Hey viewers, Marcus from Topic Tech here and today I will be reviewing the Playstation Gold Wireless Headset.
There aren’t many great gaming headsets you can find for under $100. Usually, the headsets that are under the $100 price tag come with sacrifices. They end up being cheaply made, deliver subpar sound, or lack important features.
Let's start off with the name. People have asked why are they called gold when they clearly aren't? I honestly believe they are making a reference to their trophy system and for two reasons. Let's look at the wired headset that is a step down from this. It is called the "Silver" wired headset. To back this up, I would refer to the box. The silver headset box shows the silver trophy icon. The gold headset box shows the gold trophy icon. It makes me wonder if the Playstation team is developing a platinum headset.
The Playstation Gold Wireless Headset delivers a simulated 7.1 surround sound system experience which will help you zero in on sounds around you, and which direction they are coming from. Again, while not anywhere near the best sound on the market, at the $99 price tag, it’s a great deal. Especially if you factor in all of the other features to it.
The headphones power switch has 2 numbered settings. Setting 1 is your standard audio profile, while Setting 2 comes preloaded as a bass boost. On the Playstation 4, you can download the headphone companion app, and preload custom EQ settings into setting 2. Custom sound profiles are also available for certain games; Infamous Second Son, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, Destiny, Uncharted, Bloodborne and Far Cry 4 to name a few. If you don’t see your favorite game in there, don’t fret, as sony has custom sound profiles for genre specifics like First person shooter games, action movies and music. You can even create your own custom sound profile.
I can personally say the Far Cry 4 profile really elevated the experience. When using a standard headset, everything fell flat and it made it hard to determine the direction something was coming from. With this headset, when I was crawling through the grass, I could hear a Honey Badger coming from far away, and in what direction it was coming from. I really can't play Far Cry 4 without this headset anymore. It's that good.
The microphone on the other hand is .... meh. The mic is located on the left ear cup in the front. When in wireless mode the microphone sounds almost like you are on a phone call. While plugged in with the cable it's definitely better, but still not what I would expect out of a "Gold" level headset. Oh well, screw the rest of the team right? You can hear those honey badgers coming from 100 feet away. Honey badger don't give a shit, why should you?
The headphones have a micro-USB jack to charge with the included cable. The cable is extremely short and you will be left with having to leave your headset next to or on the PS4 while it charges. If you have a USB wall block, you can charge it there as well, but it would probably end up resting on the floor. Or you can plug it into the computer. Personally, I had an extra Micro-USB cable that was 3 feet long, and an Android phone charger that worked with it as well.
On a full charge I get around 6-8 hours of use. How you use the headset really determines this though. Is VSS on or off? Is it wired or wireless? Do you have the volume maxed out? It can be charged while in use though, so that's nice.
It can take up to 3 hours to fully charge.
The controls are built into the left side of the headset.
On the back of the earpiece you have a VSS button. This toggles the virtual surround sound on and off. I recommend always have it on. Even when using the headset with the computer. Below that you have your volume buttons for adjusting... well... the volume and how loud it is.
Just below the volume, you have a Mute button. The mute button serves two purposes; the first being it mutes your microphone. The second purpose is to adjust the sidetone feature.
The sidetone feature allows you to hear your own voice being played back in the headset. It also may allow you to hear if the background noise is disturbing to the people on the other end. By holding the mute button for 2 seconds, you can adjust the sidetone levels. One short beep for low, two short beeps for high and one long beep to turn sidetone off.
On the front of the left side you have a Sound/Chat adjuster. A lot of people seem to be confused how this works. By default, you will have equal levels of chat sound and game sound. If you favor to hear chat more, click the chat button. This will shift the audio balance in favor of chat. If you prefer to hear the game more, press the sound button. To reset back to an equal balance, press and hold both the sound and chat buttons together until you hear a long beep.
If you can barely hear anyone, try pressing the chat button a few times to see if they get louder.
Lastly, we have the off, 1, 2 switch which I discussed at the beginning of this video.
I find these headphones to be really comfortable. They are made of plastic, but the cushion is soft. The earpieces are also soft and comfortable. The inside of the cup is large enough to fit nearly any ear size inside. The padding of the cup also breathes well, for those extra long gaming sessions.
The cups adjust up and down quite a bit, so if you have a large head, or big hair you can adjust these to size.
This headset has changeable faceplates. But currently, I have not seen anything official for sale. A few people have had custom plates commissioned but nothing from game manufacturers as of yet. Seems kind of gimmicky to me, and I don't care much about it. So far, I don't think game manufacturers do either.
One of my favorite features to this headset is that I can use it on both my Mac and my PC. I plug the adapter in and Windows downloaded the needed driver (verified on both Windows 7, 8 and 10). On a Mac, it's plug and play as well. You can even enable the VSS.
I often take this headset to work with me and use them at my computer. The included bag is less than ideal for carrying them around however. It offers no protection, and with its predecessor being known to be so easily broken, I was a bit concerned.The build construction feels cheap as they are made of plastic. So the first thing I did when I got them was spring for a protective case. I did a lot of research online, and asked around Reddit. Here is what I got for my headphones.
It's the Slappa Full Size HardBody PRO Headphone case. It ran me around $30 on Amazon. But it's totally worth it. I connected a carabiner to the loop and it hangs from my laptop bag. Link in the description below if you are interested in snagging one for yourself.
The headphones fit perfectly inside here. I toss in the Android phone charger and USB adapter as well.
So let’s go over what is in the box: Headphones, a 3.9 foot 3.5 mm audio cable, wireless USB adapter, micro-B usb charging cable, travel pouch. It's unfortunate that the headphones need an adapter. I'm not a sound tech, so I just assume... "reasons".
The adapter takes away from the PS4's sleek design when plugged in. But for under $100, I think it's tolerable!
Overall, I have been really happy with this headset! One day I might spring for something pro level, but until then, this is great!
Under $100, WORTH IT.
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