The official PS4 Headset/Headphones Guide/Discussion

[Psycho Sonny]

You could buy a usb mic if your looking just for a mic.

Any usb headset will work or get a hyper x.

The ps4 also comes with one

 

[Sunburn]

@Psycho Sonny

Thanks for all the information you have posted on this thread, its pretty hard to take in it all though

I have been running for years now a pair of Sins 580's which are my pride and joy, and perfect for my PC setup, however my wife has brought me a PS4 for xmas, and having used it with the supplied mono ear piece and Mic just want to throw the ear-piece/mic in the bin, absolute rubbish in sound output and also sound pickup.

As, Ill be using the PS4 casually for gaming in the front room and seated at a good distance from the TV I really want to go wireless, would you be as kind as to advice on a suitable setup for decent sound quality on cans and a decent Mic?

Can justify around £100ish for the full setup.

Really appreciate your time and knowledge..

Regards
Geoff

 

[Psycho Sonny]

@Psycho Sonny

Thanks for all the information you have posted on this thread, its pretty hard to take in it all though

I have been running for years now a pair of Sins 580's which are my pride and joy, and perfect for my PC setup, however my wife has brought me a PS4 for xmas, and having used it with the supplied mono ear piece and Mic just want to throw the ear-piece/mic in the bin, absolute rubbish in sound output and also sound pickup.

As, Ill be using the PS4 casually for gaming in the front room and seated at a good distance from the TV I really want to go wireless, would you be as kind as to advice on a suitable setup for decent sound quality on cans and a decent Mic?

Can justify around £100ish for the full setup.

Really appreciate your time and knowledge..

Regards
Geoff

if you really want wireless then first party sony headsets is what you want to look at for that kind of budget.

you could try and source a 5.8 mixamp but it's not a full wireless solution there are wires from cans to receivers and the controller, etc it's more of a hybrid setup.

the only other thing i could think of would be if you got a USB mic (like a blue yeti) and a pair of wireless headphones, but that would be going way over budget. as would a pair of astro a40's be way over budget.

"Sony PlayStation Wireless Stereo Headset 2.0 (PS4/PS3/PS Vita)" - cost about £80 brand new delivered a quick google should find them, they would be your best bet for decent sounding wireless setup for under £100, they offer virtual surround sound, etc.

sony actually do make some decent headphones in terms of studio use, so i would hope that they put that experience to use when making their headsets.

 

[Sunburn]

Thanks for the info Psycho Sonny.
Perhaps I should have been more clear, I dont mind cables, I just cant have cables stretching from the PS4 to where ill be sat, so perhaps there is a way to have headphones and mic wired in into a wireless rx/tx and have a wireless tx/rx by the Playstation? I hope that makes more sense in what im trying to do.

Do I need more budget if such a setup exists?

Thanks for you help.

Geoff

 

[pr33tz]

I have a pair of AKG K702's which I'd like to use with my PS4. What else would I need to get it hooked up? I keep reading about the Mixamp but the only version I can find for sale is a 2015 model. Would this still work? And what about a mic? Where does it all connect? And will it make me a better player in CoD??

 

[BuffetSlayer]

Hi folks.

I have a set of Qpad QH-90's (basically rebranded beyerdynamic I think - and very similar to the kingston hyper x). The mic and headphones have separate 3.5mm TRS plugs. I could use the included TRRS splitter to connect them to the DS4, but as we know the sound output to the pad is very weak (even when just connecting the headphone plug on its own the volume is very low even though it is at max in the system settings - im guessing that is to do with low output voltage/current struggling to drive the headphones?).

Does anyone know if I would get a full volume output if I tried using something like a Xonar U3 (or any other USB sound adapter)? Or do I need to buy different headphones?

 

[Reeve]

Hi folks.

I have a set of Qpad QH-90's (basically rebranded beyerdynamic I think - and very similar to the kingston hyper x). The mic and headphones have separate 3.5mm TRS plugs. I could use the included TRRS splitter to connect them to the DS4, but as we know the sound output to the pad is very weak (even when just connecting the headphone plug on its own the volume is very low even though it is at max in the system settings - im guessing that is to do with low output voltage/current struggling to drive the headphones?).

Does anyone know if I would get a full volume output if I tried using something like a Xonar U3 (or any other USB sound adapter)? Or do I need to buy different headphones?

I've got the Kingston HyperX's and I also happen to own a Xonar U3 even though I use a 2011 mixamp with the PS4. I just tried using the U3 and its surprisingly loud(40% volume is enough for me), I haven't tried voice chat with it but I see no reason why it wouldn't perform well.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

Thanks for the info Psycho Sonny.
Perhaps I should have been more clear, I dont mind cables, I just cant have cables stretching from the PS4 to where ill be sat, so perhaps there is a way to have headphones and mic wired in into a wireless rx/tx and have a wireless tx/rx by the Playstation? I hope that makes more sense in what im trying to do.

