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Is this real life?! PS4 doesn't support Bluetooth headphones?!?!

I am a big fan of Sony hardware but this is just.. absolutely unbelievably terrible if true. Apparently the PS4 does not recognise Bluetooth headphones and headsets unless they are one of a handful of officially licensed products.

It doesn't even support official headsets made during the PS3 era...

For a company that is known for it's audio electronics this is doubly incomprehensible, and apparently was not an issue on the PS3, so why is it now? Is t literally just a cash grab for their Gold line?

I just bought a B&O H7 with the PS4 one of the primary devices I was expecting to use it with. You might ask, why didn't I google whether or not this would be possible, but such a thing should not even be a question. Similarly I don't google whether or not a USB printer will work on my laptop or whether or not my car has power steering......

Someone tell me this is a fucking bad dream or that Sony have announced some plans to remedy this disgusting flaw.
 

madmackem

Member
I am a big fan of Sony hardware but this is just.. absolutely unbelievably terrible if true. Apparently the PS4 does not recognise Bluetooth headphones and headsets unless they are one of a handful of officially licensed products.

It doesn't even support official headsets made during the PS3 era...

For a company that is known for it's audio electronics this is doubly incomprehensible, and apparently was not an issue on the PS3, so why is it now? Is t literally just a cash grab for their Gold line?

I just bought a B&O H7 with the PS4 one of the primary devices I was expecting to use it with. You might ask, why didn't I google whether or not this would be possible, but such a thing should not even be a question. Similarly I don't google whether or not a USB printer will work on my laptop or whether or not my car has power steering......

Someone tell me this is a fucking bad dream or that Sony have announced some plans to remedy this disgusting flaw.
You should've done some reasearch, its been known since launch.
 
Yeah they locked the PS4 down hard regarding all peripherals. No unlicensed USB devices either. Sucks for sure as the bluetooth headset department was the biggest backwards step.
 

Hasney

Member
It does support at least some official headsets. My Pulse Elites work fine.
Similarly I don't google whether or not a USB printer will work on my laptop

I mean, you really should. My mum picked one up "for a bargain" and it had no support beyond Windows XP.
 

rakanishu

Banned
Yup. I discovered this the hard way about a week ago trying to connect my Bose headset. It's weird seeing something that uses Bluetooth, but deliberately forces you to use proprietary hardware. It's a pretty shitty thing to do, but I guess it's just Sony being Sony.
 

Mengetsu

Member
The PS3 was supposed to replace you home PC back then. It came with all the bells and whistles that a PC might of had at the time. It was supposed to be convenient to have it.

They knew with PS4 they could take that out and have people pay for headsets. My friend was so pissed when he found out the Vita had the Bluetooth option like the PS3 did. I told him if Sony could they might have made an exclusive one for it, but just opted out for any wireless headphones to work for it.
 

Fliesen

Member
i mean, i presume there's a way you could have the optical audio (or split the audio from HDMI) run to which allow you to connect bluetooth headphones, right?

or have a TV that natively supports bluetooth headphones.

It's still kind of a dumb workaround, i give you that.
 

mnemonicj

Member
Yeap, they're not supported. I remember reading that a USB audio dongle might allow some bluetooth headsets to work, such as the Creative BT-D1.
For the price of that little dongle though, I'd recommend just purchasing a working wireless headset.
 
'Absolutely unbelievably terrible'
'A bad dream'
'Disgusting flaw'

You are over reacting. It's a bit shitty but it's not 'disgusting'.
 

hamchan

Member
'Absolutely unbelievably terrible'
'A bad dream'
'Disgusting flaw'

You are over reacting. It's a bit shitty but it's not 'disgusting'.

Wait, why isn't it disgusting? Why would "shitty" be a level below "disgusting" in your adjective scale anyways?
 

Vorg

Banned
It doesn't play music cds either, unless some thing changed since I last tried. I mean, audio cds. The ps1 plays them.
 

Piccoro

Member
The PS3 was supposed to replace you home PC back then. It came with all the bells and whistles that a PC might of had at the time. It was supposed to be convenient to have it.

They knew with PS4 they could take that out and have people pay for headsets. My friend was so pissed when he found out the Vita had the Bluetooth option like the PS3 did. I told him if Sony could they might have made an exclusive one for it, but just opted out for any wireless headphones to work for it.

What do you mean? I use my PS3 bluetooth headsets on my Vita and it works flawlessly.
 

hamchan

Member
because it's nothing more than an inconvenience.

An inconvenience that is solved by buying officially licensed Sony headphones, instead of being able to use one's own perfectly good, working, potentially expensive, headphones.

Well done Sony! Really #4ThePlayers with this one!
 

Occam

Member
Sucks, but there is a simple solution: Use a dongle.

Now Sony not using a BDXL drive in PS4 Pro, that's a really awful design decision.
 
Even though I've had one from launch, I've had to check this a couple of times to stop myself from getting a bluetooth headset for it. It definitely feels kinda dumb.
 
An inconvenience that is solved by buying officially licensed Sony headphones, instead of being able to use one's own perfectly good, working, potentially expensive, headphones.

Well done Sony! Really #4ThePlayers with this one!

What are you arguing here? I don't think I said at any point that this is a good thing or something Sony should be applauded for.

But regardless, you can just plug wired headphones directly into the controller. You're not forced into buying expensive Bluetooth headphones. You're overreacting as mush as the OP.
 

Dahaka

Member
I'm using wireless RS 185 with Toslink 3x1 Switch, thus allowing me to use the headset on PC, PS4, XB1.

Sony realized that all those fancy closed BT headphones do not mix well with gaming and made way for the true kings of headphone gaming
 
This "Is this real life?!" trend has to stop...jesus.

Anyway, the controllers have jack input, so it's really no big deal for me! This is actually one of the best features ever in a controller design
 
To be fair, they probably have to use all the available available Bluetooth bandwidth for the controllers, now that they also need to be able to steam audio to each one. In fact, I'm pretty sure they even came out and said just that back when this was first revealed.
 

Coreda

Member
So the console supports Bluetooth headsets but only for their own official products? I can see why the OP is upset. If it were a Sony proprietary protocol then there would be different expectations.
 
PS4 works with my logitech G903 when the dongle is plugged into usb. So maybe that is the solution? Only bluetooth headsets which come with dongles work?
 

leng jai

Member
This "Is this real life?!" trend has to stop...jesus.

Anyway, the controllers have jack input, so it's really no big deal for me! This is actually one of the best features ever in a controller design

Unless you actually care about sound quality. Anything plugged into the controller sounds like garbage.
 

bobbytkc

ADD New Gen Gamer
strange, I dont remember being able to use bluetooth headphones on my ps3 either. Was that actually possible? I think I tried to connect but the game audio did not pass through.
 

nOoblet16

Member
I agree they should have allowed Bluetooth audio, I suspect it might have something to do with security issues though.


The Xbox is even worse at this, like the PS4 it only supports wireless chat via USB but unlike PS4 it requires a proprietary chip for the chat to go through. This is why it's impossible to have a headset that's fully wireless for both audio and chat that works on both consoles.

I have a PS4 Turtlebeach Elite 800, for PS4 it's fully wireless for Xbox one Incan only get wireless audio (though it's still Dolby digital) but if I want chat I need to connect a chat cable between my headset and controller. The only way to get fully wireless on Xbox One would be to either get the Xbox version of Elite 800 or use Kinect mic which is shit.
 
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