Xbox Series X | S

[thesnwmn]

2 minutes ago, Masterbeef said:

So glad I took the plunge but don’t want to sell off my One X yet. Still my favourite console of all time. 

 

What exactly is a One X for in that setup? Old and slow thing now. Ditch it.

[Masterbeef]

2 minutes ago, thesnwmn said:

 

What exactly is a One X for in that setup? Old and slow thing now. Ditch it.

Pure nostalgia. It still runs ok IMHO though 

[MattyP]

1 hour ago, Masterbeef said:

Seriously impressed with both particularly the S which is blowing my mind with its awesome dinkiness.

 

Indeed cannot believe how compact the S is and how well it runs everything. It's a great console.

 

[Hello Goaty ♥]

On 29/09/2022 at 03:00, SMD said:

If you can run it at 120hz then you can set games to 40fps

 

@SMDI just spotted your post!  wind up?  or can you do this?   thanks

[SMD]

3 minutes ago, Hello Goaty ♥ said:

 

@SMDI just spotted your post!  wind up?  or can you do this?   thanks

 

unfortunately it seems like it's not available on xbox yet but they're starting to add these modes on ps5, i imagine in the future devs will be able to include things like this when vrr becomes more widely available.

 

it's probably going to be the bigger benefit of 120hz than 120fps games

[bear]

Earlier this year Microsoft announced Ubisoft+ would be coming to Xbox and also that Gamepass Ultimate subscribers would be able to stream some of their purchased games through the cloud. 

 

Assuming both of those are still happening this year I'm wondering if their availability will just get announced via social media or if there's a chance MS are working on an Autumn/Winter Inside Xbox or XO22 showcase where they announce that and possibly show off some games? 

 

 

Fake edit: There's that Riot on PC Gamepass stuff as well. 

[MattyP]

Just fired up Gears Of War on the S... wow. 60fps and HDR... makes a big difference feels almost like a new game. Is this really a 2006 game?! OK I guess its the Ultimate Edition so they may have tweaked all the textures etc. But still...  Impressed. It's been a while since I tinkered with older games on newer Xbox hardware but this little S continues to impress here....

 

If anyone is sitting on the fence about which to get a S or X. I've had both and used on a 28" 4K office monitor. If I'm honest from what I remember of the X sure the textures are improved in some games and 60fps most of the time (don't think the S is consistently 60fps on everything).

 

If you have a large screen 120fps capable or and need a physical drive the X is a no brainer - however TBH the S gives it a good run for the money. I'm really happy with it. Not even fussed about the storage as the drive seems plenty big enough for how I use it. I do have an external HDD that I might utilise if I decide to swap games around a bit but don't think I'll need it... I'll probably only have one 100GB monster on the go at any one time.

 

For me it hits the sweet spot runs my old 360 games really well (improved in most cases with Auto HDR and Frame Rate boost!) and runs new games great too. Certainly good enough for what I need anyway. I suppose there is the thing about it being outpaced as the generation continues but even then I do not think this is going to be a problem. In the end its a 1080p machine with a slightly slower processor that is in the Series X (3.6 vs 3.8 Ghz) but both the same other than that. So I expect other than 4K and perhaps frame rate there won't be much in it between the X and S. We'll see how it pans out I guess. But for £250 this thing is a steal... its a great bit of kit. A complete system for less than a second hand PC GPU?! Great way to get into gaming without much investment. Couple it with GamePass and it becomes insane value for money. In all honesty this is the essence of what consoles used to be cheap single purpose devices. Although the S also does a good job of streaming video at 4K too...

 

I was going to upgrade my PC this gen to a shiny new RTX3080 based system but then COVID hit prices went bananas so investigated consoles.. hence first the X, then the PS5 and now the S. Out of all three I think the S pretty much nails it for me. The processor in the S is also an improvement over my PCs older Ryzen 1600 (Zen, 6 cores, 3.2GHz vs Zen 2, 8 cores, 3.6GHz) and with the console having a more streamlined design and focussed purpose expect it will make a better gaming option over the PC over the next couple of years or so. At some point I will maybe get around to that PC upgrade... but as it pretty much does everything else well enough perhaps not for a while. 

[MattyP]

On 06/10/2022 at 19:51, Masterbeef said:

Pure nostalgia. It still runs ok IMHO though 

 Well once you've been using the Series X for a while you'll never ever go back to playing on it. The speed of loading on the new consoles if nothing else.

