Turtle Beach announced a new gaming headset for the Xbox One console. The Turtle Beach Elite 800X is the first 100 percent fully wireless gaming headset for the console, and it is available now. Turtle Beach says its Elite 800 series headsets are the "most advanced gaming headsets ever launched," and with the list of specs provided, you'd be hard-pressed to argue.
The 800X features full wireless connectivity. What this means is there are no wires from the Xbox, and no wires from the controller. The headset is capable of delivering both chat and game audio using intelligent channel hopping to ensure both come through interference-free.
The headset includes quite a list of advanced audio features:
- DTS Headphone: X 7.1 surround sound includes a number of custom DTS sound modes, as well as some genre-specific presets to improve sound immersion within games, movies and music.
- Superhuman Hearing is a Turtle Beach proprietary technology that amplifies even the faintest of sounds, allowing you to hear approaching enemies with more clarity than ever before.
- Active Noise-Cancelling to reduce distractions from the real world. This feature is available while connected to tablets or smartphones as well.
- Independent Volume Control for both chat and game sound controlled from the headset itself.
- Mic Monitoring allows the players to hear their own voices while talking.
- Dynamic Chat Boost automatically raises the chat volume during loud scenes.
- Dual High Quality Hidden Microphones feature noise-cancelling and come loaded with environmental presets to ensure the best possible sound no matter where you're playing.
Although the Elite 800X was primarily designed to be used with Xbox One, the headset is not limited to just that system. It includes Bluetooth connectivity for use with mobile devices and tablets. While paired to a phone, text messages and phone calls will even ring in the gamer's ear.
Turtle Beach has also included a few customization options. For example, the side plates on the earpieces can be swapped out very easily. New plates can be purchased here, and they come in all sorts of designs. There are also licensed Marvel and CoD plates.
Setting up the headset is said to be very simple. The base station, which is used as the wireless transmitter and the magnetic charge stand, plugs directly into the Xbox One console with a USB cable and an optical audio line. The company has also provided a companion app to use on PC, Mac or Android devices. The app lets you change presets wirelessly on-the-fly, allowing you to fine-tune the sound the way you want to hear it.
The Turtle Beach Elite 800X will be priced at a premium at $300, but with that you'll also receive an Elite Membership. The membership includes either a Turtle Beach T-shirt or a sweater, two additional sets of speaker plates, a free trial membership to Twitch Turbo, two years warranty, early access to the latest news, and exclusive offers from Turtle Beach. Those in the U.S. or Canada can also enjoy concierge product support service, though the details are sparse on what this actually offers.
The Elite 800X is available here.
Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.