The PlayStation Pulse Elite has been announced by Sony as the pro-level gaming headset for the PS5, which brings a wealth of improvements over the original model which debuted nearly three years ago. With the news still fresh, we're bringing you everything we know about the upcoming innovation.
Whether the PlayStation Pulse Elite can be considered one of the best PS5 headsets remains to be seen, however, given the foundations laid with the excellent Pulse 3D, it's certainly a possibility. What we do know at this current stage in time is some of the hardware inside, how much you can expect to spend on the headset, and the rough time of release, but we'll be regularly updating the page with more information as it rolls out.
It's great to see Sony continue to offer more audio options on the PS5 as it enters its third year of market availability. Recently, the Japanese hardware manufacturer rolled out an update to the console to bring Dolby Atmos over, as it was previously only available on PC and Xbox Series X. That's not to say that it doesn't have its own ace though, with PlayStation Link on the horizon as well, we're getting into detail below.
Price and release date
The PlayStation Pulse Elite was revealed in August 2023 by Sony in an official teaser trailer and corresponding PlayStation Blog post. As confirmed by these sources, the new PS5 gaming headset will retail for $149.99 / £129.99 (AU$335), with availability also confirmed for European regions and Asia. No official Australian pricing has been offered to date.
There's a 30% price increase when comparing the price of the Pulse Elite to the existing Pulse 3D headset, as the latter currently retails for $99 / £89.99 / AU$159. However, discounts are common and these rates are regularly lower in 2023. In terms of price comparison with other leading PS5 headsets, the PlayStation Pulse Elite positions itself firmly in the mid-range of the market.
As an example, this upcoming model comes in a little cheaper than our number one pick for the best PS5 headset, the SteelSeries Arctis 7P+, so this would be its main rival when comparing third-party offerings against official options. This headset retails at $169.99 / £174.99 / AU$419, at the top of the mid-range pile, before getting into the higher-end options such as Turtle Beach Stealth Pro or the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro which are almost double in price than the Pulse Elite.
No concrete release date has been announced for the PlayStation Pulse Elite as of yet, but if we were to take an educated guess, it's likely that they will retail sometime in Q4 (October to December) which is in line with major hardware launches in recent years. We'll be updating you as soon as we get an exact date, and when pre-orders go live for this gaming headset.
Design and Features
The teaser trailer highlights that the Pulse Elite shares a lot of the DNA with the existing Pulse 3D but adds a few noteworthy inclusions. From what the brief video snippet shows, the physical design seems almost identical, but with the addition of a retractable boom arm that can be hidden into the cup. This is something many of the SteelSeries Arctis gaming headsets have utilized, instead of a detachable 3.5mm mic we have seen from the likes of Razer with the Razer Kaira Pro Hyperspeed for PS5.
The aforementioned blog post goes into much more detail about the headset: "Pulse Elite is our new wireless headset that offers lossless audio and comes with a retractable boom mic and AI-enhanced noise rejection capable of filtering background sounds. A charging hanger is also included with the product for a convenient charging and storage option."
The fact that the microphone on the Pulse Elite will use AI-enhanced noise-canceling is something that we haven't seen in any other official PS5 headset yet. This feature is present in Sony's excellent WH-1000XM5 headphones, some of the best headphones on the market, so whether it's the same technology or something bespoke remains to be seen.
From what Sony is claiming, it sounds as though the Pulse Elite will take cues from its premium line of headphones, as the Pulse Elite "will be the first PlayStation audio devices to use custom-designed planar magnetic drivers for an audiophile-level listening experience normally found in premium headphones for professional sound engineers". Bold claims, and we'll be able to verify them when we get our hands on the PlayStation Pulse Elite later in the year.
Our two biggest problems with the Pulse 3D headset were its plastic build quality and the underwhelming 3D audio effect. Now that every PS5 headset and soundbar can use the Tempest 3D Audiotech, there's a lot more competition. While it's unconfirmed officially, it's looking as though the Pulse Elite will share a similar level of build quality from the product shots available.
PlayStation Pulse Elite: FAQs
Will the PlayStation Pulse Elite be better than the Pulse 3D?
While the Pulse 3D was a great PS5 headset, especially considering its value for money, the Pulse Elite has the potential to be a better overall headset if it can improve on the audio quality, build quality, and microphone of the original model. From what Sony has outlined, this is looking likely, but we won't know until we get our hands on it for sure.
What is PlayStation Link?
PlayStation Link is Sony's new upcoming wireless technology which will be supported on the PlayStation Portal, the Pulse Elite, and the Pulse Explore wireless earbuds for a low latency and consistent connection. A USB dongle will also be provided and available separately for use with other devices such as Macs and the best gaming PCs.
For more from Sony's latest console, we're also rounding up all the best SSDs for PS5 as well as the best monitors for PS5, and the best PS5 accessories, too.
