Microsoft launches new official Xbox headset and it’s gorgeous

The launch of the next-gen Xbox Series S and Series X may be mired in stock delays, but the consoles are great – and now there’s a brand new official Xbox headset to go along with it.

The new Xbox Wireless headset will launch on March 16th for $149.95 with pre-orders open now. The headset comes in black with the familiar Xbox Green peeking through as accents and personal opinion here: It looks amazing.

The headset comes with 15 hours of battery life and focuses heavily on audio quality for a ‘Best in-class experience’. Microsoft has used custom on-board audio hardware to dramatically improve accessibility, quality and performance for spatial audio which includes support for Windows Sonic, Dolby Atmos and DTS Headphone:X. There’s also a dual beamforming microphone elements with noise isolation support which focus on speech audio vs. surrounding sound, making it easier for you to be heard in-game.

Erik Garcia, Project Architect and Lead said of development “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. 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 gameplay to ensure great sounding chat with a sensitive mic to prevent background noise.”

Usability is also a focus, with the headphones using rotating earcup dials to let you adjust the volume and game/chat audio balance without interrupting your game.

The headset is now ready to pre-order from the Microsoft Store for $149.95.