Xbox Wireless Headset Headphones Review

This headset has a sleek and minimalist look that's very similar in design to the wired Xbox Stereo Headset. It's mostly made of black plastic with green accents on the ear cups to match the Xbox's style. While the mic can't retract or detach, you can wrap it around the ear cups when not in use.

The Xbox Wireless Headset are comfortable. The ear cups have a roomy fit, and their faux leather padding feels good on the skin. The headphones also clamp well on the ears, so you won't feel too much fatigue when wearing them for long gaming marathons. However, the ear cups don't have any range of motion, so you can't adjust their angle and position for a more comfortable fit.

This headset has an alright control scheme. It lacks call and music controls but has gaming-oriented controls that are very easy to use. There's a dial on the left ear cup for channel mixing and one on the right earcup for volume control. The dials have stops at their max and min settings, and the channel mixing dial clicks at the middle point, so you know when your game and chat audio are balanced. There's also a mic mute button on the left ear cup with a light to indicate when the mic is on, as well as a green button for powering the headphones on and off and for pairing. There are different chimes for on, off, and pairing, so you can tell what command you've registered.

This headset is passably breathable. It has an over-ear design, so it'll trap in some heat and cause you to sweat more. If you wear it for long gaming marathons, your ears will get warmer over time.

This headset has sub-par portability, but it won't be an issue if you plan to keep it next to your couch or TV. These headphones are bulky and can't fold into a more compact format, which is normal for gaming headphones. They also require an Xbox Wireless adapter if you want to wirelessly connect them to your PC without Bluetooth, and it doesn't come in the box. You can still use their USB-A to USB-C cable for audio, though.

The Xbox Wireless Headset has good build quality. The headband has a plastic coating reinforced with a metal band, and the headband and earcups have faux leather padding. The headphones feel sturdy and will survive some accidental drops and bumps without breaking. However, the yokes have very little range of motion, and the ear cups don't swivel. They also creak slightly, most noticeably on the right side, and the dials make a faint grinding sound. It may not affect every unit, so if you own these headphones, please let us know your experience in the forums.

This headset has a decently stable fit. It'll stay on while playing video games from your couch; however, if you move your head a lot while gaming, the headphones can slide off your ears.

• Xbox Wireless Headset
• USB-A to USB-C cable
• User guide

The Xbox Wireless Headset has an extremely bass-heavy sound profile. Using the default 'Game EQ' setting, the flattest EQ, these headphones deliver a very thumpy, boomy sound that some users may find overwhelming. Luckily, they have a couple of EQ presets and a graphic EQ that you can use to tweak their sound to your liking. If you're looking for a more neutral sound profile or if you would like to see how the other EQ presets stack up against the default setting, you can see a comparison graph here. For over-ear headphones, we also do a sweep with humans and match the crossfade. Anything below 600-900Hz are human measurements. If you prefer a less thumpy sound, you can also try tweaking the bass levels using a custom EQ preset with settings like those displayed in Custom 1 or Custom 2.

This headset has disappointing frequency response consistency. Audio delivery varies depending on fit, positioning, and seal. You may especially notice a drop in bass if you have thick hair or wear glasses, as these features can rupture the headphones' seal on your head.

The Xbox Wireless Headset has bad bass accuracy. The response is overemphasized across the range, delivering intense thump, rumble, and boom. While extra bass can help emphasize sound effects like footsteps in gameplay, a lot of added bass muddies and overwhelms the rest of your mix.

This headset has satisfactory mid accuracy. There's still a bit of overemphasis coming from the bass range and into the low-mid, so if your game audio has lyrics, like the song Time Fall by CHVRCHES from the game Death Stranding, the vocals get muddied by the overemphasized bass. The rest of the range is well-balanced and neutral, so vocals and lead instruments are still present and detailed.

This headset has passable treble accuracy. The low-treble is slightly underemphasized, which veils the upper harmonics of vocals and lead instruments. However, there's an overemphasis in the mid-treble, which makes sibilants like cymbals piercing.

The Xbox Wireless Headset has mediocre peaks and dips performance. There are a couple of significant deviations, meaning the headphones have trouble controlling their sound profile. There's a large peak throughout the bass range, adding thump, punch, and significant boom to your audio, making it sound muddy. A dip in the low to mid-mid further thins out and nudges vocals and lead instruments to the back of the mix. Another dip in the low-treble veils the upper harmonics of vocals and lead instruments, while a peak in the mid-treble makes sibilants harsh and piercing.

Xbox doesn't make a lot of headsets, and we've only tested two of them. That said, both units have solid imaging, which indicates a manufacturer's quality control and ergonomics. Imaging varies between units. Our unit's L/R drivers are well-matched in group delay, resulting in tight bass and transparent treble. The drivers are also well-matched in amplitude and phase response, which helps ensure objects like voices and footsteps are placed accurately within the stereo image. However, the drivers have a mismatched phase response that's audible with frequencies from the mid-bass to high-mid. It's particularly noticeable on the right side and with vocals and can create holes and inaccuracies in the stereo image.

