RIG - R8 PRO HX Dual Wireless Over-Ear Gaming Headset w/Graphene Drivers & Base Station for Xbox Series X|S, PS5, PC, Switch - Black

The RIG R8 SPECTRE PRO HX Dual Wireless Gaming Headset with Graphene Drivers and Base Station for Xbox is an excellent gaming headset. They have a great sound to them, especially after you dial in the EQ to your preferences via the RIG R-PRO NAVIGATOR app. They are very comfortable. The included charging base stand is a nice touch that you normally don't get with gaming headsets. You usually just get a charge cord. The R8 Pro's come with lifetime Dolby ATMOS headphones subscription. It works very well to give you precise 3d audio. It also depends on the game. Some games sound great with it on. Some sound better with it off. It's one of those try it and see what you think things. Battery life is impressive with up to 60 hours of charge. The included base station helps make them never run out of power during your sessions because you always have a spot to put them when not in use. The stand also has customizable RGB lighting. The full range mic works amazing. The flip to mute is a great feature I use regularly while gaming. The sidetone is adjustable, and works very well. The R8's have dual mode USB/wireless and Bluetooth. This means you can game and take calls at the same time. You can also listen to music. This headset is very comfortable. I wear glasses, and have never experienced any pain or fatigue from the earcups. The snap and lock ear plates are interesting. Under the left side is a removable battery. There's nothing under the right side. I did a search for custom plates and was not able to find anything. Maybe that's something coming down the road, or maybe even a 3D printable part would be pretty cool. Overall I really enjoy using the R8 PRO HX headset to game. I really enjoy being able to take calls with them on.

The R8 Spectre Pro is a well-rounded package. The headset delivers clear and balanced audio, provides excellent comfort during extended use, and features an intuitive smartphone application that enables straightforward customization. The inclusion of a charging base station enhances convenience, while the microphone stands out for its clarity and effective voice isolation. Wireless range is reliable, and the battery life supports prolonged gaming sessions with minimal recharging required. Although the audio could benefit from greater richness and in-game sound complexity may occasionally result in minor distortion, these are minor drawbacks. Overall, the R8 Spectre Pro is a strong contender in its category and can be recommended with confidence. The RIG series has recently undergone a design update, and the R8 Spectre Pro continues the aesthetic established in recent RIG models. The transition from metal to durable plastic helps with weight and durability. Distinguishing itself from the R5, the R8 Spectre Pro features dual wireless connectivity and is equipped with an RGB equipped charging base station. Unboxing: RIG includes the headset, a USB-C wireless adapter for XBOX or PC with toggle, a USB-C to USB-A adapter, A USB-C to USB-A cable, and the charging base station with USB-C port to plug in the wireless adapter. Experience: First thing I should talk about is audio quality. I thought they sounded good. I think the sound could be richer. The EQ is customizable with the “RIG R-Pro Navigator” application. Tweaking the EQ with the smartphone application helped, but I did notice a tiny bit of distortion if too many sounds were going off at the same time. It was not deal breaking and it could just be me, but it is there. My go-to gaming test now is “Arc Raiders.” Sound is incredibly important in that game to keep the player aware of Arc robots and enemy player locations. And the spatial audio is quite convincing. Again, it sounds good, but I felt like some of the bass and the treble could be punched up a bit. But listening to music on my phone sounded good. Movies sound good. One of the things that caught me off guard is that this headset has smaller earpieces than I was used to. But it fits my fat head very well. In addition, I was afraid my head would get hot, but it did not. These are extremely comfortable for those extended gaming sessions. Microphone is on the right side of the headset. This is one of the better gaming microphones. Microphone audio is clear. My voice is properly isolated. I love the customization you get in the smartphone application. The microphone has active noise isolation, but I did not detect noise cancellation from the speakers. Battery life is very impressive. Twenty odd hours of usage only used about 15 percent of the available battery. That is great battery life. The docking station for the headset is big and has limited RGB lighting. While the headset was charging, the docking station glowed red. When it was finished charging, the station went back to a rainbow RGB effect. There is a USB-C slot in the middle of the charging station, and the wireless dongle can attach here if you want. I guess I should talk about the wireless dongle for a minute. It is angled to fit the charging station. If you want to plug the dongle into your PC, RIG includes a USB-C to USB-A adapter, or you could just plug the dongle straight into a USB-C port on your PC. But, unlike most wireless dongles I have scene, this dongle is on a right angle and could potentially block other ports on your PC depending on the placement of USB ports on your PC. I would have preferred a smaller dongle, but that is me. Customization: The speaker cups and outer plates are attached magnetically to the headset. Both the plates and the cups could be swapped out and customized for streamers or esports players. I wish the RGB lights on the base station had a bit more customization options. It would be nice to match the lighting to other devices on the desktop. Bluetooth 5.2 is an excellent feature and gaming and phone conversations sounded great. Bluetooth range is excellent and covers my entire house. Conclusion: This is a good headset. I feel like audio quality could be a bit richer, but these do sound good. The EQ customizations within the smartphone application help. RIG has packed a lot of features into this headset. Battery life is great. Comfort really surprised me. This is a smaller headset, but even on my head, the fit is comfortable. Buyers looking for a solid wireless headset with a charging base station should check it out. 4.5/5

