Pulse Elite Wireless Headset - Bad Idea to Buy?

n3ck3ntry8bort0rgasm on 09/06/2025 - 23:17
Last edited 10/06/2025 - 09:39 by 1 other user

Someone just showed me a reddit post trolling me that these were expensive luxury headphones.

I actually believed them until I saw these Pulse Elite headsets are being sold everywhere right now for only $239! (they have been posted for $179 so unless I can get some further discount codes or a price lower than that I have some time to decide)

The new midnight black makes the headphones look so nice I suddenly wanted them. oh and as audio community people say p-l-a-y-n-a-r ! So then I looked for feedback on them… NOY GOOD!

So many people having issues with them, but then I remembered an OzB user telling me "People only share bad feedback, any positive feedback never gets posted". But that doesn't mean you should ignore all the bad issues about the product, right?

I don't have a PS5 so I will just use them with their Bluetooth connection for watching movies and listening to music, so I think I won't have the constant USB disconnects issue at least.

Anyone bought these headphones recently, or anyone who had them for a while can you please briefly comment your experience and whether they should be avoided.

Electrical & Electronics Gaming Headset Headset Sony Wireless Headset

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Comments

  • Hybroid on 09/06/2025 - 23:23

    There's no reason to buy Pulse Elites if you don't have a PS5. Get the tried and true Arctis Nova 7 like everyone else for the same budget.

    • n3ck3ntry8bort0rgasm on 09/06/2025 - 23:24

      ok sorry maybe I wasn't clear enough when I said I will just "use for bluetooth for movies and music." (iPad)

      no gaming or voice chat so I don't really need the microphone part or the USB dongle part. just want to use them as bluetooth planar wireless headphones which I thought they are a bargain for (at $180).

  • tebbybabes on 11/06/2025 - 15:38

    I have a pair. Works fine. I usually use on it the PS5 as well as paired to the (BT) TV for movies and youtube. Again, it works fine. Sometimes I pair it with my phone (BT) and it does voice calls really and the mic is fine again. People I spoke with on the phone had no complaints as to my voice quality and said it was very clear and noise free. I don't know if that was any sort of noise cancelling tech, but I was satisfied. Battery life is also I've been quite happy with.

    In the time I've used it, I think I had one disconnect with the PS5. Sorted it out with pulling out the dongle and reinserting it. At least in my case, it wasn't a huge drama.

    I'll admit that I purchased it because of this Planar Magnetic driver tech - and again, it works fine. It sounds fine/great. I will however say, that to my ears, it wasn't really a huge difference compared to other quality cans. It wasn't a mind blowing "whoa" type thing. It sounds fine. Just like my other gear which doesn't have planars, sound fine. Different signature, of course, but fine nonetheless. (I'm not an audiophile)

    Finally, I do have ONE very minor niggle with it. When no audio is playing through it, I will often hear very faint crinkling/crackling. I looked it up and apparently it's a pretty common issue with planars. It doesn't rear it's head when in active use… it's more of when there is no input playing and it's on, and it's still on my head…. I've never experienced this with my other gear. It annoyed me somewhat in the beginning, but I have learned to come to terms with it.

    As an aside, I have also used it on my PC once or twice - just to test it out. Again, it sounded fine/great. However, as it uses it's own dongle to connect to the PC and as such it acts as another usb sound device, its volume and boom on my PC was less than the cans I have connected to the onboard sound. This is not a knock on the Pulse Elite. I have a feeling I can equalise it for better gain and impact - and I am comparing it to another device that's already dialled in to how I want my sound to sound.

    Just thought I could share a few insights from a user. Good luck in your choice.

    • n3ck3ntry8bort0rgasm on 11/06/2025 - 15:41
      +1

      thank you for coming in with the save teddybabes. haven't even read your comment in full yet but wanted to say thanks in advance.

    • n3ck3ntry8bort0rgasm on 11/06/2025 - 15:51

      Sorted it out with pulling out the dongle and reinserting it. At least in my case, it wasn't a huge drama.

      yes I read a few feedback mentioning this, but with some saying it needed to be repeated or wasn't an instant fix.
      one buried comment actually suggested it was a WiFi interference issue. they mentioned both the USB dongle and your WiFi can use 2.4Ghz, and reinserting the dongle makes the Pulse Elites reset the connection, where there is less interference/dropouts. and that people who have ongoing issues likely have very high WiFi interference (even from neighbours) made sense to me.

      I'll admit that I purchased it because of this Planar Magnetic driver tech - and again, it works fine. It sounds fine/great. I will however say, that to my ears, it wasn't really a huge difference compared to other quality cans. It wasn't a mind blowing "whoa" type thing. It sounds fine. Just like my other gear which doesn't have planars, sound fine. Different signature, of course, but fine nonetheless. (I'm not an audiophile)

      ok thanks for this I will consider it. I'm not an audiophile either.

      Finally, I do have ONE very minor niggle with it. When no audio is playing through it, I will often hear very faint crinkling/crackling. I looked it up and apparently it's a pretty common issue with planars.

      yes now you remind me, early on I was pretty weary of the Pulse Elites because many people said it's based on the Audeze Maxwell headset (or a exact copy inside) and I had seen endless posts about issues on the Audeze subreddit. one of them was the crinkling (where some comments did repeat that it was normal). another few people were saying the crinkling got worse if you press the earcups against your head. which apparently something that can damage the planar inside because they are closed off and the air has nowhere to go.

      I have a feeling I can equalise it for better gain and impact -

      just one question. I don't have a PS5 to EQ the Pulse Elite. would you say the sound out of the box is good enough? or slightly above good?

  • tebbybabes on 11/06/2025 - 16:03

    it could very well have been wifi interference.. Thankfully it hasn't reared up again. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

    I'm not sure if it requires the PS5 for EQ. I never delved that far :) . It sounded great OOTB to the PS5. It sounded great OOTB (BT) to my TV for streaming movies and youtube. It sounded great OOTB (BT) connected to my phone for calls. *addendum - I also use other BT earphones on my TV. I've just remembered that when I use the pulse elites, I have to set the volume higher than my other cans or buds. Not hugely concerning, it's not like I have to set them incredibly higher. I've just noticed I've had to reach for to remote to make it louder when I use them, - maybe they have a lower derfault? maybe they're a bit harder to drive? I really don't know.

    It sounded low volume and weaker on my PC - but only because I was able to compare side by side to conventional cans hooked up via 3.5 to onboard sound. Adjusting the volume on the PC to a much higher level on it, got it comparable to the conventional cans, but I still felt it was slightly less boomy. But like I said, the conventional cans are EQ'd just the way I like it.

    Good luck @n3ck3ntry8bort0rgasm

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