Sony’s upcoming Pulse Explore wireless earbuds are weird — but in a surprisingly good way.
Due to ship on Dec. 6 and available for preorder now for $200, the buds are ostensibly low-latency gaming earbuds. Somewhat bulky and a little bit strange looking in your ears, they’re designed to be used with Sony’s PS5 gaming console and its new PlayStation Portal remote player, as well as Windows and Mac computers (the included PlayStation Link USB adapter is required for PS5 and Nintendo Switch use). Like most other wireless gaming earbuds I’ve encountered, the Pulse Explore can also be paired with your smartphone via Bluetooth.
That they’re very good gaming earbuds isn’t surprising, However, that they’re as good as they are for music listening is a revelation. In fact, after trying an early review sample in advance of the launch, they sound clearer and more articulate than Sony’s flagship WF-1000XM5 earbuds, with tight, powerful bass. That doesn’t necessarily mean they sound better than XM5s — the XM5s sound a little fuller — but I wasn’t expecting them to compete at all with the XM5s for music listening.
The reason for that sound seems largely due to the buds’ planar magnetic drivers, which are typically found in high-end over-ear audiophile headphones and rarely in earbuds. Sony recently acquired Audeze, which is known for its planar magnetic drivers and in 2021 made a pair of $1,299 wired planar magnetic earbuds called the Euclid that are currently listed as “sold out.” Planar magnetic drivers are prized for their sonic accuracy and being less prone to distortion. They’re typically larger than standard dynamic drivers found in the majority of headphones and harder to drive.
Normally, I’d say that $200 for a pair of gaming earbuds, especially ones like the Pulse Explore that don’t exactly have a premium look and feel (they’re an all-plastic affair and are…
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