well and snug and don’t feel particularly uncomfortable over a long period of time. This just ends up winning out a little bit as far as this comfort on the top of your head goes now. As for ear cups, this is something that i honestly think varies a lot from person to person. Different people find different ear cup shapes to be better for their particular head and ear shape, i’ve, always liked the kind of oval design of the steel series ones. I find it’s the right balance of something that’s going to be snug around my ear, but not too tight and uncomfortable.
The pulse 3d actually works out really well in this regard as well. These are more circular cups, with just ever so slightly a bit of an oval tint to them, but i found that once again, very nice comfy both are good here, but ultimately i do find the arc to 7p is the more comfortable fit of the two. For me again, this can vary with head and ear shape. As for onboard controls, you get a lot of options on the left, ear cup for the pulse 3d headset. Obviously, the ability to turn the headset off and on but more importantly, the ability to mute. Your mic adjust volume, adjust balance between chat and game audio, basically, all the major control aspects that you would need easy access to by comparison with the headset that we’re using for our main kind of one to one right now. The steel series says it offers a lot of the same baseline things. You want to have volume control, mic muting. It does not have a chat mix balance, which is something that can be really nice. If you need to adjust it on the fly, you can still adjust this using the ps5 quick bar, but it does take you a little more out of the action of the game compared to just being able to do it on the ear cup. Also worth noting something about the steel series, headset and really the majority of third party headset options out there for playstation is that it does involve a microphone that actually comes out as opposed to the built in microphone present on the pulse 3d, trying out the mics On both of these back to back both sound good and usable, though the retractable mic on the 7p did result in my voice coming through cleaner and less compressed sounding both are good.
The arctis just has the edge here now. Comfort and microphones are all good and great, but what really is the big focus here is, of course, what kind of audio quality and experience we’re getting from these different headsets. The pulse 3d has been my primary headset for the ps5 since picking it up, because i got them side by side and i’ve just been defaulting to using it, but i did start using the 7p recently in order to start comparing the experiences it’s actually really interesting. What i’ve been noticing now something worth pointing out really quick is that again, one of the big deals about the ps5 when it comes to audio is new 3d audio support being in a lot more games now, while this is something that is being very heavily pushed About the pulse 3d headset, it is not a unique feature of it. 3D audio is something that is supported by third party headsets for playstation, the 7p being one of them. However, in my experience in using these playing different games that include 3d audio support, like spider man, miles morales and demon souls, i really feel like the pulse. 3D does end up delivering on this aspect. Quite a bit more. If we’re dealing with games, where all things are equal and it’s just flat sound quality on one over the other, i actually do like the steel series a little more, but when it comes to the sense of 3d audio in terms of differentiating where things are above Below and around me there’s, a certain level of immersion i’m experiencing with the pulse 3d that is not present on the steelseries headset.
It is present on the 7p it’s, not as though it’s just not there at all it’s, just that when i’m, using the pulse 3d i’m getting a much cleaner and clearer sense of what’s happening in terms of verticality in game, which is really cool and in general, Just ends up feeling a lot more immersive, the sound of my character’s footsteps, the sound effects when i hit enemies with a sword, the sound of a dragon flying above me, breathing fire down on its enemies. All of it just has this much clearer separation happening on the pulse 3d that just isn’t happening on the 7p one other thing that does work well in the pulse 3d favor is the convenience of switching audio source from headset to tv on the pulse 3d. As soon as i turn it off, the ps5 knows to switch back to tv, while in the arctis 7p i need to manually switch using the ps5, quick bar or even just unplug, the dongle, a minor hassle, but still in comparison, it’s, a hassle now to be Fair, there are other aspects of these headsets performance that i think is important to note that actually plays a bit more against the pulse 3d. First off there is no ability to mess with the equalizer on the pulse 3d. There is no longer a dedicated headphone app on the ps5. Instead, these are now all baked in settings, but most of them just involve things like turning on and off 3d audio and how you want to adjust that particular setting.
There is no eq, so if there’s ever anything in particular about how you hear things where you like to adjust the eq balance of your headset that’s, not something you can do on the pulse 3d. The steelseries headset, on the other hand, along with a lot of other third party options out there, does include software. You can use on a pz to adjust the eq balance of the headphones, which will carry over to your experience, playing on ps5 it’s, also worth throwing out that the pulse 3d headset does have a shorter battery life than a lot of other competitors out there. For instance, the 7p that we’re using here has a battery life of roughly 24 hours, while the pulse 3d is half that at 12 hours as long as you’re, really good at being on top of keeping your stuff charged. It’S. Really not that big of a deal not a lot of people are always pushing themselves to do longer than 12 hour play sessions of a game. But if you do happen to play that, often or you’re really bad about being on top of charging your stuff, it is something worth noting so going back to our original question is the pulse headset, the be all end, all main headset. You need to grab for the ps5. No, there are plenty of other options out there at different price points that you can find that have their own streaks and weaknesses in comparison to it and can be worth grabbing.
That being said, though, at its price point for the kind of features it’s offering and the quality that it’s giving, it is definitely one of the first options. A lot of people should consider given how difficult it is to get a hold of right. Now that might tempt you to not wait on it and grab something else, and i think you should feel secure in that decision. But if you do hold out on grabbing one or you manage to get one right away, you should feel happy that, yes, this is a good choice to go, for you know, headsets to me, i think, have been always one of the more annoying things for people To sometimes have to compare and choose from because there are so many different minute details as far as how audio quality works, that not everyone’s necessarily going to pick up on and aside from obvious things like battery life and ease of setting up there’s, not a whole Lot to go on and there are a lot of headset options out there, and so again i think this is one of the nice things about sony. Having their own first party option is that there is something there that is sort of an obvious first choice for a lot of people and it lives up to its name.wGxpVhEEi9Y
