Testing and results

Methodology

The best method for testing a headset is simply to use it over an extended period. It’s a subjective method, but about the best we can do for now. For this test I used several games, movies and music genres, listening to them intently over several hours to also note the quality and comfort of the headset.

Sound quality

Probably most important to a headset is the sound quality of both the microphone and the speakers. Of one thing I can assure you, Steelseries does not disappoint when it comes to high quality sound. I tested this headset with various types of music: deep electro bass, light jazz, rock / metal and more. Everytime I tried to set a good equalizer in the software and everytime I was amazed by the sound produced by this headset. The basses are deep but not sloppy and high pitched tones are very clear. No negative comments whatsoever.

Comfort

The comfort levels of this headset are great. Due to it’s stretchable build, it’ll fit anyone and being lightweight, there’s barely any pressure at all on the head.

Microphone

First of all: it’s retractable! That means that it’s pretty much invisible when not in use and leaves you with just the headphones and no annoying mic hanging there.

The microphone was subjectively tested by several people on different Teamspeak channels. I previously used the Sandberg 5.1 Surround Headset, but moving over to the Diablo III, people didn’t notice a difference and found my voice as clear as could be. Steelseries claims the microphone sensitivity helps canceling outside unwanted noise, and none of such was reported by my test subjects.

Lightning

httpv://youtu.be/qOsCY9C7qiI

This video is an example of how fun it is to play around with the LED’s on this headset. The Steelseries Engine software allows one to set different types of illumination, ranging in three steps from slow to fast glowing, and a preset that detects music activity and has the devilish glow react in accordance, as seen in the video.

Software

The software is indeed quite handy. As you can see I also own a Steelseries Shift keyboard from a previous review and the software is just the same! Just that it now has a Diablo III logo on it. The headset software allows for changes in the illumination and to set equalizer presets, which can then be loaded on program start – it detects the assigned executable!