Although functional, the wealth of flaws with the default 360 headset have resulted in me salivating for months on end at the thought of this wireless upgrade. How's the sound quality? Does it still resemble a cheap piece o' plastic? Have all my headset woes finally been answered? Read on...
Unplugged
First the good. It's wireless! It really is a fab feeling to not just be playing games with people across the world, but now speaking to them via an inconspicuous 4 inch wire-free device strapped to your ear. Technology really is amazing, no? I find it rather frightening at times.
 | | The bundled wired headset works, but feels cheap, is far from loud enough and offers dodgy sound quality to boot. Enter: the official wireless headset! Here to add a ton of sweet improvements, whilst zapping your brain with beautiful radio-waves |
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Not only does it make you feel far less encumbered - blessing you with a smug sense of satisfaction over those without one - but it also makes opting out of voice comms altogether a comparative piece o' piss to boot. Sick of those whiny cocks slagging you off on Halo 2? Or just need to use the phone for 5 minutes? Simply take the headset off, boom! I like the ease of that. When ya wanna talk again, just clip it back on. Bingo. No annoying fiddling with menus, no volume sliders, none of that pap. Wireless is the future, my friend.
But wait, it looks the biz too. Microsoft continue to make steady progress with their sense of art and design, from the oh so dinky
Vision Camera last month, to this gorgeously hot piece of arse in the wireless headset. It's so very small, stunningly pretty and just wreaks of expense and luxury. Although I guess at 30 odd quid, one should bloody hope so.
The praising continues when you start using it. This thing's not only louder than the default piece o' plastic we've all been lumbered with 'til now, but far more surprisingly comes with noticeably better voice quality too. Switching back and forth between the two shows off a real difference, with voices coming through in what sounds like an improved bit-rate here. This applies to voices both coming in
and out of the set. There
is some additional background hiss to be heard now - most likely the improved quality amplifying what was already there - but it's a tiny trade-off considering how much better you'll sound in return. Most impressive, this.
There's one or two other, if minor additions that also impress. The wireless headset has a couple of buttons along the side you see, including volume up/down, and a mute function. One click of the mute button stops you transmitting, but here's the thing...it now emits a very subtle beep every 30 seconds or so just to remind you you've been silenced. I've lost count of the number of times I've been talking to dudes when they've seemingly shut up for minutes on end before blurting out, "oh sorry, I had it on mute". Muppets. Alas, no more though, the wireless headset won't let you forget.
I should also mention, using the wireless set adds a new icon to the top of your side panel too, one that'll keep you posted on its battery life, which typically lasts 8 to 10 hours a pop. The headset comes with its own mains adapter for charging incidentally, which usually takes approximately 3 to 4 hours.
Broken Promises
That's the good stuff then, now the bad. You see, unfortunately the wireless headset doesn't actually...work...as such. Great, huh?
Oh things'll start off fine, sure. You'll be wowed by the build quality and ease of use. You'll mock those on your friends list still tangled up in their archaic mess of wires. You'll even look like a fuckin' pimp while you do it.
But after a couple of multi-hour long Live sessions, some cracks will slowly start to appear. The set will for instance, regularly mute you for no reason at all. It'll also emit horrible humming sounds to everyone you're chatting with (without you knowing, no less). Worse of all, it'll momentarily turn itself off for absolutely no reason whatsoever whenever it feels like it. You can usually tell, as all your buddies' voices will suddenly start coming out of the TV speakers. Awesome.
 | | She sure is a looker, no arguments there. Microsoft continue to steal leaves out of Apple's book, offering up pretty, sleek (not to mention white) hardware that you're almost tempted to deep-throat |
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Having searched around, I find myself far from alone with these problems, in case you're wondering. In fact, over half of the people I've talked to seem to be experiencing similar "issues" with their wireless sets. I even thought it may be interference from other wireless devices around the house, yet with my mobile switched off and my wireless pads buried in the garden, problems persist.
Nope, seems the wireless set is flat-out broken I'm afraid.
I also have to say, I don't particularly care for how the unit sits on my ear either. I never considered my lobes especially big nor oddly shaped, yet getting this motherfucker clipped in place every night proves a horribly painful 10 minute long ordeal that normally ends in bleeding fingers and punctured ear drums. It has this rubber frame that's supposed to attach itself around your ear you see - and it even comes with a larger size attachment for those with big arse Dumbo ears - but in practice neither work especially well at all really. Placing the headset where it won't fall off is annoyingly tricky, and if you throw glasses into the mix - resting on your ear right where the headset wants to be - problems multiply by a couple thousand.
Gaming is often a very physical experience for me - I'm always fitting in laughter and jumping around the sofa like a mad spastoid - so the wireless headset's lack of traction proves worrying. Seeing 30 quid's worth of sex fall to the floor 'cos you giggled a little too hard when Tom died ain't particularly cool, really. Ugh.
Finally? The range of the sucker ain't too good either, with it tapping out considerably closer than the old headset did via your wireless pad. This'll prove a bit of a prob for those like me who like to wonder downstairs for a bevvy between rounds...this mother fucker'll cut out by step four. Then again, it likes to do that anyway.
If I was that big black board from Family Fortunes, I'd be making an "ergh-URGGHHH" sound right now.
Missed Opportunity
 | | The wireless set accompanies the upcoming force feedback wheel and the HD-DVD drive as mighty attractive 360 peripherals. Let's just hope they fare better |
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The sad thing is, when it actually works, it's pretty fucking fantastic. The improved sound quality, pleasing aesthetics and the lack of spaghetti wires all make it a winner on paper. When it works intermittently at best though, I find it bloody hard to recommend to anyone. The fact I just got the sucker a few days ago, yet have already reverted back to the bog-standard wired headset kinda sums it up really - I'm just sick of the bullshit technical issues that continually crop up whenever I turn the motherfucker on.
Can Microsoft fix these annoyances with a patch on the software side of things? I truly hope so. The awkward way it fits to your ear I could live with if it ultimately worked, and if they can indeed fix the connection issues, auto-muting and relentless drop-outs I could easily recommend this sex-tinged beast as the best gaming headset around. No lie.
For now though? Save your cash, and buy a game instead. There sure is a lot of the buggers to pick from right now.
And with that, my quest for the perfect Live headset continues.
Fuck.
(Pictures courtesy of
Xbox)
