Gaming speakers have historically been a category where the engineering budget went into the lighting, so this one deserves a second look. The Pulse Elevate lands November 12 at $219.99, with US preorders opening September 1, and Sony Interactive Entertainment has put a planar magnetic driver in each cabinet covering the main audible range, plus a dedicated woofer underneath it. Planar magnetic drivers are rare in desktop speakers at any price. Rare at this price is close to unheard of.
It fits a pattern rather than coming out of nowhere. The Pulse Elite headset at $149.99 and the Pulse Explore earbuds at $199.99 already use planar drivers, and Sony bought Audeze in 2023 specifically to strengthen PlayStation audio. Worth being precise here though: Sony has not said Audeze engineered these particular drivers, so anyone claiming a straight Audeze speaker for $220 is filling in a blank the announcement left empty.
The connectivity is the part I'd actually weigh. PlayStation Link handles lossless low-latency to the console, Bluetooth runs alongside it, and there's a built-in mic with noise processing so voice chat doesn't need a headset. That last bit is the real quality-of-life change for anyone who plays in the same room as other people, and it's a much bigger deal than the Tempest 3D support, which only matters on titles that implement it.
No sensitivity, frequency response or power figures published yet that I can find, which for a speaker is a fairly big blank. Anyone here run the Pulse Elite? Curious whether the planar tuning in that headset translates to something you'd want two feet from your face all evening.
It fits a pattern rather than coming out of nowhere. The Pulse Elite headset at $149.99 and the Pulse Explore earbuds at $199.99 already use planar drivers, and Sony bought Audeze in 2023 specifically to strengthen PlayStation audio. Worth being precise here though: Sony has not said Audeze engineered these particular drivers, so anyone claiming a straight Audeze speaker for $220 is filling in a blank the announcement left empty.
The connectivity is the part I'd actually weigh. PlayStation Link handles lossless low-latency to the console, Bluetooth runs alongside it, and there's a built-in mic with noise processing so voice chat doesn't need a headset. That last bit is the real quality-of-life change for anyone who plays in the same room as other people, and it's a much bigger deal than the Tempest 3D support, which only matters on titles that implement it.
No sensitivity, frequency response or power figures published yet that I can find, which for a speaker is a fairly big blank. Anyone here run the Pulse Elite? Curious whether the planar tuning in that headset translates to something you'd want two feet from your face all evening.
