At the end of April, EPOS launched two new colors for the H3PRO hybrid headphones. Promote connectivity with game consoles, PCs and mobile devices; Active Noise Cancellation (ACN); and more. EPOS has kindly offered me a pair of the new Racing Green headphones and I have been trying them out in the last month or so. Even though they sent it to me, all thoughts below are mine.
First, let’s talk about the things that didn’t impress me. For starters, when used wirelessly (and sometimes wired via USB), there is often a delay when a sound source starts, meaning you miss the first two seconds of audio. I had it while using various apps, during Zoom calls, etc. In most daily life, it’s not necessarily a headache, but it was frustrating and in some cases I had to change the configuration of the headphones for specific tasks. Also, EPOS Gaming Suite is very bland and I didn’t find it the most user-friendly experience. Another thing that bothered me was that I was holding the power button, here the high-pitched sound of the ACN, but unless it said “Power On” it would turn off after about a second so I have to hold it down and make sure that I waited until I heard “Power on”. It’s a smile complaint, but a complaint. The last complaint I’ll mention is that the Bluetooth button doubles as a Smart button, but you can only set it to turn on surround sound or cycle through presets. I would have liked it if I could have used it as a play / pause button for when listening to music or watching videos.
Something I was excited about was ACN. I’ve never had headphones with that feature before. My experience has been that activating EPOS blocked a lot of noise. However, it created what I call a tunnel background sound. The ACN switch essentially just adjusted things to remove that tunnel sound. This adds a bit of clarity to everything you’re hearing and it’s one of those features that once you get used to it, you’ll notice, but if you haven’t used it before you won’t notice a big difference for a while. Overall, it’s still a positive point for EPO.
The sound quality of the headphones is also really good, and if the software works correctly, the equalization capabilities are simple but enjoyable. That said, I’m not particularly impressed with the 7.1 surround sound aspect. It’s decent, but I felt like it was on par with Logitech’s G Hub with my G430 headphones costing a lot less. As for the microphone, I asked people how I sounded in a few weekly gaming sessions and they said I sounded about the same as when I was using the Samson Q9U. I went ahead and recorded some samples from my Logitech C270 webcam, Logitech G430 headphones, Samson Q9U, and EPOS H3PRO Hybrid so you can be the judge. I used Audacity to set the peak width to 0dB for each recording with the following settings: C270 + 3.577dB, G430 + 4.802dB, Q9U + 26.561dB, H3PRO (no voice enhancement) + 13.098dB, H3PRO (voice enhancement warm voice) + 11.505dB, H3PRO (clear voice enhancement) + 9.963dB. (Please note that for some reason there is a lot of hissing from the Samson Q9U).
One aspect I loved about EPOS is the out-of-the-box experience. It came with everything I needed: the headset, a USB dongle, a USB-C cable, an aux cable, a quick start guide which I think could have been a little clearer, and a little cap you can put in place microphone for a nice look just for headphones. The microphone attaches via magnets very smoothly and when you don’t want to use it, you can take it off and wear this hood for a stylish look.
Battery life is pretty good and they charge pretty fast. When you turn on the headphones they will give you an approximation of the percentage of charge left. This is nice though and the voice speaking when you plug them in can be quite loud.
Here’s a quick rundown of other features. On the right side, you can adjust the volume with a nice dial. Easily connects to my Xbox Series S, Nintendo Switch, PC, phone and tablet. The Xbox connection worked great by connecting to the controller via the included aux cable. The others were via Bluetooth or USB dongle (for my PC only). I’ve been having trouble connecting my laptop via Bluetooth, but I’m not sure if it’s because it’s Windows 11 or if there was something else causing the connection issues.
Overall, the EPOS H3PRO Hybrid is a very solid headset. It looks and feels great. The sound is good and I’m even willing to bet that some of my problems with the software were user errors. I use these headphones for most things now and if I don’t like using Immerse Gaming (the H3PRO is not supported at the moment) for my surround sound needs for PC gaming, I would probably use them for PC gaming as well . They’re currently available for $ 279 in black, green, or white and that’s where I’m a little less confident. It’s a solid headset, but I’m not entirely convinced it’s worth the price. Of course, I’ve never used headphones with such a price tag before, so I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. If you have the money, this is a solid headset regardless and I can confidently give it a thumbs up.
by Tommy Williams
Source: Geek Tyrant