I've tried several Xbox/Win headsets. Some were good while others not so much. I'm enjoying this Rig R8 Pro headset a lot. It ships with a USB charging base, detachable USB cable for base or headset use, and a USB receiver with adapter. Device connection options are Bluetooth or USB receiver. There is a toggle switch on the receiver for switching between PC-USB or Xbox use. I've had issues in the past with similarly designed adapters on other headsets, but this one has been problem-free so far and works reliably when switching between Windows PC and Xbox. The primary receiver is UBS-C but incudes an adapter for USB-A ports. I've tried it with and without the adapter and both options work well without issue. A white illuminated LED strip on the receiver displays the operating status. The headset can be charged via the docking base or directly from the USB cable. The docking base has adjustable RGB lighting that also displays the battery charging status during charging. The headset fits me comfortably. It doesn't feel heavy or constricting. The foam ear cups are soft and fit over my ears without any pinching or pressure, nor are they too shallow. The adjustable padded headband doesn't cause any discomfort to the top of my head. The cups also don't get overly warm with extended use. The ear cup controls are physical rather than touch and consist of three buttons and a volume dial. The three buttons are for Bluetooth, power, and a multifunction button that handles features like calls, game/chat balance, and voice commands through services like Siri. All are easy to access and operate during wear. The R8 has great sound quality during gaming. It is Dolby Atmos compatible on Xbox and Windows PCs. Sounds are accurately reproduced and I don't hear any distortion. The headset is also suitable for listening to music on my phone. It's not quite on par with my dedicated music headphones, but more than sufficient if I want to listen to music on my console or PC during use. The low end was a little loose and flat at first, but tweaking the EQ quickly fixed that. Noise cancellation is passive but effective unless in a really loud environment. The R8 has a non-detachable flexible boom microphone that is distortion-free and captures my voice well when speaking. It isn't the best at blocking out background noise, but my voice remains clear and decipherable even with moderate background noise. I've used it for calls and online chat without complaints from parties on the other end. My only complaint with the mic is the lack of a physical mute button. The only way I've found to mute the mic is to swing it fully into the upright position which disables it. The Rig Pro Navigator app is available for download on iOS or Android. It allows applying firmware updates, testing the headset and mic, customizing sound options and has tutorials on how to use the headset and the different buttons and features. The headset connects to the app through Bluetooth. The app has an equalizer that is three-band by default but turns into eight-band when switched to expert mode. There are also EQ presets available. The R8 ticks most of the boxes I look for in a for a decent headset: - It has great sound and a decent mic - Controls are easy to use - It's easy and convenient to charge with the base or cable - It's lightweight - Has solid construction - Has a nicely designed and user-friendly companion app - Good charging times and battery life - The battery and foam ear pads are easily user-replaceable (The backs of the ear cups attach magnetically and easily detach to allow changing the cushions or battery. However, they don't easily detach unintentionally). Overall, the R8 has several features that are actually useful and convenient, yet is one of the more user-friendly headsets I've tried. Other than the lack of a mute button, I have no other complaints.

