While Sony is teasing its own high-end sound tech for the PS5, Microsoft is apparently looking into pushing gaming into the high-end headphone market. This week, Danish audio company, Bang & Olufsen, announced a new partnership with Xbox to ‘deliver high-end audio' for gaming.
Not much is known about this partnership at this time, but the press release says its purpose is “to create a new audio proposition to cater for the high-end segment within gaming by leveraging Bang & Olufsen's core capabilities of sound, design and craft”.
What this likely means is a series of officially licensed, ‘Designed for Xbox' headphones and potentially speakers/sound bars.
On Bang & Olufsen's end, the company's VP and head of Product Management, Christoffer Poulsen, noted that “the gaming industry has grown significantly over the last few years” across a number of key demographics. B&O expect this trend to continue and wants to get involved with “delivering outstanding sound performance wrapped in astonishing design and solid craftsmanship”.
Microsoft's head of hardware partnerships, Matt Kesselring added that the company is “excited to partner with Bang & Olufsen to bring a new premium tier of gaming audio to market for Xbox”.
More details will be shared ‘when available', so perhaps later this year as we gear up for the Xbox Series X launch.
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KitGuru Says: Gaming headsets have been pushing to higher-end prices but the high-end headphone companies are rarely involved. It is great to see that start to change, with an increased focus on the gaming market.