PS4 Headsets - any recommendations?

Given the social aspect of Destiny I think that a set of headphones with a microphone is a must. Also I would like to play at night and not keep others awake so I'd also be relying on them for game audio.

Does surround sound work?

Noise cancelling: gimmick or good?

Noise cancelling mike: as above.

Can people hear you?

I had difficulty hearing other people with a pair of office style USB headphones borrowed from work - would that be down to their systems or are there settings that I can adjust (somewhere)?

Does wireless work properly?

Is it worth spending more money?

I don't mind spending some money but not on something that breaks after 3 months.

How long have you had yours? (I've seen what's inside some expensive ones and the build quality is shocking)

Anyone used several different headsets over the years?

Any advice welcome.

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Does any headset work with the PS4? I had assumed the official headset would tend to work the best with the system. I use a steelseries Siberia on my PC. http://steelseries.com/us/products/audio/steelseries-siberia-v2-frost-blue?gclid=CPeRuOqLi78CFUOSfgodPQwAxg

It has a noise cancelling microphone, which helps keep it from picking up ambient sounds as much.

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Does any headset work with the PS4? I had assumed the official headset would tend to work the best with the system. I use a steelseries Siberia on my PC. http://steelseries.com/us/products/audio/steelseries-siberia-v2-frost-blue?gclid=CPeRuOqLi78CFUOSfgodPQwAxg

It has a noise cancelling microphone, which helps keep it from picking up ambient sounds as much.

I used a bog standard USB teleconference set from work. They work well in the office but I couldn't make out what people where saying in-game for half of the time. And I even had the game audio cranked right down. It was very frustrating.

I imagine that anything USB or with a 3.5mm audio jack will WORK with any console but I want something that works well.

How long have you has your headset? How does the build quality appear? I've seen inside a fair number of gaming headsets and the mics are often only held in place by the wires that drive them. Price doesn't seem to == quality. It's generally looks and features that get attention.

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I used a bog standard USB teleconference set from work. They work well in the office but I couldn't make out what people where saying in-game for half of the time. And I even had the game audio cranked right down. It was very frustrating.

Was this using the in-game fireteam voicechat in Destiny? Because it was significantly harder to hear people in that than in a party chat on PSN.

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I think it was in-game. I've never done this stuff before but I think it was in-game. How do you do the other thing?

I found the whole invite thing rather clumsy. I had to use the PSN messaging service to make it happen and it pulls you out of the world.

Bungie really needs to fix the in-game voice chat and the invite experience. It's a major bummer that it doesn't work well - it defeats the purpose of making a social game.

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I think it was in-game. I've never done this stuff before but I think it was in-game. How do you do the other thing?

I found the whole invite thing rather clumsy. I had to use the PSN messaging service to make it happen and it pulls you out of the world.

Bungie really needs to fix the in-game voice chat and the invite experience. It's a major bummer that it doesn't work well - it defeats the purpose of making a social game.

You have to start a party on the PS4 dash and invite people there. Yeah I am hoping the crappy voice quality was because it was Alpha. The in game voice chat was cool though because it would take in game environments into account, like echoing slightly in hallways.

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Does surround sound work?

Sort-of, depends. Short version: not worth it right now.

There are two kinds of 'Surround Sound' headphones:
1. Processed surround-sound signals delivered over stereo headphones
2. Headphones that pack in a lot of small drivers at different angles.

The first usually suffers from the Head-Related Transfer Function in use not matching your own (HRTF: how sound waves bend around the geometry of your head and ears). Meaning that your brain can't localise sounds properly and the surround effect is reduced or even lost. It is possible to learn to use your new 'virtual' ears but this creates a disconnect between games and reality.

You don't need to buy designated gear for this: it can be implemented in software. Some games have their own implementations of this.

The second kind gives a 'kind-of' surround experience to more people, more easily. But this is traded off with: greater expense, complexity. Lower quality, smaller drivers. Greater weight. Hence, there is higher likelihood of things breaking for dubious benefit.

Both kinds suffer from the sound field being fixed to your head rather than the screen: meaning subtle (and even large) movements of your head do not let you sample the sound field from different positions to achieve better sound localisation. It's like if you had a speaker-based surround sound system but you were tied down and in a neck brace the entire time.

Now, more-ideal surround sound over headphones would do two things:
1. Take measurements of your individual HRTF, or allow deep customisation options
2. Use head-tracking to keep sound sources static in space relative to their position on-screen

There are few decent implementations of this. Few have microphones. Research is lacking.

Besides, most surround sound content is still only authored in a 2D plane and fixed to specific channel arrangements (5.1/7.1). 3-dimensional ambisonics - despite being nearly 40 years old and having the key patents expired - has yet to catch on. It's a shame.

I'd say your money is still better spent getting the absolute best stereo headset you can afford.

Noise cancelling: gimmick or good?

