It's normal that it rumbles at almost any sound.

It works like this, the motors in the headset activates and rumbles whenever a certain level of volume hits the 60hz and 125hz band. What this means is that because of how majority of games and movies always has an emphasis on bass regardless of what's happening on screen, the 60hz and 125hz frequencies are always being hit with volume.

Theoretically, footsteps in games activates the ~80hz range but because how plenty of FPS and TPS games meshes footsteps to the environment, it sounds like the 60hz freq is being hit instead.

The motors then rumbles to seemingly "pulse" around your ears.
You ears are possibly very sensitive to picking out low frequencies, that's why you hear the motors even only at the 4th notch.

Sorry, only saw this edited post right now.
You can't get actual 7.1 channels source for the Pulse headset. Understand that it is a stereo headset that uses HRTF (head related transfer function) to produce virtual surround sound.

What you wanna do is select headphones mode in the game and enable VSS on the Pulse. Alternatively, you can select Dolby Digital 5.1 as well, but I found that there's a lot of audio fluctuations in the game with this setting. Mind you I'm not using the Pulse anymore but it should be the same issue as well.

Do not use Dolby Pro Logic 2 as that is different because it upmix stereo into 7.1, which in this case will have an impact on audio quality.

Just get the Pulse Elite, the first version isn't that good.
The Pulse at least has better details in the mids and mid-highs, although they aren't as forward as the 1st gen. I personally like the slightly airy signature of the Pulse instead though, games are more immersive that way.


You can try what babyteddy suggested, the earcups on the 1st gen and Pulse are of the same size. So if the SHURE HPAEC940 fits on the 1st gen (according to the pics, it's quite a stretch) it should also fit on the Pulse.
Do understand that by changing the earpads, the sound signature will change.

You might be able to get it from a Shure shop, but only one I know of is at Jalan Pasar. Even that, I'm not sure if they have it.

Otherwise, you might try one of this - https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopic=2735055

Again, it is a VERY tight fit regardless. Even the HPAEC940 is stretched beyond its point to fit onto the 1st gen wireless headset as it shows in the pics.

Possible dead battery on the way. Same problem with my previous unit.

You can't. Battery isn't replaceable without actually dismantling the entire headset, which at that point is sort of stupid.
When I sent mine back for a battery replace, they didn't even had any stock for it.

You can try a higher impedence USB cable first and see if that fixes the issue on the battery not getting enough juice though.

Seems like dead batteries are starting to become more and more common for the Pulse.

Any 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable works. You can either get fancy by DIY with better materials or just go buy a ready made one.

Review unit coming in 3rd week of Feb, hopefully.

At least the Gold will have up to 8 hours of battery life, versus the 6 on the Pulse.

Yes it does, the VSS mode on Sony's headsets works for all games. This is because all it does is it takes a stereo source and upmix it into 8 channels (7.1), very similar to how Dolby Pro Logic IIx does upmixing on stereo sources into surround channels as well.

The reason VSS mode on gen1 wireless headset, Pulse Elite and the upcoming Gold sounds so bad is because it is creating channels that isn't there in the first place. A reason why Dolby Headphones and many other HRTF-based virtual surround technologies will always beat Sony's VSS mode. Accuracy (imaging) and seperation is poor on Sony's VSS, it's hard to exactly pinpoint where each virtual speaker is and where exactly a certain audio cue is coming from.

So don't believe the hype, don't believe the marketing. You aren't getting proper virtual surround from Sony's headsets.

Almost none to be honest. Gaming headsets are just bad in quality. No, I can barely even recommend Astros to be honest.

But if you want a no fuss headset without ripping hole in your wallet, I think it's going to be hard to decline the Gold wireless headset. I don't know what the price will be in Malaysia, but seeing as it is a drop-in replacement for the gen1 wireless headset, it should cost somewhere in the realm of RM350.
Also, since the Gold uses the same drivers as the Pulse, they should sound pretty similar.

Once again, the durability on the Gold will be biggest question here. The gen1 and Pulse weren't very well received interms of how durable they were, so let's see if Sony has did anything to improve the build quality of the Gold.

Wirelessly, no. If your TV has a 3.5mm output, then you can connect a cable from the Gold to the TV, or to any other sources.

No, VSS works only with the PS3/PS4. Like I've explained earlier in the previous page, Sony's VSS is to take a stereo source and upmix it into multichannel, thus virtual surround.
In other to get this source, the USB receiver needs to be connected to the PS3/PS4 and it needs a firmware to work. TVs don't have that ability to do so.


Previously only the Pulse headset, users could connect a 3.5mm cable from the TV to the USB receiver and the Pulse could receive a wireless signal. I don't think the Gold uses the same USB receiver, of which lacks the 3.5mm input that the Pulse's USB receiver has. Perhaps I'm wrong, will receive a review unit later this week then I can confirm.

No. Wired means it'll be powered by the source.

Review unit in and here are my early impressions:

As expected, the Gold is not much better than the Pulse when it comes amplification under wireless mode. There's not enough volume on the low end, mids are far and distant and there's a lack of energy up top in the treble.
So far, dissapointed with the Gold in wireless mode and Sony's VSS is again at its best; just decent and nothing special. But with HRTF technolgy, it is a lot more of a preference than a down to paper sort of benchmark.

Will wire it up to a proper amp along with an Astro Mixamp 5.8 tomorrow to see how the Gold fares.

Oh and as for comfort, it's a lot more comfortable than the Pulse Elite. The Gold does clamp a little bit more, but I'm sure with a few more days of break-in, the clamping force will relax a bit. Otherwise, the headband is a HUGEEEEE improvement over the Pulse's stupid 2-piece design.

+EDIT
Built quality is passable, but I'm pretty sure the earpads wouldn't hold up for more than a year even with the best possible care. The side hinges... well, let's just say you'd better be very, very careful about not over stretching them excessively.

This post has been edited by SSJBen: Feb 13 2014, 11:30 PM

Sony hasn't announce a Platinum version yet.

Haven't got the battery yet, should arrive before the end of the month, hopefully.

Neither is very durable to be quite honest.

The plastic on the Gold creaks and I don't expect its earpards to last any longer than the Pulse Elite either. The Pulse Elite still have battery issues till this day as well.

I probably won't. I mean, it's difficult to open it up and I have no idea what the battery size and requirement is for the Gold headset either.

So.. it pairs up, but audio doesn't come through the headset but through the TV instead?


You can.
But becareful of the amp output on your charger, 1A and below is fine but 2.1A may introduce overvoltage. A lot of people killed their batteries using their iPad chargers, which are 2.1A output.