Last year when I was deciding which headphones to purchase, the debate I was having with myself was if I should get a good pair of gaming headphones to use for both gaming and TV/Movies, or if I should get a pair of non-gaming headphones and sacrifice the ability to use them when playing games. I decided to get a pair of non-gaming headphones from Sony and couldn't be happier with them. Most gaming headphones require a dongle to be connected to a console for them to work, and so I wasn't sure how well they'd connect to a device using just Bluetooth. They also tend to be a bit bulkier because of the microphone. I primarily was wanting to use the headphones to watch TV shoes that Sarah would find distracting, so in the end the decision wasn't too difficult. I don't use headphones when I play games often, and when I do the DualSense controller makes it convenient to use an old-fashioned mini plug to connect a cheaper pair of headphones to the Playstation. However, since I've had the Playstation Portal the few times I've played GTA Online I've played on the Portal. You can connect older headphones via mini plug to the Portal, but I decided that it was time to upgrade to wireless headphones.
I'm glad that I decided to get non-gaming headphones in 2023 instead of gaming headphones. It turns out that you cannot connect traditional gaming headphones to the Portal. It doesn't even have bluetooth. Instead, it uses a proprietary headphone technology called Playstation Link. Guess which headphones utilize Playstation Link technology? You guessed it, Sony's Playstation headphones. And as far as I know they are the only ones to utilize the tech. This ended up working out fine for me because Sony's Playstation headphones got pretty good ratings and are reasonably priced at $149, so I didn't mind buying them over another brand. However, had I bought the gaming headphones first in 2023 I would have been screwed because I was not looking at Sony gaming headphones at the time and the Playstation Link tech didn't exist then.
Most gaming headphones require a dongle connected to the console to use them, and I think it has to do with providing sound without lag and that isn't compressed which apparently Bluetooth cannot do. I will say I use Bluetooth headphones all the time to watch TV shows and I never notice lag or issues with Bluetooth technology. With that being said, I suspect this is why the Portal doesn't support Bluetooth but does support PS Link. Interestingly, the Portal doesn't require a dongle but if you use the headphones on the PS5 itself it does require a dongle. I suspect this is because the Portal has the Link receiver built-in, whereas the PS5 does not.
Regardless, moving on from the technology and to the headphones themselves, I like them. I think for the price they are really good. They don't have noise cancelling tech, but honestly if you have a game going they do a pretty good job of isolating other noise in the room. The mic works good enough, I think. My friends say I sound clear online. The sound from the headphones is pretty good as well. They are not attractive, however. I find the giant ear cups on the tiny frame to be a bit much, but do appreciate the clean design overall.
As for the PS Link tech, it seems to work well enough. It consistently connects to the Portal as soon as I turn on the headphones. Periodically the sound becomes choppy, which I've never experienced with Bluetooth. I suspect this is because it is receiving sound from the Portal which is receiving sound from the Playstation, so it is being transmitted twice. I haven't used the headphones with the PS5 directly so I cannot confirm this, but generally it isn't a major issue as it is intermittent.
No comments:
Post a Comment