Depends how noisy your environment is. The tech does work, but it's not absolute. A closed-back headset with good padding may be more than enough for your purposes. Even then, maybe game sound over an open-back headset would be fine? I've not seen many headsets with noise canceling.

Noise cancelling mike: as above.

Generally good. Again, not an absolute and it's usefulness depends on your environment.

Can people hear you?

I had difficulty hearing other people with a pair of office style USB headphones borrowed from work - would that be down to their systems or are there settings that I can adjust (somewhere)?

There are settings you can adjust in Xbox. Not sure about PS4. I always thought the leveling was awful and used the separate input and level on my (now busted) Turtle Beach X12s to jack the game chat WAY up. Halo, for example, is mastered REALLY LOUD.

Does wireless work properly?

Yes it can do. Implementations vary wildly though.

Is it worth spending more money?

Batteries, interference, weight... besides if it's PS4 you can plug your headset directly into your controller so....?

How long have you had yours? (I've seen what's inside some expensive ones and the build quality is shocking)

For the past several years I've been using Turtle Beach headsets - because of the ability to use them both on Xbox 360 and PC. I had the X1, X11 and most recently the X12. I could never find equivalent feature-sets at anywhere near the same price range so I was happy with them.

I used them HARD: at least several hours a day, up to all day. I only occasionally got sore ears but that will depend on your own ears. Each lasted me 2 to 3 years.

First one I accidentally broke somehow. Second one I think the mic died. The latest one (the X12) the separate 'bass boost' gave out - leaving me with absolutely no low-end sounds. Plus the ear-pads are starting to disintegrate now (replaceable, but the unit is busted anyway so no point).

My set-up has changed recently, and I'm willing to forego Xbox 360 chat ability these days. So I'm looking at maybe a USB or straight PC 2-jack headset. As simple and high-quality as I can afford. Also might upgrade my price bracket while I'm at it.

Suggestions for me would be appreciated too.

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While any headset works with the PS4 (provided it has a 3.5mm jack), this one is highly rated, and on sale for over 50% off today only. Never used it myself, but them reviews...

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While any headset works with the PS4 (provided it has a 3.5mm jack), this one is highly rated, and on sale for over 50% off today only. Never used it myself, but them reviews...

I saw that sale and I am tempted.

On the other hand, I'm invested in my Astros, and they've always worked great with my 360 and PS3.

Note: they have the simulated surround sound that RC mentioned above, but I've never had a problem with it.

I have the A40s wired version with a Mixamp (last gen). I had a friend with the new wireless astros, and I could barely hear him in Destiny.

I had a ton of echo in Destiny (I don't think this is a feature, Xenos.) That dissipated some when I figured out how to make chat headset only (not blended)--this is a specific setting on your PS4 that is not the default. (Thanks, Bones.)

What I found most troubling on the PS4 is that the key Mixamp feature--the ability to adjust the mix between game sounds and chat audio didn't seem to work well. The game audio seemed to stay the same unless I turned it all the way off. (The latter might not be correct--I kept meaning to test it when I wasn't trying to shoot things, but all in all I just remember not being very happy with the way the sound was coming out.) It may have been because other people didn't have their headset only setting on. I don't know, but like others, I found the chat in Destiny less than optimal at times.

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I had a ton of echo in Destiny (I don't think this is a feature, Xenos.) That dissipated some when I figured out how to make chat headset only (not blended)--this is a specific setting on your PS4 that is not the default. (Thanks, Bones.)

I'm not talking about the crappy echo, I had that too at random times. I actually tested it with a friend, you'd walk into a corridor and it would echo and walk out and it would stop, it was very repeatable.

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it's a pity it's not working right yet. There were some places were multiple gunfire sounded very choppy. Hopefully Bungie can iron out the wrinkles in it before launch because it is a neat idea in principle, it's just the implementation that lets it down right now.

I was going to mention it in a thread of my own but never got round to it. Maybe it just needs to be more subtle.

That it happens only in certain places in the game suggests that it is a feature and not a bug. I hope that Marty's departure wont prevent Bungie from sorting this.

Talking of Marty... did anyone else hear a nice piece of music and think, "Nice work Marty" and then feel sad because you realize that Marty wasn't part of Bungie now? Made the world feel a bit emptier.

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Talking of Marty... did anyone else hear a nice piece of music and think, "Nice work Marty" and then feel sad because you realize that Marty wasn't part of Bungie now? Made the world feel a bit emptier.

Yes. :(

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Bungie has been filtering sounds by location since Halo 1. It's seemingly just baked filters associated with various areas, but it's been there.

I don't know if player voices have been filtered, but in-game (i.e. diegetic) sounds have.

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Bungie has been filtering sounds by location since Halo 1. It's seemingly just baked filters associated with various areas, but it's been there.

I don't know if player voices have been filtered, but in-game (i.e. diegetic) sounds have.

I wish you (or someone from Bungie) could have told me that every time I asked for it.

