SOUND 7.5/10:
- I did my testing on the flat EQ profile. Stock sound I personally enjoy, but to get the most, you’ll need to EQ. As very receptive towards it. Which only saves on PC (I think). Which is a shame at this price point. Do notice a difference between each preset EQ. No onboard switching of sound profiles. But can put noise cancelling button to have that setting if you want in ICUE. 50 mm graphene drivers are great.
- Sounds can be compressed at times. Making them sound different than I’m used to on other headsets. However, I still got full sound from both a bass and treble standpoint most of the time. Sound is very clean and bass is some of the best I’ve heard.
- Directional sound for FPS/Competitive was good where I could easily tell where enemies are with good precision. I could hear footsteps most of the time. However, sometimes sounds would be masked from say too much bass or treble. And the treble can be sibilant (harsh over time). Mostly tested on Escape From Tarkov. Also Silent Hill 2, GTA, Halo Infinite.
- I enjoyed them for music and media listening as well. Making them a robust enough headset where I can use them for single player immersive, media, music, and competitive gaming. But I would say the Astro A50x and Stealth Pro overall sound better.
- Able to hear a bunch of different sounds at once. With the ability to pull them apart. Everything does not just blend together and turn into a garbled mess. Which is the sign of high-quality sound.
- Volume is very inconsistent. At times being at 100% and still not being able to hear everything while at others being at 10% and it being deafening. Even without going to sleep or something happening all the sudden the volume would change dramatically. Also, very different depending on source. So say iTunes, Hulu, YouTube, personal recording would all have different sound volumes by a noticeable degree. Very strange and have not seen before.
- I had several instances where my sound would just stop working out of the blue. Making me have to unplug and replug the dongle to get working again. Also, times where if my PC was under high load my sound would start to fall apart. But in general very solid connection even when away from system.
- Closed back allows for natural noise isolation. Paired with active noise cancelling allows for lower listening volumes (as I can hear a noise floor) and better location of enemies with faint sounds.
COMFORT 5/10:
- The biggest weakness of this headset. The pads on the earcups look huge. Unfortunately, the majority of that is plastic to attach to the side of the headset. With the actual padding being less than a quarter of an inch. Like a half of a quart of an inch. Very small.
- The top of the headband is the same material and about the same thickness.
- The material used on the earpads/headband is a bit rough/scratchy. Being more of a mesh material.
- Earcups are large enough for my medium sized ears. But I think any bigger and you might be rubbing against the side walls and/or the drivers.
- Should be able to fit medium to very large heads. I’d be concerned about very small.
- Grip strength is on the lighter end. Where if you lay down the headset will fall off.
- For long periods top of head gets sore. Additionally, does not do well with glasses. As padding is too minimal.
- I’ve been able to wear for long periods of time. Which has been surprising. But definitely the worst in comfort out of the other flagship headsets I own.
BUILD QUALITY 10/10:
- This is made almost exclusively from metal which makes it feel and look premium.
- Joints are all solid, appear metal, without any noises.
- The buttons don’t wobble. Feel great to press.
- When adjusting height, dedicated clicks, metal, feel great.
- One of the main reasons why I want to use it as my main headset going forward. Along with the controls.
RGB 10/10:
- You can save lighting profiles directly to the headset without the need for ICUE.
- Off by default. Except for when it is just turned on, is connecting, or has lost connection. So, works as a notification. Which is neat.
- Lighting looks distinguished but minimal. Very accurate. Bright. No complaints here.
CONTROLS 9/10:
- Absolutely love the controls on this guy.
- Left and right earcup have wheels that encompass the entire earcup. Left for PC/Xbox volume. Right for Bluetooth volume. Rough edges for grip, moderate pressure to move. Love it.
- Left earcup is a slide to power on, slide more forward for Bluetooth on, hold forward to go into Bluetooth pairing. Then you have the detachable microphone. Which also has a button where pressing mutes/unmutes. Holding that turns on/off sidetone.
- Right earcup has a dedicated button for noise cancelling on/off. Then you have another slide toggle. Where if you press it plays/pauses, press forward to go forward, and backward to go backwards. I love this as well. When on PC it will play/pause PC instead of Bluetooth even if you’re connected. If you are not playing anything on PC then it will play Bluetooth audio.
- No game/chat mix except for on Xbox with Xbox Mode.
MICROPHONE 7/10:
- Good tonality (can hear the different timbres in my voice).
- Easily hear the compression. Which can manifest in me sounding nasally, inconsistent, and less clear at times.
- Nvidia Broadcast enabled. Which does amazing at cutting down background noise. Assuming your GPU supports it.
- Announces when you mute/unmute. Along with turning capsule red. I like that a lot.
- Beats most other headset microphones. Double points for being wireless. I recorded a YouTube video with it. I won’t do that again. As the quality is not consistent enough.
- Microphone is detachable. Also, very flexible to get into ideal spot.
- Side tone is terrible. Need to be at 80% or higher. Likely 100% to hear yourself. At which point you sound very compressed, it is slightly delayed, and you get a constant humming destroying the otherwise silent noise floor.
- Volume is very loud. Default at 50% has me nearly peaking while speaking quietly. This to me is a pro. Means you have a lot of room for adjustability depending on if you are soft spoken or very loud.
- Do hear a click when you mute the microphone.
NOISE CANCELLING 6/10:
- Apple AirPods Max and Sony XM4’s are better.
- Similar to the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pros
- Better than Turtle Beach Stealth Pro.
- It does a good job at eliminating mild fan noise, noise floor from a room, and reduces voices/music a mild/moderate. But doesn’t silence everything like some of the flagship noise cancelling earphones do.
- Turns on/off by holding button on right earcup.
- I didn’t notice a difference in sound with it on/off.
- The transparency mode works well. Not quite Apple like. But still quite good. Where I can hear everything around me with pretty good accuracy. But does sound a bit compressed.
OTHER:
- Comes with an awesome pleather case. Which is very protective and form fitting to the headset. Which holds the long USB braided charging cord that is semi stiff and USB-A to USB-C. Along with the detachable microphone.
- Can use Bluetooth and 2.4 Wireless at the same time.
- 2 Year warranty is good.
- Charging, red for low, orange for medium, green for high all pulsing. Then fully charged will be solid green. When first turning on it will also show you one of those to alert you of battery level. Love it.
CONS:
- Headset padding is almost non-existent, which is a shame.
- No game/chat mix on PC/PlayStation but does work on Xbox (Need to go into Xbox Mode by double pressing custom button (noise cancelling button) where the right volume control is now chat control over controlling Bluetooth volume. Which would then be controlled on your Bluetooth device instead of headset).
- Noise cancelling is adequate. Would like it to be better.
- Sidetone is horrendous.
- Comfort could be a lot better.
- Not good for glasses.
- No 3.5 mm aux to be used on everything. Either 2.4 GHz wireless or Bluetooth. USB is just used to charge. Can still play while charging but connected to wireless dongle.
- Had some issues where if I was just using bluetooth the headset would timeout and turn itself off despite playing audio.
- Cannot save custom EQ’s to headset. Meaning limited functionality on consoles.
- Random inconsistent sound volume is irritating.
- Had some issues with dropouts. Which wouldn’t return unless replugged dongle.
- Click when you mute microphone.
- iCUE Software is disappointing.
- Plugging it in to charge only charges. Does not power device. Still need to connect to wireless dongle.