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Pulse elite edition headset + avr receiver

post #1 of 19
1/3/13 at 12:43pm
Thread Starter 
Hi all!

I'm considering purchasing the Sony Pulse Elite edition headset, but have a few questions as far as compatibility with my AVR.

I have my ps3, as well as, several other devices connected to my AVR via HDMI http://www.us.onkyo.com/model.cfm?m=TX-NR609&class=Receiver&p=i

Is it possible for me to run the headset with my ps3 connected to AVR or would I have to connect my ps3 to the tv itself in order for it to work.

My understanding is; the headset is wireless/bluetooth via a usb dongle that connects to the ps3.

My goal is to use the headset as needed, ie late nights or when my gf is in the room and wants sleep. I'd like everything to stay connected to the AVR, then switch the headset for the ps3 when it's needed.

thanks for all the help and responses!
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post #2 of 19
1/3/13 at 12:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by nullss View Post

Hi all!
I'm considering purchasing the Sony Pulse Elite edition headset, but have a few questions as far as compatibility with my AVR.
I have my ps3, as well as, several other devices connected to my AVR via HDMI http://www.us.onkyo.com/model.cfm?m=TX-NR609&class=Receiver&p=i
Is it possible for me to run the headset with my ps3 connected to AVR or would I have to connect my ps3 to the tv itself in order for it to work.
My understanding is; the headset is wireless/bluetooth via a usb dongle that connects to the ps3.
My goal is to use the headset as needed, ie late nights or when my gf is in the room and wants sleep. I'd like everything to stay connected to the AVR, then switch the headset for the ps3 when it's needed.
thanks for all the help and responses!

If you're gaming or watching a movie on your PS3, you just need to connect the dongle to the PS3 (with nothing connected to the 3.5mm input) and it'll give you virtual surround sound.

If you want to use the headphones with other sources, you can connect it from your AVR to the 3.5mm input on the dongle to give you wireless stereo sound. The dongle just needs to be powered by any usb connection (tv, laptop, ps3, cable box, etc). Alternatively you can connect a long cable from the headset itself to the AVR.

You won't have virtual surround sound when connected to the AVR, unless the onkyo can output it's own version of headphone surround sound.
Edited by jasnmb - 1/3/13 at 1:02pm
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post #3 of 19
1/3/13 at 2:19pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the quick response!


If I connect the USB dongle to the PS3 while it's connected to my AVR, will sound still be produced from the speakers connected to the AVR or will the sound automatically re-route to the headset?
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post #4 of 19
1/3/13 at 2:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by nullss View Post

Thanks for the quick response!
If I connect the USB dongle to the PS3 while it's connected to my AVR, will sound still be produced from the speakers connected to the AVR or will the sound automatically re-route to the headset?

I don't have the headset yet (I'm waiting for amazon to deliver them), but from what I understand the PS3 will re-route sound to the dongle if the headset is powered on. Also, if you plug something into the 3.5mm input, that will override any sound the PS3 is sending through the dongle.
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post #5 of 19
1/3/13 at 4:08pm
Thread Starter 
Oh ok. I actually might pick up my set today. Ill let you know what I find out. Thank you again for all the help.
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post #6 of 19
1/4/13 at 7:19am
I have this headset in my cart on Amazon. No pressure, but I'm waiting for one or both of you to report back with your impressions before I decide. smile.gif
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post #7 of 19
1/4/13 at 7:31am
Thread Starter 
I was able to pick mine up last night, but wanted to get a full charge, before using it.

I'm at work at the moment, so I'll let you know my impressions later on today.
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post #8 of 19
1/5/13 at 12:20am
From what I've read, the sound quality while using it with the PS3 and PC is astounding. The sound quality using another source via 3.5 mm input on the USB stick is abysmal. Allegedly, the built in amp is not active when the sound in piped in via 3.5.
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post #9 of 19
1/5/13 at 7:23am
nullss or jasnmb, any initial impressions so far?
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post #10 of 19
1/6/13 at 7:20am
Thread Starter 
Hey guys,

sorry for the delay.

Let me start off by saying, I love this headset.

I started off by letting the unit charge.

I plugged in the USB dongle onto my PS3, then turned on the headset. It took awhile for it to sync at first. I'd say a minute or so. After it synced/paired, ALL sound was directed to the headphones. As stated in my original post. I have my ps3 with all my other components, connected to my AVR via hdmi.

I was quite surprised that I didn't have to do anything else, besides plugging in the dongle.

I first tested it with COD black ops 2. Sound quality is awesome. I heard footsteps behind me, gun shots from every direction, the bass impact shakes whenever I fire my gun. I had turned up the volume all the way, but realized I needed to turn it down, as I don't want to go deaf early. (I just turned 29, so I'm not looking to damage my eardrums. ha)
I didn't mess with any of the modes on it, as I know that there are specific modes for what you're playing/doing.

