Xbox announces its own $100 ‘best in class’ wireless headset

Microsoft has announced plans to release a new Xbox wireless headset on March 16, 2021.

Priced at $99.99/£89.99 and available to pre-order now, the new first-party accessory promises to deliver “best-in-class audio and chat performance, outstanding design and comfort, and unique experiences that are tailored for each gamer”.

The headset supports spatial sound technologies including Windows Sonic, Dolby Atmos and DTS Headphone: X.

It can be used wirelessly across multiple devices including Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs, and can connect to mobile devices via Bluetooth.

Using the Xbox Accessories app on consoles and PC, players can customise equaliser settings, bass boost, auto-mute sensitivity, mic monitoring and the brightness of the mic’s mute light.

Microsoft says it plans to evolve the product over time via wireless updates delivered from Xbox consoles.

30 minutes of charging provides about four hours of battery life, while three hours of charging when not in use is required to reach up to 15 hours of battery life.

“We spent a lot of time in the audio testing chambers trying to characterize and understand how the headset reproduces audio in different room environments,” said Erik Garcia, project architect and lead.

“It goes in your living room, game room, and dorm room and we want it to sound the best for all types of audio. In the same way, the team studied game-play to ensure great sounding chat, sensitive mic to prevent background noise.”