 

Had an OG XBox which I picked up incredibly cheap just to play my old console stuff on which I'd collected over the years. After a week or so ended up picking up a Series S and the experience is worlds apart. I guess the One X is 4K. But that HDD slows everything down!

 

Think once you've experienced SSD speeds - whether on a PC or a new console its very difficult to go back.. thought I had patience but they are so slow these days very noticable....  

[Bluejam]

Quick question, probably getting my son a series s at the end of the month.

 

he’s got the previous white x box but the disc drive is knackered and it’s getting a bit long in the tooth. 

 

TL;dr can he just log into his new one and access his previous stuff? I know I should know this but I’m way out of the loop on this gen. 

[MattyP]

4 minutes ago, Bluejam said:

Quick question, probably getting my son a series s at the end of the month.

 

he’s got the previous white x box but the disc drive is knackered and it’s getting a bit long in the tooth. 

 

TL;dr can he just log into his new one and access his previous stuff? I know I should know this but I’m way out of the loop on this gen. 

Yes all Xbox stuff is account based. He'll get all the settings etc back and games saves etc will be picked up when he logs into the new console.

[Sarlaccfood]

2 hours ago, Bluejam said:

Quick question, probably getting my son a series s at the end of the month.

 

he’s got the previous white x box but the disc drive is knackered and it’s getting a bit long in the tooth. 

 

TL;dr can he just log into his new one and access his previous stuff? I know I should know this but I’m way out of the loop on this gen. 

Yeah it’s all pretty seamless. Worth noting though as you mention the disc drive: The Series S doesn’t have one so won’t be able to play anything your son has on disc. 

[MattyP]

3 hours ago, Bluejam said:

Quick question, probably getting my son a series s at the end of the month.

 

he’s got the previous white x box but the disc drive is knackered and it’s getting a bit long in the tooth. 

 

TL;dr can he just log into his new one and access his previous stuff? I know I should know this but I’m way out of the loop on this gen. 

If you are a Amazon Prime member you can get them for £189 at the moment:- (for the next ~10hrs)

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0B3Y6MR92

 

Sure its a refurbed one but I've been told they look like new anyway....

[Bluejam]

thanks for the replies guys, appreciate it. 

 

God damn it, why do prime do this between paydays!

[Darren]

I just noticed Apple Music is now available on Xbox. Which is nice [/fastshow] for those of us who use it.

[Kryptonian]

10 hours ago, MattyP said:

 Well once you've been using the Series X for a while you'll never ever go back to playing on it. The speed of loading on the new consoles if nothing else.

 

Had an OG XBox which I picked up incredibly cheap just to play my old console stuff on which I'd collected over the years. After a week or so ended up picking up a Series S and the experience is worlds apart. I guess the One X is 4K. But that HDD slows everything down!

 

Think once you've experienced SSD speeds - whether on a PC or a new console its very difficult to go back.. thought I had patience but they are so slow these days very noticable....  

 

We had a One S in the playroom that got little use but started to get played on more once we rejigged the room a bit. Due being spoilt by the Series X ssd speed we traded it in against a Series S at game when they had that deal on and now it gets used *loads* more. Game changer like you said

[JPL]

28 minutes ago, Darren said:

I just noticed Apple Music is now available on Xbox. Which is nice [/fastshow] for those of us who use it.

Oh, that’s brilliant.

[Mallet]

Does anyone have the £89.99 Microsoft wireless headset? 

 

What are your opinions regarding comfort, sound quality and overall quality? 

[JoeK]

26 minutes ago, Mallet said:

Does anyone have the £89.99 Microsoft wireless headset? 

 

What are your opinions regarding comfort, sound quality and overall quality? 

 

I had one for a while - it's a decent headset for the price. Sound is good - even better when you fiddle with the equaliser in the Xbox settings. 

 

Only thing I didn't like about it is that the pleather muffs get hot, and that sodding mic isn't detachable.

 

But, it's a nice thing.

[TehStu]

6 hours ago, Mallet said:

Does anyone have the £89.99 Microsoft wireless headset? 

 

What are your opinions regarding comfort, sound quality and overall quality? 

