Say what you’ll about purple and black being a PC gaming cliche. I form of like it. From gaming headsets just like the HyperX Cloud Alpha to laptops just like the Alienware m15, I’m of the agency opinion that extra bits of gaming {hardware} ought to be swaddled in the perfect color recognized to man (purple, not black, you perceive). LucidSound’s LS25 headset is one other such headset that subscribes to this wonderful outlook on life, with its hanging purple stitching, body and LucidSound logos all wanting very pretty certainly in opposition to its black padding and the spun metallic end on every of its 50mm ear cups. But has this so-called ‘esports headset’ obtained what it takes to compete with the very best gaming headsets? Let’s discover out.
Design-wise, there are a variety of issues I like concerning the LucidSound LS25. Apart from its clearly profitable color scheme, I’m additionally very keen on the best way its left ear cup doubles up as an enormous quantity wheel. None of this fussy button or tiny, exhausting to search out slider nonsense. Just one, straightforward mechanism that rolls easily spherical the entire your ear with a superb degree of precision.
Its flexible microphone is totally detachable as properly, so that you gained’t look too silly in public in case you determine to put on these out and about, and it additionally comes with two generously sized 3.5mm audio cables as properly. The first measures 1.2m and comes with a single 3.5mm connector to be used with laptops and consoles and the like, whereas the second comes with a twin headset and microphone splitter to be used together with your PC and measures an enormous 3m lengthy, which ought to provide you with greater than sufficient slack no matter whether or not you’re sitting up at your desk, or over on the couch in case your PC occurs to stay close to a TV.
The LS25’s headband can be surprisingly comfy – and that’s coming from me, Mrs. I Usually Get a Headache After 30 Minutes of Wearing a Headset (don’t fear, I’ll be getting it modified by deed ballot quickly to make it simpler to recollect). When I first put it on, I assumed, ‘Hmm, this could be a problem,’ as even at that early stage it appeared prefer it was poised and able to begin clamping down on my outdated noggin inside seconds of shifting my hand away. But there I used to be, an hour later, with no indicators of discomfort in any respect, and it continued to sit down there fairly fortunately for a very long time after, too.
If something, it was the surprisingly hard-feeling ear cups that proved to be the least comfy side of the LS25, as I used to be consistently conscious of every encircling my ears all through the size of my testing. This shocked me, because the fake leather-based covers felt good and gentle once I squished them with my fingers, and I wasn’t anticipating to have the ability to really feel their inside framework fairly so clearly in opposition to my face. Still, it’s not like they had been pinching my jaw or consistently making me really feel like I needed to transfer them round to get a extra comfy place. It was extra simply an elevated degree of consciousness that, ‘Yes, I’m positively sporting a headset’ versus, ‘Man alive, I forgot I even had something clamped over my face’.
I used to be additionally upset that there wasn’t actually any option to inform if the microphone was muted or not if you press in the fitting ear cup. There is, technically, an LED on the top that lights up purple when it’s muted, however you’ll be able to’t all the time see it relying on the place you’ve obtained it positioned, and also you positively can’t see in case you’ve obtained the black, fuzzy wind sock on it. Audio suggestions would have been ultimate for these types of circumstances, however alas, there isn’t any of that both.
There are simply two ports on the LS25 – one for the microphone and one for the three.5mm audio jack.
Still, you’ll be able to most likely get away with protecting the wind sock off most often, as I discovered it made little or no distinction to the standard of my recorded chat audio. The mic picked up my voice very clearly once I was rabbiting away to myself in Audacity, however there have been nonetheless quite a lot of breathy, windy pop sounds (plosive phrases had been particularly liable to this) with or with out the wind sock hooked up. I additionally discovered it troublesome to get the mic into a superb place, too. A smidge too far-off and my voice was too quiet, a smidge too shut and it felt like my ears had been about to blow up. In each instances, although, the wind sock made no distinction to the quantity of audible pop being picked up, so that you would possibly as properly depart it within the field.
As for the LS25’s audio high quality, I can see why LucidSound have gone down the esports route with this headset, as its stereo audio drivers did a implausible job of choosing out all these vital, far-off appears like incoming shot fireplace and tinkling merchandise results that may spell hazard for you in case you’re one in all these on-line aggressive sorts. In Doom, for instance, it virtually appeared to stress these greater than the sound of my very own weapons, making me very conscious of every thing happening round me and the place these pictures originated from.
As a extra normal gaming headset, nonetheless, the LS25 doesn’t do practically nearly as good a job with sounds that a lot nearer to you. Quite a lot of Doom’s pretty, squelchy finisher strikes, for instance, usually handed by with out observe within the outdated audio division, making them really feel oddly underwhelming regardless of being among the greatest and most wonderful explosions of demon viscera ever seen in video games.
The similar goes for the booming songs of your individual arsenal, which sounded a bit unhappy and flat in comparison with what was being fired again at you. The thumping battle music sounded completely positive, its robust bass line hanging an ideal steadiness in opposition to the pumping guitars, however general I didn’t really feel like I used to be having fun with myself and entering into the Super Shotgun zone as a lot as I often do.
I felt a lot the identical method as Final Fantasy XV as properly. The incidental orchestral music sounded splendidly heat and wealthy as I used to be tromping throughout the hills of Duscae with Noctis and co, however as quickly as I entered a battle the fight music (that are a few of my favorite bits of music in that game) simply type of light away into the background. Here, it wasn’t a lot a case of the music being drowned out by the encircling battle results, as there are considerably fewer of those right here than in a game like Doom, nevertheless it didn’t make practically as a lot of an affect as I’m used to listening to on different headsets. It was positive, however nothing that basically made me begin tapping my toes as I unleashed some mystical, magic sword justice.
The LS25’s aggressive concentrate on these far off peripheral sounds was additionally very obvious in Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. While the distinction between the rumbling thunder and delicate little water splashes within the game’s opening scene was as highly effective and immersive as another headset I’ve examined, the voices whispering and snickering away inside Senua’s head felt a tad muddy after they had been meant to proper up shut and whispering in your ear. This wasn’t the case for the voices additional out on the periphery, as these had been a lot clearer and felt extra pure – which is sort of the mirror picture of what occurred in Doom. Great, clear sounds within the distance, however flat, uninteresting sounds up shut.
I additionally wasn’t satisfied it was doing a very good job with Hellblade’s 360-degree binaural audio, both, as each voice often sounded prefer it was coming from both the fitting or left ear cup moderately than throughout me. It wasn’t too noticeable more often than not, however if you’re forking out £75 / $60 for the LS25, I’d anticipate it to be much more nuanced.
That stated, the one benefit the LS25 and its bias towards these outerlying sounds did deliver to the desk was a large and spacious soundscape for once I converted to extra normal music listening. Everything from my favorite Final Fantasy XV battle tunes to busy rock and pop songs seemed like they’d loads of room to jam and provides every thing their due, which is greater than will be stated for lots of different headsets I’ve examined lately.
Still, nearly as good as it’s for normal music, it’s gaming audio that considerations me most right here, and finally there are way more versatile headsets on the market for a similar form of cash that do a a lot better job of placing you proper on the centre of the motion than LucidSound’s LS25.
There might be a few of you that favor a extra, horizon-orientated headset, during which case the LS25 matches that area of interest completely. But it does reduce the expertise considerably when what’s occurring proper in entrance of you isn’t given the identical degree of care and element as what’s occurring off within the distance. Instead, I’d suggest sticking with Corsair’s Void Pro RGB in case you’re seeking to spend this type of cash, or the equally wonderful Turtle Beach Atlas Three in case you additionally need a headset you’ll be able to plug into your console bins.