Can't say I ever noticed it happening; are there some good examples that you could mention?

How are the filters applied? Is it something done by the CPU, GPU, sound card, digital processor chip on the mother board? Maybe PS4 does it differently than xboxes and Bungie hasn't got it working properly yet.

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During the Strike when you enter the area with the thread barrier... there is a corrugated metal cargo container that gives you cover whilst you snipe the two snipers on the platform at the back of the area - it's the platform that overlooks the thing that your ghost hacks - it's also near the thread barrier and is a good place to hide during legendary runs as it lets you snipe the snipers in the other waves.

Anyway... the place where sound chops up is the side of the cargo container that gives you cover to snipe the snipers when you first enter the area. It's before you even reach the thing that needs hacking.

PS - How many people noticed the sound chopping up in certain locations? I can't remember if it only happened whilst wearing a headset or if it always happened.

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I wish you (or someone from Bungie) could have told me that every time I asked for it.

Can't say I ever noticed it happening; are there some good examples that you could mention?

Good examples?

That inside of that pipe on High Ground has a filter that has a very obvious echo on bangy sounds like gunshots.

The shower area with the pro pipe spawn on Powerhouse makes reloads sound very raspy compared with reloads outside.

Halo's 1 and 2 have some very noticeable filtering, but the most striking sound environment transition that comes immediately to mind is when you enter the banshee pillar on AotCR/TB. Here you go, also threw in the same thing in CEA:

AotCR/TB are completely loaded with noticeable area filters, though. The control room itself has an extremely aggressive filter which, though it suffers a little clipping, makes the start of the opening cutscene of Two Betrayals sound amazing.

How are the filters applied? Is it something done by the CPU, GPU, sound card, digital processor chip on the mother board? Maybe PS4 does it differently than xboxes and Bungie hasn't got it working properly yet.

The original Xbox had a sound chip, but I don't know what all it was capable of and whether area reverb effects and such would have been offloaded to it.

For the PS360, it sounds like audio processing is usually a CPU thing. Those consoles have no dedicated audio processing hardware, but their CPUs feature tremendous capacity for patterned parallel computation; PS3's CELL in particular is actually theoretically significantly better at it than the CPUs in PS4 and Xbox One.

As for PS4 and XB1, I have no idea. You could probably do some half-decent audio work on those CPUs. Those consoles also *supposedly* have some dedicated audio processing silicone, but nobody seems to be sure of what it is and what it's for.

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Huh, neat.

I never paid any attention to that before.

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I have an A40 headset I've been using with my PS4, and I've really enjoyed it. My Mixamp died a while back so I hadn't been able to use the headphones and pretty much given them up for a lost cause. The PS4 made them relevant again since I can cut the Mixamp right out of the system. I didn't have any huge issues with game audio overwhelming chat audio, though having to manually adjust those settings is a little tedious.

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I have an A40 headset I've been using with my PS4, and I've really enjoyed it. My Mixamp died a while back so I hadn't been able to use the headphones and pretty much given them up for a lost cause. The PS4 made them relevant again since I can cut the Mixamp right out of the system. I didn't have any huge issues with game audio overwhelming chat audio, though having to manually adjust those settings is a little tedious.

Could people hear you OK? Some reviews suggest that the Astro mikes aren't great.

Ear buds never fit in my ears (they always drop out) so, for daytime use, my ideal solution would be a headset that was very open and so let me hear my surround sound well but still held my mike and has a small speaker near my ear to let me hear team mates talk.

Or perhaps someone should do a mike only package that puts team speak through the surround sound speakers. For daytime use that could be the best of all worlds. I would have proper surround sound with a mike.

Does anyone make such a thing? Is it any good? Anyone here got one?

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Could people hear you OK? Some reviews suggest that the Astro mikes aren't great.

I've never had any complaints.

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Given the social aspect of Destiny I think that a set of headphones with a microphone is a must. Also I would like to play at night and not keep others awake so I'd also be relying on them for game audio.

Does surround sound work?

Astro A40s. Headphones with a mic, and it works with surround sound. They are also very comfortable and sound fantastic.

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When I was looking for a set of PS4 headphones for alpha, these came highly recommended.

http://us.playstation.com/ps3/accessories/playstation-gold-wireless-headset.html

They are super comfortable, have a "hidden" mic which I've never gotten a complaint on and actually route 7.1 directly from the PS4 (via a dongle, bluetooth?)

They also seem to turn off my audio output to the TV, but I think that is configurable via the ps4 audio settings.

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Just trying to figure out how to get chat working with PS4.

My A40s sounded amazing while I was playing and provided really amazing surround sound. I was able to whip around and pick up anything that made a sound in any direction. I just haven't figured out how to sort out chat with a PS4. On XB1 I'm definitely good to go with chat since they kept the same system that worked really well with 360. (Oh and they patched it so that Astro chat wasn't getting crazy static)

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