This headset–the RIG R8 Spectre Pro HX–provides a very solid and enjoyable experience, and it deserves strong consideration from anyone looking for a headset for their PC and/or Xbox. It’s comfortable to wear with plenty of padding on the earcups and headband, so extended wear should not be a problem. The microphone, non-detachable, sits on the right side (muting by flipping up) and is firm but flexible for adjustment. The overall design is subtle black, but it is customizable with separate covers (magnetically attached). Out of the box you get the headset, USB dongle, USB cable and the charging dock, which has RGB lighting. The headset arrived almost fully charged, so it doesn’t take long to have it 100%. Setup is very easy and you can get started without the Navigator app if you choose, but it does provide a lot of functionality that you’ll want (see below). Sound quality is very good, across a wide variety of uses. I preferred to use the bass boost EQ preset for a little more oomph in the low end initially. However, it’s Dolby Atmos for headphones compatible and a lifetime license is included, so with that in mind I let the Dolby Access app control EQ with my PC. The boom mic is quite clear and can be adjusted in the Navigator app for sensitivity. Connectivity is generous with both 2.4Ghz wireless and Bluetooth–the dongle has a switch for Xbox or PC mode and helpfully includes a Type-C to A adapter. It does allow for simultaneous connections, so you can have your phone connected via Bluetooth while connected to a PC via wireless, which is handy for things like incoming calls. Use of the Navigator app requires Bluetooth, and it’s here that you find all of your adjustment options like equalization, firmware updates, microphone gain/monitoring, test mode, and toggling on/off the voice prompt. You can create multiple profiles within the app as well for easy switching, which is helpful. Overall, I feel like this headset provides a lot of value. I do a lot of online work and the microphone’s clarity allows this to serve a work purpose as well as play, and as someone with both gaming PCs and an Xbox Series X, this covers me across both. I especially like the dual wireless/Bluetooth connectivity (and you can even add additional wireless dongles), which is helpful. I really can’t find anything to fault with it other than a slight learning curve keeping the control buttons straight on the headset: I occasionally clicked the wrong button. But that’s very minor and easily overcome, and so this deserves to be anyone’s short list for a new gaming headset. Recommended.

The RIG R8 Pro HX is a good headset for Xbox or PC. It has great sound, the microphone quality is excellent, and the charging/communication dock is something you don’t often see unless you’re spending twice the amount. I was a little let down by the build quality and the design, but overall it’s a nice bang for buck headset. With the headset, you receive a charging dock, a 2.4 GHz USB-C receiver, a 3ft USB-C to USB-A cable, and a USB-C to USB-A adapter for connecting the dongle to devices that don’t have USB-C. The dock has built-in cable routing through the bottom and a passthrough port where the dongle can live. Being able to use the receiver outside of the dock adds some nice flexibility, which I appreciate. The receiver isn’t the most compact I’ve seen, but it’s not the largest either and having the USB-C connector on the end allows you to position in a way that doesn’t block other ports. The headset itself has a plain, matte black design. I’d call it inoffensive - it looks a lot like something you’d see in a generic stock photo. It’s not bad by any means, it’s just very unremarkable. The dock has switchable RGB lighting as well, but it also feels quite generic. Fortunately, the headset does perform a lot better than it looks. The build is mostly plastic and it feels sturdy enough, but the adjustment points didn’t feel the greatest to me. The headband adjustments have a fair amount of resistance and are not particularly smooth. The boom mic is very flexible, which is nice for getting it to the best position in front of my face, but you also feel that flex when flipping the microphone up the mute position and it only smoothly goes to a 45 degree position. This does mute the microphone, but in general I prefer to put it up to the 90 degree position and this requires a fair amount of extra effort to do. The headband adjustments are mostly a minor thing since I’m really only setting that once, but I’ve noticed the microphone adjustment situation a lot. It is comfortable to wear though and the headband and earpad materials both feel great. It’s not particularly light, but not particularly heavy either. I’ve put in a few multi-hour sessions wearing them at this point and haven’t experienced any discomfort or fatigue. I tested the RIG R8 Pro HX on both PC and Xbox using the 2.4GHz connection. The receiver has a switch for Xbox and PC (or PlayStation, Switch, etc.) and that does need to be set accordingly. There is support for simultaneous 2.4GHz and Bluetooth connections and those connections can also be enabled individually. I didn’t see it shown in the manual, but wired USB listening is also possible. Connecting to Windows, the maximum bit depth/sample rate I could set was 16-bit/48kHz, even when wired, so this does not support high-res audio. The R8 Pro HX also includes a built-in license for Dolby Atmos, which is great especially on Xbox. I found the sound quality to be great. It’s not the best gaming headset I’ve listened to, but it’s definitely on the higher end of what I’ve experienced. The sound has a lot of detail and great bass. I was able to pick up all the important sound and position cues without feeling like any part of it was overwhelming another. The microphone is excellent and the recordings I listened to of myself sounded very natural and did not have that compressed sound that some other gaming mics have. The wireless connection has been solid on both PC and Xbox with no noticeable disruptions or latency. The battery life is listed at 60+ hours, and I doubt it’s something I’ll ever really run into since I’m just dropping these back on the dock after each session. The charging pins on the headset engage with the dock magnetically and as long as the headset is mostly in position it snaps itself into place easily. I was also pleasantly surprised to see that the battery is actually removable, which is great if you’re going to hold onto this for a long time and need to replace that. So overall I think there’s a lot to like about the RIG R8 Pro HX. It feels like it punches above its weight in a lot of ways, though the issues I have with the general aesthetics and some of the build quality issues are hard to ignore. Still, if you can get past those this is a very good headset.