I could hear my team-mates clearly as they were chattering, which brings me to this.

If you're not going to say anything relevant to the game, please mute your mic or turn it off. I for one, don't need to hear people getting yelled at or talking on the phone, among other things. Which reminded me why I tend to mute everybody.

Anyways, I completely forgot that the mic is built into the headset, so I had to mute myself. There is a button on the headset that allows this. I'll have to say, the mic is pretty sensitive. I was about 10 feet away and had to clear my throat, the mic was able to pick it up.

I then tried the headset with my iPhone 5 via the 3.5 mm plug. While the quality of sound was nowhere near playing a game. For me, it was a good experience. I had listened to a couple of different songs, ranging from hip/hop to rock to classical. The music came in clear, but felt a little low, like it was underpowered. There was quite a bit of bass in some of the songs and the headset rocked.

I didn't try using it for chatting, as I've read this can be done, so it is true, I'll try it out later.

I'll also have to try watching movies with the headset, while it's connected to the ps3.

All in all, it was a buy I'd do again and recommend to my friends. I can't say that I'll use it 24/7, as I love my surround sound system. I don't think a headset can ever replace a nice system, but that's only my opinion. The headset is a good way to discretely play, if you don't have a surround sound system and are using to the tv to output sound or if you want to play quietly without waking up everybody in the house.

While the sound quality on a mp3/phone or whatever you're plugging it into via the 3.5 connection doesn't match using it for gaming. I did buy it for gaming first, everything else second.

I'll let you guys know if I get to use it on the PC/MAC and how that experience is. Hope this helps.
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post #11 of 19
1/6/13 at 5:19pm
Thanks nullss. I decided to order before I heard back, so I'm glad to hear your positive feedback. I should get mine on Tuesday.

Like you, I have a decent surround system already, but the versatility of this headset was appealing. I'm looking forward to trying some Black Ops II with it, but also trying to play music wirelessly. I'm a little concerned by your impressions of the sound quality with the 3.5mm jack, but hopefully it's decent enough over the wireless with the source plugged into the USB dongle.
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post #12 of 19
1/7/13 at 6:25am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by HDSapper View Post

Thanks nullss. I decided to order before I heard back, so I'm glad to hear your positive feedback. I should get mine on Tuesday.
Like you, I have a decent surround system already, but the versatility of this headset was appealing. I'm looking forward to trying some Black Ops II with it, but also trying to play music wirelessly. I'm a little concerned by your impressions of the sound quality with the 3.5mm jack, but hopefully it's decent enough over the wireless with the source plugged into the USB dongle.


You'll be happy you bought it.

I tried it on my PC yesterday, played music which sounded great, then I tried it while playing Starcraft 2. I couldn't complain.

I just plugged in the USB dongle into my PC and it paired with my headset immediately. If it hadn't I would have plugged it into the 3.5 jack on the USB dongle or the tower itself.
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post #13 of 19
1/8/13 at 7:53am
I just got to test these out last night for the first time. So far, I'm quite satisfied. The surround sound simulation worked fairly well with BF3 and Infamous 2. I could distinguish the direction of sounds all around me, as well as depth.

I'm not an audiophile, but it's a fairly fun headset without the bass being too overbearing (even with the pulsing base impact feature turned off). It has a good balance for my needs of using them for both gaming and movies/TV. The highs are clear enough to hear footsteps and other small details useful in shooters, but it still has enough mids and bass to immerse you in a movie. The Game EQ setting felt the most neutral to me, but I'll have to test the other modes more. I'd still like to find a setting where the bass is reduced a tad, but it's not a deal breaker.

Compared to the Tritton 720+ headset - which I previously owned but returned because of a bad buzzing sound - I'd say Sony's VSS is just a slight downgrade compared to Dolby Headphone processing. But the difference is really negligible for non-competitive gaming. Bonus for these though is that the noise floor when hooked up to the PS3 is pretty much zero as far as I could hear.

Comfort-wise, I played for a few hours last night and these felt pretty good. Ideally I would have preferred velour/cloth earpads, as I can see these faux leather pads getting hot in the summer. The clamping force also could be a bit lighter, but it didn't bother me really. The clamping force on the Tritton 720+ headset was terribly tight in comparison.

The wireless connection was perfect, with the exception of when I tried powering the usb dongle on my TV's back usb ports. That caused a few sound drops, but was fixed by using a usb extension cable to bring the dongle out in front of the TV.

I'm pleasantly surprised by the pulse feature. It's much better than what your standard controller rumble feels like. I was expecting to always leave it off, but in certain situations actually did add to the immersion. I won't always use it, but will definitely turn it on at a low setting in some games and movies. As good as it works, I'd expect that the PS4 controllers will use this pulsing technology to replace the rumble that are in the DS3 controllers now.

