You can never go wrong with a pair of Sony headphones and that’s exactly what our Pulse Elite review has to say about the latest release. While the design is “unusual,” to say the least, the Pulse Elite specs are attractive enough to draw you in, regardless of how you feel about its style. The Pulse Elite, priced at $150 USD is not affordable by any means, but it does provide a more reasonable alternative to the premium Sony purchase you could find yourself making, such as the Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones. The Pulse Elite release date was set for February 21, 2024, and with the sleek design out on the market, gamers now have a more unique pair of headphones to consider for their listening needs.
Image: PlayStation Pulse Elite headphones
Presenting a PlayStation Pulse Elite Review
The dual-tone Pulse Elite comes in only one color combination—white and black. The white outer shell wraps around the head and ends in protrusions near the ear that feature manual controls for the device. The black ear cuffs and an additional black headband on the inside extend into a microphone on one side—a physical microphone rather than the more fancy beamforming ones seen on other headphones. The unique design still allows you to use it as a wired headset if you have a cable lying around, but otherwise, it works like your regular pair of Bluetooth headphones.
The “PlayStation” Pulse Elite review has to focus on its PlayStation compatibility and if you’re looking for a set of headphones that are designed for your console, then these could be perfect for you. While the device itself doesn’t offer up too many settings and features, when connected to the console, you have a whole new set of audio options to experiment with, including various EQ presets and sidetone volume.
The PlayStation Link technology allows you to use the power button to quickly connect to your setup without any additional steps, and you can also make the most of the dual connection feature with your PlayStation and an additional device. This reserves the Link connection for your console while you can use Bluetooth pairing with your smartphone or laptop—just to be able to switch audio sources if you need to.
Image: Sony
Design Details of the Pulse Elite
If there’s one thing we can say for certain, the PlayStation Pulse Elite reviews are right about it being a comfortable pair of headphones. The top band sits comfortably on your head without pressing too hard down on your ears and the soft, wide earcups sit snug around the ear, avoiding putting any pressure on the sides of your head if that’s a consideration that comes up for you. The cons of the design appear almost instantly—the headphones appear to be a little delicate and the cups that sit on your ears look like they’ll take on damage quite quickly, both on the rigid outer surface as well as the cushions on the inside.
Now there’s no way to test the long-term durability of the headphones considering the recent Pulse Elite release date, but so far they don’t seem to have any negative reviews. The microphone feature of the headset is also quite well designed considering how you can tuck it away quite comfortably when it’s not in use. If you want a pair of headphones that don’t scream gamer wherever you take them, then these should be quite right for you.
Pulse Elite Specs
The audio quality of the headphones is sharp and precise and the usually exaggerated bass-boost on the Sony is more balanced this time around. The headphones are designed to enhance a 3D audio experience while gaming and that is what it does best. The planar magnetic drivers are what push the device performance to its limits and while they aren’t the best on the market, they do quite well for themselves regardless. The immersive audio quality is impressive and there aren’t too many complaints of distortion either.
The gaming headset’s microphone comes with an AI-enhanced audio feature that allows for better noise rejection, picking up exactly what is said over the device while dimming down any background sound.
Image: The Pulse Explore wireless earbuds, the Pulse Elite wireless headset, and the PS5 console
Pulse Elite Battery And Charging Bring On Some Interesting Features
According to Sony, the new PS headphones have a 30-hour battery life. You can receive 2 hours of use with a simple 10-minute wait for it to charge up, which is not bad at all for the device. An interesting aspect of reviewing the PlayStation Pulse Elite is the charging formats available for the device. The most straightforward way to charge the device is through the USB-C slot via a wired cable, which is what you’d expect from a basic pair of headphones.
In addition to this, the Pulse Elite specs include a charging slot on the undercarriage of the white headband. This can be docked onto a charging hanger that you can mount on a wall or another vertical surface, allowing you to hang it up alongside your gaming station until you need to use it next. For most who look at their gaming equipment as a complete set, this convenient racking feature is quite creative, even if you need to go find some screws to be able to actually hang up the charging starting somewhere.
The Pulse Elite’s price of $150 USD is not unreasonable and for most, it would be a good investment. The target audience for the device is those with a PlayStation gaming setup who want to build on their Sony collection but if you’re just looking for good gaming audio devices, you might do just fine turning to something from Logitech or the Pulse Explore buds. The planar magnetic drivers and the retractable microphones are the main features of the headphones and if these are attractive enough for you to consider a purchase, then consider yourself sold on this PlayStation Pulse Elite review.