Do I need more budget if such a setup exists?

Thanks for you help.

Geoff

only one mixamp is wireless and it's old and hard to get, it's also the best in terms of SQ atm

you need a 5.8 mixamp, plus headphones and a mic

the 5.8 mixamp will cost you £60+ at auction, a mic can be had for as cheap as £1 or as much as £40, it depends on you how much you want to spend (I would go for a £1 mic to begin with the "DX clip on"). headphones again for a decent set your talking £100 minimum and £200 maximum, akg X7XX series are your best bet or dt770's or hd558's.

so your talking minimum £150, max £300

I have a pair of AKG K702's which I'd like to use with my PS4. What else would I need to get it hooked up? I keep reading about the Mixamp but the only version I can find for sale is a 2015 model. Would this still work? And what about a mic? Where does it all connect? And will it make me a better player in CoD??

they all connect to the mixamp

mic + cans to mixamp

mixamp to console

it will make you hear footsteps better, but won't make you a better player, that takes practice.

 

[TALON1973]

Slight hijack ....but bought bf4 recently and even tho I select stereo mode , placing sounds in-game seems rubbish . Using senn hd700

 

[BuffetSlayer]

I've got the Kingston HyperX's and I also happen to own a Xonar U3 even though I use a 2011 mixamp with the PS4. I just tried using the U3 and its surprisingly loud(40% volume is enough for me), I haven't tried voice chat with it but I see no reason why it wouldn't perform well.

Thanks for the info, much appreciated. I'm not too bothered about wireless as I will only be using them at night when the wife has gone to bed. There is plenty of cable with the QH-90's for me to sit about 3m away.

As long as the volume is sufficient that is cool, which it should be for mine as they are identical to the Hyper X headset technically speaking.

Dont want to put on you, but is there any chance you could test the voice aspect? Dead easy to do, just go to send a message to someone on your friends list and record a voice message and play it back to yourself and see how it sounds. You don't need to send it.

How do you find the Hyper X? I looked around for a while and all the reviews said the QH-90's were one of the best headsets going for the money. I thought it was based on Beyerdynamic but it is a rebadged taskstar pro 80 according to Head-Fi.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

Slight hijack ....but bought bf4 recently and even tho I select stereo mode , placing sounds in-game seems rubbish . Using senn hd700

select headphones

 

[TALON1973]

select headphones

lol didn't see that option Although stereo and headphone stereo should be the same

 

[Reeve]

Thanks for the info, much appreciated. I'm not too bothered about wireless as I will only be using them at night when the wife has gone to bed. There is plenty of cable with the QH-90's for me to sit about 3m away.

As long as the volume is sufficient that is cool, which it should be for mine as they are identical to the Hyper X headset technically speaking.

Dont want to put on you, but is there any chance you could test the voice aspect? Dead easy to do, just go to send a message to someone on your friends list and record a voice message and play it back to yourself and see how it sounds. You don't need to send it.

How do you find the Hyper X? I looked around for a while and all the reviews said the QH-90's were one of the best headsets going for the money. I thought it was based on Beyerdynamic but it is a rebadged taskstar pro 80 according to Head-Fi.

Sorry, I haven't checked this thread in a while so I didn't see your response. I've just checked and it does have a constant background noise when transmitting, this wasn't as noticeable when I turned the volume down but it is there. If you ignore the noise, the quality of the voice comms is fine. I didn't catch any noise when using my mixamp with the same headset but it is a lot quieter when compared to the u3.

I cant fault the build of the headset itself, I can wear it all day and not find it the least bit uncomfortable. I also managed to stomp on it about a month ago which seemed to bend the band part of the headset back on itself. I thought I messed them up but I pulled it back into position and it was good as new.

I do have one complaint and i'm not sure if I have a faulty headset but if I remove the mic and put pressure on the cable I can a static hear noise through the speakers.

 

[cokecan]

Apologies if the answer to my question is already in this thread, I've not had a chance to read it all yet...

Does anyone have any recommendations of small/slim wireless headset to use for voice chat only? I was hoping to just use a nice slim Plantronics bluetooth headset but discovered soon after buying my PS4 that it isn't going to work (why oh why?!). Don't mind using a USB receiver if I have to even though it feels a bit redundant givent he fact the PS4 already has bluetooth.

Thanks in advance

 

[Shimmyhill]

Sonny, i see you have a Vali so wondered how it works with your mixamp - i have the 2013 one i think and it does a great job but i do get hiss at higher volumes so around 3/4 on the dial - not that i tend to have it this loud!

