Sony has been on a roll with gaming peripherals, including the Inzone H9 II gaming headset that may actually justify its big price tag, and the excellent Inzone H6 Air, and it was looking to continue that streak with a pair of pricey tabletop gaming speakers, but things have apparently hit a bump in the road.
Sony says its Pulse Elevate wireless speakers, which can be used with PC, Mac, PlayStation 5, and the PlayStation Portal, have encountered a “production issue” that’s setting the release back. Here’s Sony’s full statement on the matter:
“As part of our ongoing quality testing of Pulse Elevate speakers, we have identified a production issue with the product and have made the decision to delay the launch. The additional time will allow us to ensure the product will deliver the experience we intended for our players.”
Sony doesn’t detail exactly what went wrong, but clearly it was bad enough to warrant pushing the release date back. The speakers were originally meant to be released on Nov. 12, and Sony hasn’t given an amended timeline.
Inside the Pulse Elevate, Sony says it’s including “studio-inspired planar magnetic drivers” that are designed to give you “lifelike sound across the entire audible spectrum.” I can’t say for sure what that sounds like yet, but if it’s anything close to the audio quality of the H9 II, it’ll be a hit for me. There are built-in woofers, too, so you’ll still get some low end. On top of that, there are also built-in mics with “AI-enhanced noise rejection,” which is just a fancy way of saying the speakers will cancel environmental noise while you’re talking. If this feature actually works as advertised, it should be good news for anyone who plans to substitute a gaming headset with these speakers, either fully or partially.
Another nice addition is PlayStation Link compatibility, which means you’ll be able to get low-latency sound on PS5, PC, Mac, and PlayStation Portal. As always, you’ll need to use the provided dongle for Link, which transmits audio faster and at higher fidelity than a standard Bluetooth connection. One last twist here is that Sony is building in some portability to the Pulse Elevate. The wireless speakers have rechargeable batteries, so you can take them elsewhere to use with your Portal (again, if you have one of those) and then charge them in a provided dock when you’re done. If you want to connect a phone or another device with a standard Bluetooth connection, you can do that, too.
Sony says the Pulse Elevate costs $220, and preorders started Sept. 1. That’s a decent sum of money to pay for desktop speakers, but if they sound as good as the H9 II, they might be worth every penny.
This article has been updated to include pricing and delayed release information.