 

I don't have a large amount of experience with fancy headphones, but I found these to be really good. The only reason I don't use them more often is because they're quite heavy, and I think with my hayfever I'm congested enough that the effect of having my ears completely surrounded does weird things. Obviously, YMMW here. I don't think it's something I see oft mentioned in headphone chat here at all. I may be weird

 

From a technical point of view, the only annoyance is that turning it on turns on the synced console and that's useless. Connecting to a bluetooth device frequently means accidentally turning on the Xbox.

[Speech]

7 hours ago, JoeK said:

 

I had one for a while - it's a decent headset for the price. Sound is good - even better when you fiddle with the equaliser in the Xbox settings. 

 

Only thing I didn't like about it is that the pleather muffs get hot, and that sodding mic isn't detachable.

 

But, it's a nice thing.

It seems that the ear cushions are a fairly standard size so are easy to get replacements for. I find they do get a bit warm after a while, so I might look to see whats available at some point.

[JoeK]

9 minutes ago, Speech said:

It seems that the ear cushions are a fairly standard size so are easy to get replacements for. I find they do get a bit warm after a while, so I might look to see whats available at some point.

 

I preferred spending a little more and getting the Steelseries Artic 7x ones. I found the fabric ear muffs were much more pleasant! Sound quality was more or less the same - you just lose the nice graphic equaliser in the Series X. Although you can plug them into a PC and tune it via there.

[dreamylittledream]

10 hours ago, Mallet said:

Does anyone have the £89.99 Microsoft wireless headset? 

 

What are your opinions regarding comfort, sound quality and overall quality? 

I find it excellent, although mine is pretty much exclusively used with my laptop and the Xbox accessories app makes it a doddle to play with the eq.

 

As far as I can tell it’s paired to a machine rather than a controller, I have used it with my Series S in the past and I don’t think it turns the Xbox on when I power it up but currently I just turn it on and it pairs to the laptop regardless of whether the controller is in so mileage may vary.

[MattyP]

On 17/10/2022 at 10:41, Mallet said:

Does anyone have the £89.99 Microsoft wireless headset? 

 

What are your opinions regarding comfort, sound quality and overall quality? 

Just received mine today. Impressed with the build quality and sound. 

 

Like the intuitive controls on the side of the actual ear cups. Make adjusting the chat/game volume mix much easier.

 

Mic has auto mute control which is nice and a simple click switch on the mic itself to mute it. Mic isn't detachable but does fold away.

 

Get some nice equaliser settings on the Xbox control panel with bass boost controls etc.

 

Like the fact there is no dongle needed either and the process with pairing with the Xbox is as easy as with a controller all very simple.

 

Impressed for £90. Scorn sounds much more atmospheric!

 

Note you can get trial versions of both Dolby Atmos and DTS Headphone X to give surround sound with those implementations a go. Worth a try think it does improve spacial sound over the standard MS one.

[Mallet]

I picked one up earlier, no chance to use it yet

[carlospie]

Iv had them and use them daily. They are brilliant and you won't find better for the price.

[Hawklord]

Got me tempted for these now. I have a pair of Sennheiser Momentum 3's and although the sound quality is excellent it's a bit of a faff finding the cable and having to plug them into the controller. Currently have enough rewards points to knock £50 off the price 🤔

[Sarlaccfood]

Can you pop the dongle into a PS5/Switch dock and they work?

[TehStu]

27 minutes ago, Sarlaccfood said:

Can you pop the dongle into a PS5/Switch dock and they work?

The Microsoft ones connect via the proprietary controller protocol, so there's no dongle. They're also bluetooth, so anything that works with that ought to work.

[MattyP]

58 minutes ago, Hawklord said:

Got me tempted for these now. I have a pair of Sennheiser Momentum 3's and although the sound quality is excellent it's a bit of a faff finding the cable and having to plug them into the controller. Currently have enough rewards points to knock £50 off the price 🤔

Indeed...have a Logitech headset for the PC and I've previously been using that on the Xbox however full wireless is so nice. Think they sound a touch better than that Logitech ones too...

[Sane]

19 hours ago, MattyP said:

Note you can get trial versions of both Dolby Atmos and DTS Headphone X to give surround sound with those implementations a go. Worth a try think it does improve spacial sound over the standard MS one.

I'd urge anyone using headphones to do this, I found there's a pretty big difference with the windows sonic stuff. Enough to spend the 20 euro on the dolby license anyway.

 

The dolby app also let's you chance some settings that have a big impact on the way things sound. Counter intuitively for me the movie settings sound best, also for games. Nice to get so much control over this stuff on console.