Official Sony Headset vs Others


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I've just bought the Nexxus Talknano Pro Mini PS3 Bluetooth Headset for £5 as I very very rarely play online, but my brother has finally started playing on his PS3 so I figured I'd get some online games like Borderlands, COD, etc, and do some co-op with him.

For a fiver it seems fine - we can hear each other ok, I like the size and that it charges via USB, but there's a constant background noise which isn't too bad but it is a little irritating. Although I guess once you get involved in a game you wouldn't notice it too much.

I did look at getting the official Sony headset but it's a lot more and it seemed a waste bearing in mind I won't use it that much. However, how much better is it? Is there any background noise at all? I've read some reviews and they say how great it is, but I'm interested in what real users think.

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Sony headset enables High Quality mode on the PS3, I don't believe any 3rd party headset does.

Probably not worth it if you hardly play online and can hear okay.

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Yeah I saw about HQ, but to be honest the normal quality is fine for me.

It's the background noise / slight hissing when nobody's speaking (or lack of) I'm interested in - do you get that?

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I bought the Madcatz $20 bluetooth mic before I did any research, only because it was $30 cheaper than the official ps3 sony one. I got home, looked up reviews, and everyone was saying how bad it was. But when i turned it on, it connected directly to the ps3, and no one has ever had any issues understanding, hearing, or interference. Maybe some people just don't have good luck with them. The sony one will most likely provide a better experience for most, but at the moment, my $20 headset works just fine :)

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I have the official headset. It's very uncomfortable in your ear. However, the HQ is nice, as is the support for remaining battery life on the XMB (not supported by 3rd party). Mine came cheap with my SOCOM bundle.

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I have the official headset. It's very uncomfortable in your ear. However, the HQ is nice, as is the support for remaining battery life on the XMB (not supported by 3rd party). Mine came cheap with my SOCOM bundle.

Can still find the Socom bundle around here for ?20 which makes the headset a bargain.

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Can still find the Socom bundle around here for ?20 which makes the headset a bargain.

Is that new? If so, where?

Otherwise what's the best price people have seen the headset on its own sell for new? ?16.99 on Play.com is the best I've found.

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Is that new? If so, where?

Otherwise what's the best price people have seen the headset on its own sell for new? ?16.99 on Play.com is the best I've found.

Yeah was new in Sainsburys saw it the other week. Box looked a little beaten up but given that it's cardboard and about 2 years old I guess that's to be expected.

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I love the official headset. My only gripe is that it seems a bit too sensitive (even if I change the levels). I have a 5.1 setup, and other players be damned, I love to transform my room into a war zone when playing.

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I love the official headset. My only gripe is that it seems a bit too sensitive (even if I change the levels). I have a 5.1 setup, and other players be damned, I love to transform my room into a war zone when playing.

Same. I play with mad volume levels, and I get plenty of complaints that my sound is too loud. **** you! :p

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I use an old school motorola BT headset (h500) from like 2001 and it works great... no lag or hissing when it's on, can't hear people for shi* when I set it to play through the headset though....

Have been thinking about picking up the official one, but may do some research instead because I hear it's pretty uncomfortable. I miss my old Xbox (original) headset

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  • 2 weeks later...

I managed to pick up a couple of official headsets for a good price, and I have to say the quality is a million times better that the Talknano and Southwing headsets I've been using.

Everything is so much clearer with no background noise / hiss at all, it's definitely worth the extra money. Some of the other headsets might be fine too but it's a bit of a lottery - the Talknano got plenty of good reviews but it's really poor.

The only thing that concerned me about the official headset was some people saying it hurt after playing for a short while - I can only assume that they haven't bent the earhook so it fits properly as mine feels great.

There are a couple of things that still annoy me though, it's not down to any particular headset as it does it with both, and it may just be Borderlands as that's the only game I've tried with the headset so far... but is it normal to not be able to talk while the game is loading? Like in Borderlands, when you're transporting to different areas the headset just cuts out and you can't hear the other person - is it like that with other games? Also, we seem to get periods when speech is glichy / garbled / echos for a few seconds and then is ok again, mostly just after it's loaded the new area - again, is this normal?

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The only thing that concerned me about the official headset was some people saying it hurt after playing for a short while - I can only assume that they haven't bent the earhook so it fits properly as mine feels great.

The piece that you put INSIDE my ear hurts after about 15 minutes before I have to take it off. Maybe my ears are too small, or at least that area.

There are a couple of things that still annoy me though, it's not down to any particular headset as it does it with both, and it may just be Borderlands as that's the only game I've tried with the headset so far... but is it normal to not be able to talk while the game is loading? Like in Borderlands, when you're transporting to different areas the headset just cuts out and you can't hear the other person - is it like that with other games? Also, we seem to get periods when speech is glichy / garbled / echos for a few seconds and then is ok again, mostly just after it's loaded the new area - again, is this normal?

I can't say that is normal for EVERY game, but that has been common for me. Lost of voice during loading scenes (I get that on Xbox as well). Same goes for the glitchy/garbled/echos. I get that frequently on PSN and XBL with any headset. Some times it's the other end though, especially if someone in the room has a crappy mic.

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