The Xbox Wireless Headset has a poor passive soundstage performance. Like many other closed-back headphones, the soundstage seems unnatural, closed-off, and shallow. You'll perceive audio as coming from inside your head rather than from speakers around you, so it doesn't feel very immersive.

The Xbox Wireless Headset is compatible with Windows Sonic Spatial Audio on PC and Xbox consoles, creating a more 3D, immersive listening experience. These headphones also support Dolby Atmos and DTS Headphone:X. You don't need to use an Xbox Wireless adapter to access virtual soundstage features, but if you want Dolby Atmos support, you have to set it up via the Dolby Access app, which you have to pay for.

This headset has a decent weighted harmonic distortion performance. There's a small peak at normal and loud listening volumes in the low to mid-treble range, but this is hard to hear with real-life content since only a small frequency band is affected. As a result, audio is mostly clean and pure.

These are the settings used to test these headphones. Since they don't come with a USB dongle, we used a Microsoft Wireless Adapter for Xbox One to pair it to our test PC for sound and microphone testing. Our results are only valid in this configuration.

This headset has poor noise isolation performance. Since these are gaming headphones, they don't have noise cancelling (ANC) and rely on their passive capabilities to reduce background sound. As a result, don't block out any bass-range noise like traffic from an open window. They also struggle to cut down mid-range sounds like ambient chatter. On the upside, they do a better job of isolating you from high-pitched noise like the hum of an AC unit.

These headphones have a decent leakage performance. They leak sound across the range, but escaping audio is somewhat quiet. If you like to game at high volumes and in moderately noisy environments like a shared living room, others around you won't be bothered by it.

The boom mic has great recording quality. Your voice sounds natural and clear, although lacking body. You will be understood, though.

The boom mic's noise handling performance is satisfactory. It does a great job separating your voice from moderate noise, like people chatting in the background. However, loud noise will drown out your voice.

If you're looking for gaming headphones with Xbox Wireless and a better noise handling performance, check out the Razer Kaira Pro Wireless for Xbox.

The Xbox Wireless Headset has a great battery performance. It lasts for roughly 19 hours off a single charge, which is longer than the advertised 15 hours, although battery life can vary with real-life use. The headset is also equipped with an auto-off timer to help conserve battery life when you're not using it, and you can use it while charging.

If you're connected to a device via Bluetooth and use its USB-A to USB-C cable to connect to your PC or Xbox, you can play audio from your device and PC or Xbox console at the same time. However, if you're using Xbox Wireless on your PC or Xbox and plug in the headset to charge, the PC overrides the wireless audio, and the USB audio takes priority.

Xbox Accessories is a good companion app. It offers a graphic EQ and presets to customize its sound profile. You can enable 'auto-mute', which is supposed to mute the mic automatically when you're not speaking, change the brightness of the mic mute button, and adjust the mic sidetone.

This headset has great Bluetooth connectivity. It doesn't support NFC pairing, but it can connect to a Bluetooth device like your phone while remaining connected to an Xbox console or a PC using an Xbox Wireless adapter. It has low latency on iOS and Android, so you won't notice any audio syncing issues if you use them to watch a video on your phone. Its latency on PC is much higher, though, and it could interrupt your gaming experience. However, some apps compensate for latency, though.

These headphones have alright non-Bluetooth wireless connectivity. Their latency is higher than the Razer Kaira Pro Wireless for Xbox, and you may experience some audio delay while gaming.

Note: These over-ears use Xbox Wireless technology to connect to Xbox consoles. To test latency, we used a Microsoft Wireless Adapter for Xbox One to connect the headphones to our laptop, which doesn't have Xbox Wireless technology. We can't confirm that the measured latency is similar to when connected to Xbox One, Xbox One S, or Xbox Series S|X consoles.

You can use the Xbox Wireless Headset wired via its USB-A to USB-C cable. You also use this cable to charge the headphones. Check out the Xbox Stereo Headset if you're looking for a wired headset for your Xbox console.

These headphones are compatible with Bluetooth-enabled PCs. If you want to connect wirelessly via non-Bluetooth wireless, you must use an Xbox Wireless Adapter unless your PC has built-in Xbox wireless. You can also plug their USB-A to USB-C into your computer for full audio and mic support via a wired connection.

This headset has full audio and microphone compatibility with the Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S via Xbox Wireless or using its USB-A to USB-C cable. If you connect to a device like your phone via Bluetooth and then use the cable to connect to your Xbox, you can simultaneously play audio from both devices.

These headphones don't come with a base or dock. You can buy an Xbox Wireless Adapter if you want to use them wirelessly with a PC that doesn't have Xbox Wireless built-in.