Will your headphones work with PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X?

The last two generations of consoles from Microsoft and Sony, spanning from PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 to PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X, have been transformative in terms of audio quality. Consumers have been able to switch from hi-fi tuners and extensive surround sound speaker systems to relatively inexpensive, high-quality headphones. That means that many consumers, including myself, have opted for new cans. But will your audio investment be worth it with the next generation of consoles? We spoke to four major manufacturers to get some answers.

Turns out things are still a bit up in the air.

“We depend on [Microsoft and Sony] to tell us that [our] the products are backward compatible, “said John Moore, director of marketing and sales for growth peripherals at Razer, in an interview with Polygon last week. That’s because your company, like every other manufacturer we’ve talked to, has yet to get the final console hardware. Brian Fallon, Senior Director of Audio Products for SteelSeries, told a similar story.

“Obviously, we’ve been waiting with great anticipation to find out all the final details on everything,” Fallon told Polygon. He said Microsoft has been the most forthcoming so far.

Kingston

“We discovered a couple of months ago that everything we had [on the market] I was just going to work [with the new Xbox]”Fallon continued. “It was incredible news for us and for our clients. […] And everything is just plug and play. No firmware updates needed, nothing like that. Everything is going to work. “

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Sony and its PlayStation 5.

PlayStation has its own wireless headphone technology, of course. There’s a new set of Sony-branded headphones on the way with the PS5. Also, older peripherals like the Platinum and Gold wireless headphones will also be supported. Sony has also announced that “third-party headphones that connect via the USB port or audio jack” will be compatible with the PS5. Beyond that, all the third-party manufacturers we spoke to said things are still up in the air.

“On the PlayStation side,” Fallon said, “it’s a bit of a mixed bag.”

The new PS5 will not feature an optical audio connection, commonly known as S / PDIF or TosLink. Manufacturers like Astro, SteelSeries, and others use that optical connection to separate game audio from voice chat. That allows you to have digital surround sound and high fidelity, low latency voice chat through the same speakers. It is also what allows you to balance the levels between those two different streams.

“If we don’t have optics, we obviously don’t have a way to do that,” Fallon said. “We only have a single audio source, which will be USB. So the SteelSeries Pro Wireless [Polygon’s top headphone choice for the PlayStation 4 in last year’s round-up] will continue to work on the PS5. Just plugging in the USB and you can get your full audio from it. The only thing you won’t be able to do is adjust your mix between game and chat. “

Presumably a menu within the PS5 dash would allow you to do that, but no one can be sure until reviewers have a chance to start the device for the first time. It’s also a lot less convenient than simply turning a physical dial on your headset.

Logitech

Astro has made a name for itself with these kinds of high-quality physical interfaces that allow users to play with their levels on the go. Its A50 wireless headset, Polygon’s best performance for Xbox One in last year’s roundup, will only require a firmware update to be compatible with next-gen Xbox consoles. It is also a different story for the PS5. Astro says it is going to come out with a dongle called Astro HDMI Adapter that will solve the problem. It will be available for $ 39.99 through the Astro website, as well as select retailers.

“It enables mixing of game sound + voice chat and features lag-free 4K HDMI video pass-through while adding a TosLink optical connector,” the company said in a press release dated Sept. 1. “Registered Astro product owners will be able to submit their serial number and receive a $ 15 discount online.”

The good news is that the two next-gen console controllers still feature a 3.5mm audio jack, allowing you to connect the vast majority of products from companies like Astro, Kingston’s HyperX brand, Razer, and SteelSeries. . In fact, both consoles have been designed with that kind of stereo interface in mind.

“In the days of Xbox 360, consoles didn’t really decode [digital] audio for you, ”Thadeus Cooper, Astro Gaming Brand Director, told Polygon in an interview. “The reason MixAmp and the A50 were so popular with people is because [the consoles] I would output that signal through optics or HDMI, but I had to have a device that decodes Dolby. “

In the current generation, only Microsoft’s console was capable of decoding that digital audio and outputting surround sound through a stereo output on its own, in the form of Windows Sonic or Dolby Atmos. Now, with the PlayStation 5, Sony is bringing its own new technology. Your Tempest 3D AudioTech solution should be able to do similar things with positional audio. Manufacturers tell us that means de facto audio parity between the two console brands.

It also means that the next generation of third-party headphones will have to differentiate themselves in a completely different way. They can no longer rely on bells and whistles like adjustable in-game audio levels and custom sound profiles to differentiate themselves. Instead, expect them to try to compete on things like sound quality, comfort, cross-platform compatibility, and price.