Xbox Wireless Headset Headphones Review

The Xbox Wireless 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 is 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.

The Xbox Wireless 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.

The Xbox Wireless Headset is passably breathable. They have an over-ear design, so they trap in a bit of heat, which could make you sweat. While this could be a bigger problem if you're wearing them while running, it won't be too troublesome if you're gaming.

The Xbox Wireless Headset has sub-par portability. 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 using Bluetooth, and it isn't included in the box. You can still use their USB-A to USB-C cable for audio.

The Xbox Wireless Headset has a good build quality. The headband has a plastic coating and is reinforced with a metal band, and the headband and earcups have faux leather padding. The headphones feel sturdy and should survive a few 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 discussions below.

The Xbox Wireless Headset has decent stability. It should stay on while you're playing video games but isn't intended for use during workouts and is likely to fall off your head if you make exaggerated movements.

• 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, which is 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 as well as 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 600-900 Hz 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.

The Xbox Wireless Headset has disappointing frequency response consistency. Audio delivery can vary depending on fit, positioning, and seal, so you're likely to experience deviations in bass and treble. You may notice a drop in bass if you have thick hair or wear glasses.

The Xbox Wireless Headset has bad bass accuracy. It's very overemphasized across the range, resulting in powerful thump, boom, and punch. However, it also sounds overwhelming and muddy.

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

The Xbox Wireless Headset has passable treble accuracy. The low-treble is slightly underemphasized, which can veil 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'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-mids 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.

The Xbox Wireless Headset has a great imaging performance. The weighted group delay falls mostly below the audibility threshold, resulting in tight bass and transparent treble. The L/R drivers are also well-matched in amplitude and phase response, which helps ensure objects like voices and footsteps are accurately placed 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. Imaging can vary between units and can indicate a manufacturer's quality control and ergonomics.

The Xbox Wireless Headset has a poor passive soundstage performance. Like many other closed-back headphones, the soundstage is perceived as unnatural, closed-off, and shallow. Audio is perceived as coming from inside your head rather than from speakers placed around you.

The Xbox Wireless Headset is compatible with Windows Sonic Spatial Audio on PC and Xbox consoles, which is meant to create 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.

The Xbox Wireless 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 can be hard to hear with real-life content. It results in mostly clean and pure audio reproduction.

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.

The Xbox Wireless Headset has a poor noise isolation performance. It doesn't block out bass-range noise like bus or plane engines and also struggles to reduce mid-range sounds like ambient chatter. It does better blocking out high-pitched noise like the hum of an AC unit, though.

The Xbox Wireless Headset has a decent leakage performance. These headphones leak sound across the range, but most falls below the noise level of an average office. If you're listening to audio at a high volume, it's unlikely that it'll bother those around you.

The Xbox Wireless Headset's boom mic has a great recording quality. Your voice sounds natural and clear, although lacking in depth.

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, your voice can be drowned out by louder noise like traffic outside your window.

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 so you can customize its sound profile to your liking. 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.

The Xbox Wireless 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 shouldn'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, so your real-world experience may vary.

These headphones have alright non-Bluetooth wireless connectivity. Their latency isn't as low as 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. If you're looking for a wired headset for your Xbox console, check out the Xbox Stereo Headset.

These headphones are compatible with Bluetooth-enabled PCs. If you want to connect wirelessly via non-Bluetooth wireless, you need to use an Xbox Wireless Adapter unless your PC has Xbox wireless built-in. 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're connected to a device like your phone via Bluetooth, and then you use the cable to connect to your Xbox, you can play audio from both devices simultaneously.

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