Would a headphone amp allow the mix amp to run at lower volume for the same level of sound currently and therefore negate the famous hiss at loud volumes?

I currently have Philips X2 headphones but had the same 'issue' with my Sennheiser 515's

I am tempted to pickup a mixamp 5.8 but not sure i want the extra wire having already had that with my old TB XP400 and the battery issues - do you have the battery pack?

 

[Psycho Sonny]

Sonny, i see you have a Vali so wondered how it works with your mixamp - i have the 2013 one i think and it does a great job but i do get hiss at higher volumes so around 3/4 on the dial - not that i tend to have it this loud!

Would a headphone amp allow the mix amp to run at lower volume for the same level of sound currently and therefore negate the famous hiss at loud volumes?

I currently have Philips X2 headphones but had the same 'issue' with my Sennheiser 515's

I am tempted to pickup a mixamp 5.8 but not sure i want the extra wire having already had that with my old TB XP400 and the battery issues - do you have the battery pack?

I bought the Vali so the mixamp could power my hungry Q701's. X2's aren't power hungry so there should be no reason to double amp. Apparently the best mixamp for hiss/noise is the wireless 5.8 one. Which is crazy because in 99/100 situations wired is a lot better than wireless. All of them have a slight hiss/noise. See MLE's review of all 3 versions of mixamp.

my wireless receiver uses a rechargeable mobile phone battery much like any modern smartphone it plugs into the transmitter to charge and a full charge would last several days non stop I imagine.

as for wires i have a wire for my cans and mic into the receiver then one from the receiver to the DS4. I usually use HD558's but when I feel like going the extra mile I pull out the Vali and the Q701's.

It then means I have to use the Vali in between the wireless receiver and my cans and it can get quite messy then as it's an additional wire and an additional power socket but it's worth it.

the transmitter has an optical cable into the back of console and a power socket wire into the wall, other than that it has a charging cable for the receiver unit.

AKG Q701's were built for competitive gaming, it's a match made in heaven. That setup doesn't really suit bedroom or living room gaming though it's more for a games room / office setup. This is why I only use the Q701's and the Vali when I feel like going the extra mile currently. Sometime this year though I will move my gaming stuff into it's own room. Then I will use the Q701's a lot more.

In your shoes I would stay with the current setup unless you want to go wireless then get the 5.8 mixamp. I wouldn't bother with the Vali there is no need for it with X2's.

 

[Shimmyhill]

I bought the Vali so the mixamp could power my hungry Q701's. X2's aren't power hungry so there should be no reason to double amp. Apparently the best mixamp for hiss/noise is the wireless 5.8 one. Which is crazy because in 99/100 situations wired is a lot better than wireless. All of them have a slight hiss/noise. See MLE's review of all 3 versions of mixamp.

my wireless receiver uses a rechargeable mobile phone battery much like any modern smartphone it plugs into the transmitter to charge and a full charge would last several days non stop I imagine.

as for wires i have a wire for my cans and mic into the receiver then one from the receiver to the DS4. I usually use HD558's but when I feel like going the extra mile I pull out the Vali and the Q701's.

It then means I have to use the Vali in between the wireless receiver and my cans and it can get quite messy then as it's an additional wire and an additional power socket but it's worth it.

the transmitter has an optical cable into the back of console and a power socket wire into the wall, other than that it has a charging cable for the receiver unit.

AKG Q701's were built for competitive gaming, it's a match made in heaven. That setup doesn't really suit bedroom or living room gaming though it's more for a games room / office setup. This is why I only use the Q701's and the Vali when I feel like going the extra mile currently. Sometime this year though I will move my gaming stuff into it's own room. Then I will use the Q701's a lot more.

In your shoes I would stay with the current setup unless you want to go wireless then get the 5.8 mixamp. I wouldn't bother with the Vali there is no need for it with X2's.

Cheers, I am tempted by the Vali to hook into my Sonos ZP90 to give me a headphone option that doenst go via my AV amp in the living room - the Astro idea was a secondary plan.

Looking around and i think i will stick with my current astro rather than try a 5.8, see what the new turtlebeach mixamp competitor looks like when its out!

 

[lewism]

Any thoughts on the HyperX II's which are out next week? I was going to purchase some TB's but may wait if they get good reviews.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

Any thoughts on the HyperX II's which are out next week? I was going to purchase some TB's but may wait if they get good reviews.

the original is probably the best headset you can buy apart from sennheisers which cost 3-5 times as much.

they are the best bang for buck headset you can buy.

 

[lewism]

After reading through your posts I'm concerned about needing an amp with the clouds. I'm not a complete audiophile, would I get away without an amp?

The Clouds appeal to me as I sit about 10ft away from the console so the bundled in extension leads would be perfect.

What are your thoughts for the 100th time Sonny?