It's a minor disappointment for me that VSS only works through the PS3, but the 3.5mm input on the dongle works well enough for TV viewing. I didn't notice much difference in sound quality through the 3.5mm input, but I'll have to test more.

Are these the best headsets you can get? No. But they're a pretty good bang for your buck, and very convenient for PS3 users.
Edited by jasnmb - 1/8/13 at 8:07am
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post #14 of 19
1/8/13 at 10:07am
Great write up jasnmb! Mine will be delivered tonight. I was worried that the Bass Impact feature would be too gimicky, but I'll give it a fair shot. Hopefully I'll be pleasantly surprised. I downloaded the Pulse Elite Manager app on the PS3 last night so I can try out the additional presets. I'll hopefully narrow it down to three: one for Black Ops 2, one for blurays, and one for music. Then I'll remove the others for convenience.

Looking forward to playing around with it. Thanks for your initial impressions.
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post #15 of 19
1/9/13 at 6:36am
Got mine last night and briefly checked it out. Bottom Line Up Front: well worth the purchase if you have a PS3.

The look and feel exudes quality. They were slightly heavier than I was expecting, but given the solid design and the everything built in it should have a little heft to it.

I plugged it in to charge up for about an hour before testing. Once I plugged in the USB dongle and switch them on the paired up instantly. First thing I tried was a little Black Ops 2. I turned on VSS, set the preset to 'Game', and entered a game of TDM. To be honest, I was a little disappointed by the sound initially. With the Bass Impact slider in around the middle, rather than getting the deep pulses I was expecting to enhance the bass, it sounded artificial - sort of like flutter you hear when you overdrive a cheap subwoofer. Rather than make the bass seem deep, it sounded monotone, and every step I took while running sounded like someone tapping there finger on a large subwoofer driver. Not good. I turn Bass Impact almost all the way down and kept playing.

Now, it could be coincidence, but it seemed like I played a little better. I played about three matches. It seemed like I was getting the drop on opponents more often. I actually could hear their foot steps right before I rounded a corner. And as I played I started to feel that the sound wasn't worse, just different. It started growing on me. Maybe once I find the right preset and Bass Impact settings it will be even better. I know, not glowing praise, but I'm used to fairly high quality and headphones.

Next I tried some music stored on the PS3. Similar results from the Bass Impact. Switching it from 'Game' to 'Music' helped some. I found that I had a choice: with Bass Impact off, the sound was full and accurate. Pretty damn nice actually. With it on at a low setting the sound was a little less accurate, but kick drums had punch like you where at a concert or club. Probably something that I'll vary depending on mood and song being played.

Next I tested the range for the wireless. It was impressive. Didn't expect it to travel through walls as well as it did. I could essentially walk all over upstairs, and didn't lose audio until I went downstairs and down the hall.

The only other thing I had time to try was music from my phone connected by the 3.5mm cable. No complaints. Sounded like what you would expect from a similarly priced wired set of cans.

Again, I know I sounded kind of critical of them, but overall I am quite impressed. I still have to play with the other presets and try it with blu-ray and wireless from other sources. So far, though, I'm very happy with the purchase.
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post #16 of 19
1/9/13 at 7:01am
yeah, baseimpact is definitely a gimmick. It's not going to enhance sound quality, of course. It can be fun to use at times, but most of the time I'll be leaving it off.

I've heard that BLOPS2 doesn't have quite as good of surround sound as it could be. So your experience may vary from game to game. But I also definitely think that Sony's VSS is a few notches below Dolby Headphone processing. It does the job, but it's not quite at the level of immersion as Dolby Headphone (which Tritton and Astro products use). Then again, it could be that the Pulse headphone itself is impairing Sony's VSS - I don't know. Perhaps I'll later try to acquire an Astro Mixamp to hook up to the Pulse dongle for a wireless dolby headphone setup; which should work as long as you disable the Pulse's VSS.
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post #17 of 19
1/9/13 at 11:05am
Do these headphones have the surround feature during blu-ray playback too? The earlier Sony wireless headphones had surround for games, but were stereo for blu-rays. How about these?
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post #18 of 19
1/9/13 at 11:15am
Quote:
Originally Posted by zervinb View Post

Do these headphones have the surround feature during blu-ray playback too? The earlier Sony wireless headphones had surround for games, but were stereo for blu-rays. How about these?

I have not tested that out yet, but there was a firmware update that supposedly enabled VSS for blu-rays on both headsets.

For what it's worth, VSS did work on a 5.1 enabled Netflix movie for me last night.
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post #19 of 19
1/22/13 at 1:17pm
I am wanting to pick one of these up, but I am worried that they won't be compatable with the PS4, so I would only be using it for the rest of the year.
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