When a £300 / $350 gaming headset just like the Sennheiser GSP 670 arrives on my desk, I count on breathtaking audio that blasts the waxy cobwebs clear out of my ear canal. I would like, nay, demand perfection at this finish of the audio spectrum, largely so I will help really feel justified in myself for spending such an obscene amount of cash on a pair of headphones. I do know this type of price is however a drop within the ocean for true audiophiles, a lot of whom fortunately spend upwards of a grand on their chosen little bit of audio tools (belief me, I used to check sound bars for a residing), however in gaming territory, that’s the type of cash I might use to purchase a complete new CPU and motherboard, or an upmarket graphics card. It’s a major chunk of change, however I’m simply unsure the GSP 670 does sufficient to steer me to fortunately half with 300 massive ones.
Don’t get me mistaken. The GSP 670 is a great-sounding headset. Its massive, leatherette ear cups present incredible noise insulation from ambient workplace sounds, for instance, and that sensation of being cut-off from the world round you actually allows you to hear your music with none whirring or clacking distractions out of your PC and keyboard.
Its audio can be crystal clear and completely balanced, dealing with the pumping soundtrack of Doom simply as deftly as the fragile orchestrations of Final Fantasy XV. However, as a lot as I like a pleasant, even keeled soundscape, even the GSP 670 felt a bit too restrained for my tastes, as if it had been consistently holding itself again as a substitute of actually letting rip and getting down into the nitty gritty.
In Doom, as an illustration, every little thing from the game’s bassy battle music to its hoary demon screeches felt in good alignment. Not as soon as did the backing music really feel prefer it was overpowering the motion taking part in out onscreen, and every gun had a stunning sense of heft and weight to them. Well, virtually all of them. The Super Shotgun, my favorite and stalwart audio testing companion, sounded a bit underwhelming to my ears, as if I wasn’t actually listening to the total brunt of its double-barrelled brilliance.
I observed an identical factor once I got here to make use of the GSP 670 as an everyday music headset, too. The sense of readability it may ship is fabulous, however the bass sections of sure rock tracks additionally felt a contact timid in comparison with different headsets I’ve examined up to now – virtually prefer it was afraid of waking the neighbours if it dared to let its hair down.
This bizarre type of aural reticence manifested in different methods, too. In Hellblade, for instance, I observed the game’s normally ominous and eerie strings sounded a tad muted in opposition to the swirl of voices whispering and snickering inside Senua’s head, and smaller particulars such because the dripping water from her wood paddle and the cracking thunder overhead didn’t come by way of as a lot. It nonetheless produced a stunning, immersive sound total, however it by no means actually blew me away as I’d count on a £300 / $350 headset ought to.
The identical goes for Final Fantasy XV. The orchestral music accompanying Noctis and co’s boyband jaunts sounded nice as I marched them up and down the hills of Duscae, and I used to be in a position to hear every little thing loud and clear even in busy battles. But it additionally sounded, nicely, identical to it usually does. There was nothing particular about it. No additional heat, no additional glowing element or nuance. Nothing. Everything simply sounded prefer it’s all the time completed, and that’s probably not what I would like from one thing that’s so loopy costly.
The GSP 670 does, admittedly, have 4 completely different audio profiles to select from in the event you faucet the little flat button on the correct hand ear cup, however even these didn’t assist repair the issues I’ve simply described. The Music profile did give common music tracks a bit extra oomph, fact be informed, however neither that, Movie or its horribly ethereal Esports mode delivered the products when it got here to restoring Doom’s Super Shotgun to full, gut-busting energy.
There had been different niggles I had with it as nicely. Sennheiser declare the GSP 670 is supposed to have a 10m wi-fi vary, as an illustration, however even transferring 2m away from my PC to go and kind one thing on my laptop computer began to make the sign go all wonky – and that’s simply with a wood desk sitting between my headset and its USB dongle.
Its battery life additionally isn’t nearly as good because the equally priced Steelseries Arctis Pro Wireless, the much more costly cousin of my final best gaming headset, the Steelseries Arctis Pro + GameDAC. While the GSP 670 is rated to final round 16 hours over wi-fi and 20 hours over Bluetooth (though, just like the Arctis Pro Wireless, you possibly can solely use this for taking calls out of your cellular, not listening to music), the Arctis can do 20 hours straight off the bat. Yes, these 20 hours is likely to be cut up throughout its two separate batteries, however when a type of batteries is all the time being consistently charged inside its bundled DAC, it means you by no means have to achieve for a charging cable and put up with being tethered for a bit such as you do with the GSP 670 – even when its fast-charging USB port does imply you will get two hours use from it after simply seven minutes plugged in.
The GSP 670 can also’t compete with the Arctis on total consolation. I do know I’m significantly fussy about this facet of a gaming headset, however evidently, I’d be royally miffed if I spent £300 on a headset that began pinching my head after an hour. The sliding stress controls did assist ease the ache considerably once I relaxed them fully (on their tightest setting I barely managed half an hour), however it nonetheless can’t beat the supreme weightlessness of its Arctis rival.
Also, simply take a look at the scale of this factor. I’ve stated this about different Sennheiser headsets up to now, however I’m actually not a fan of their overly chunky design. It definitely doesn’t appear like a £300 headset, nor does the abundance of plastic make it really feel like one both. The big microphone’s a little bit of a beast as nicely. It’s a flip-down job, albeit with no useful noise or beep to let you know it’s dwell or not, and whereas I used to be impressed with its zero tolerance for background hiss and breathy wind pops, my voice additionally sounded noticeably synthetic once I listened again to a recording I made from myself speaking in Audacity. I attempted altering the tone of the mic within the GSP 670’s Sennheiser Gaming Suite software program, however neither the Warm or Clear profiles appeared to make a lot distinction.
That stated, I did respect its devoted chat quantity wheel on the correct hand ear cup, permitting me to tune out the heinous cries of horrible kids in on-line multiplayer games. I additionally breathed a sigh of aid when I discovered the sidetone setting within the Sennheiser Gaming Suite, because it meant I might lastly hear myself discuss from contained in the GSP 670’s extremely well-insulated ear cups. I used to be much less keen on the 7.1 encompass sound button, if solely as a result of that additionally fully nuked the sound high quality when taking part in games, however it’s going to in all probability be extra helpful in the event you’re utilizing it to observe movies that truly help it – supplied it doesn’t offer you a headache midway by way of watching one, in fact.
Overall, although, if I did someway find yourself with £300 / $350 to place towards a gaming headset, I don’t suppose I’d spend it on the Sennheiser GSP 670. As I discussed above, its sound is actually superb more often than not, if a bit restrained and too uptight for its personal good, however it additionally lacked that particular one thing to make it actually stand out as a top-end headset. Plus, when it prices precisely the identical because the infinitely extra snug and handy Arctis Pro Wireless, there’s actually no contest. The Sennheiser GSP 670 is nice, sure, however perfection it isn’t.
