At simply 210g, the Roccat Noz is likely one of the lightest gaming headsets I’ve worn for fairly a while. It’s additionally considered one of Roccat’s least flashy gaming headsets as properly, as you received’t discover a single LED on this £60 / $70 headset, and even their common big lion emblem draped across the aspect of the ear cup. Instead, you simply get a plain, black headset with a tiny quantity of writing down the aspect, together with the briefest flashes of silver when you determine to increase its stainless-steel headband. But does its compact, ultralight body make it best gaming headset materials? Here’s wot I feel.
Alas, regardless of its minuscule weight and wonderful mushy earcups, the Roccat Noz began pinching the perimeters of my head virtually as quickly as I put it on. I did, admittedly, have it on its tightest setting – as I usually do, because of apparently having the tiniest head on the planet – however whereas lengthening the scarf out a notch on either side did assist alleviate the stress considerably, loosening it any additional then made it really feel far too massive, as if it was hanging off my cranium like a droopy pair of elephant ears. As a consequence, I can’t see this being notably snug for these with wider heads than mine, as even my micro-sized noggin struggled to discover a snug place for it.
It’s a disgrace, actually, because the Noz’s audio high quality was fairly first rate. When I fired up Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, the voices in Senua’s head had been splendidly crisp and clear, and I felt like I might pinpoint their precise areas as they rushed in near whisper in my ear earlier than dashing away once more to snicker and snigger on the periphery.
The Noz has two on-ear controls: a quantity curler and a push-in microphone mute button. Sadly, there’s no approach to inform whether or not the latter is activated apart from shouting wildly into the void to see in case your mates can hear you or not. I do just like the reversible (or horizontal / vertical) styling of the phrase Noz, although. That’s neat.
Similarly, Final Fantasy XV’s orchestral soundtrack proved to be very nice listening on the Noz. A tad scientific in locations, maybe, with some occasional string sections sounding a bit skinny in opposition to the loud zips and zaps of battle, however on the entire I felt it struck stability between the highs and the lows.
That stated, the Noz is certainly higher suited to some games than others. In Doom, for instance, the dearth of heat I detected in Final Fantasy XV actually got here to the fore right here, and every little thing from the game’s bass-heavy soundtrack to the pump and increase of the Super Shotgun simply sounded very tinny and missing in affect. No one desires weedy-sounding weapons in a game like Doom, particularly when a part of the enjoyable is tied to the particular noise and grunt of your arsenal. The Noz isn’t suitable with Roccat’s Swarm software program both, so you’ll be able to’t tinker with its equalizer settings to try to emphasise the bass a bit extra for particular person games.
It’s disappointing the Noz isn’t a bit extra versatile, as its removable microphone additionally scored extremely on the previous readability scale. There was a noticeable little bit of background hiss after I recorded myself speaking in Audacity, however the remainder of my speech got here by means of loud and clear and not using a single little bit of pop or breathy wind fuzz. The Noz may pull double duties on consoles and cellular gadgets, too, because of its bundled 3.5mm combo adapter.
The Roccat Noz’s greatest downfall, although, is the value. While £60 / $70 isn’t extortionate on the planet of gaming headsets, it’s additionally dangerously near the vastly superior (and considered one of my best gaming headset picks) Corsair Void Pro RGB, which at present goes for £75 / $67 at time of writing (though the wi-fi model is oddly even much less within the UK proper now, going for simply £67). This is eminently extra snug than the Noz and produces a a lot hotter, richer sound throughout all kinds of games as properly.
There’s additionally the even cheaper Turtle Beach Atlas Three to contemplate as properly, if USB headsets just like the Void Pro aren’t your factor. This is at present simply £48 within the UK (though weirdly doesn’t appear to be out there within the US), and comes with a built-in bass amplifier to essentially up the ante for games and common music alike. With competitors like this, the Noz doesn’t stand an opportunity at this value. It could also be ultralight, but it surely’s merely not sufficient to compete with the gaming headset heavyweights.
