My son and I play Xbox One most weekends in our living room. Our Xbox is sat right in front of the TV, but even with the TV volume up high we can still hear vibrational noise as well as the fan whirring away, which can get pretty annoying – especially during quiet parts of a game on the console.

We decided to look at some ways in which we could soundproof our Xbox One console, and I’ve detailed the ways in which we did it, plus some additional hints and tips you might want to try.

My first idea was to build a snug soundproofed box, with sound absorbing foam insulation panels inside of it. But after some consideration, decided not to go ahead with this option.

I believe it would have worked, but why didn’t I do it?

I think that by placing the console in a small box and insulated box would present issues, as there is every chance that this method could lead to over-heating, so we soon abandoned that idea. The box would also have needed ventilation which by its nature would have let the sound escape still.

Which brings me onto a further point; a lot of the noise from the Xbox is probably due to it being hot in the first place, so it could be that the heat needs to be reduced. I found this awesome post online where a guy had built an Xbox cooling system.

I don’t personally recommend that, but the ingenuity involved was something else – here’s what we did though.

How to Soundproof an Xbox One – 6 Steps & Hacks

Below are the steps we took to soundproofing our console. This all worked a treat, and there are some additional items on there you might also want to look at doing.

  1. Install games to the hard-drive, don’t run them from disc
  2. Turn up the volume of your TV
  3. Buy a TV stand that is closed at the front
  4. Wear noise cancelling headphones
  5. Use a quiet power supply adapter
  6. Place the Xbox in another room

Noise Cancelling Headphones

We purchased high-quality noise cancelling headphones with built-in microphones. Previously we had tried low-end headphones, but they simply don’t cut it.

If you are a serious gamer, and the Xbox noise is becoming an issue then invest in a pair of these as they are excellent. You will need to spend more money to get the best results.

The ones we use are from the Turtle Beach brand. They are expensive but work really well!

If you can’t afford those, or want something cheaper then here are some suggestions:

Replacement Quiet Version Power Supply

The next item we purchased, and I am not 100% sure how much difference is made to the noise, was a replacement Xbox power supply brick and cord.

This product is advertised as an advanced quiet version and had outstanding customer reviews from people saying that it worked very well for them.

You can read the online reviews on Amazon.com for it, with some of the highlights being:

“It works amazingly well! Our Xbox switched on right away and there’s no noise whatsoever.” 

“Brilliant. No noise. No sound. No issues. Would recommend this product to my gamer friends” 

“There are now no noise problems. Mine is now very quiet and the console works fine using this power supply.”

You can pick one of these up for less than $30 – click the image to the right of this guide to see the best prices possible. 

TV Stand (Closed at the Front)

We also decided to purchase a new TV stand which was closed at the front, but with rear gaps through which we could run the cabling.

Even with the back of the TV stand open, we did manage to muffle the sound significantly for it to no longer be an issue.

We bought this one, it looks good in our living room and our widescreen TV sits comfortably on the top.

Placing the Xbox in a Different Room

This is a little more drastic, and it’s not something that we did, but you still might want to consider doing it. Possibly not very practical, but could work if purchase cable extension leads.

You could run long HDMI and Ethernet cables from the other room, into your gaming room. If you do decide to do this then I would recommend that you keep health and safety in mind, and lay cable covers down between the room.

The ones that suit Xbox cables the best are the low-profile rubber cable covers – you can view what they look like by clicking here.

By using cable covers you can ensure that nobody trips over wires or pulls the Xbox and TV over from the cabinets – worth doing to protect you and your expensive equipment.

Final Thoughts

Short of buying a new slim line Xbox that are said to be less noisy, there aren’t many DIY hacks that you can use to soundproof an Xbox.

What you can do though, is implement just a few of the steps like we did to cancel out noise and disruption.

I hope this helps!

This guide can also be used if you are looking to soundproof a Playstation, Xbox 360, Xbox One, or any other console.