With the SteelSeries 7H headset being designed for gaming its only fair that we observe its performance in the gaming environment. Although it is primarily a gaming peripheral, we all like to indulge in music and movies from time to time. Those thinking about purchasing the 7H would surely like me to report on these applications too. So bearing all these aspects in mind - gaming, music and movies will be considered to give a decent and profound assumption of the performance of our headset today.

Its good practise to compare the headset in question against other solutions too, so I will be testing the 7H headset along with the Creative X-Fi Fatal1ty as well as the SteelSeries Siberia V2. Both are well recognised and leading gaming peripherals. It's also important to keep the testing on a fair plane, so for the purpose of this examination audio will be provided via the 5.1 onboard solution found on the ASUS Rampage III Formula.

Gaming

Gaming headsets are generally designed with FPS (First Person Shooter) gamers in mind. So the following games were loaded up for some hardcore FPS gaming sessions.

Call of Duty Black Ops
Battlefield Bad Company 2

Both are extremely popular titles and feature not only intense visual action but also strong, pulsating audio tones from explosions, gunfire and other audio effects. Both titles were played at 2 hours a piece.

Comparing to the other headsets, the 7H offers similar performance to that of the Siberia V2. Tones are noticeably richer though. Noise is picked up in the exact direction it is found, explosions, gunfire, footsteps, vehicle noise feel very atmospheric. Locating noise from the enemy is extremely important if you want to come out on top, the 7H does a cracking job at pinpointing sound from other players.

As SteelsSeries claim - low, mid and high tones are a conspicuous of the 7H. Picking out each individual sound can sometimes be a difficult task with other solutions but I found the 7H to be a worthy contender. On the audio side of things in-game the 7H is a superb audio solution.

NOTE: I did test the microphone out and found it to be very clear, crisp and precise.

Music & Movies

For this series of tests. I played the following tracks which offer a vast range of audio tones and also watched a short action scene of Clash of the Titans on Blu-Ray.

The Naked and the Famous - Punching in a dream
Milk Inc. - In My eyes
Linkin Park - Waiting for the End

Nothing holds me back from saying that again the 7H does not disappoint. It's ability to deal with a variety of different genres of music and indeed HD movies is very pleasing. The only remark I would say is that the bass tones could be tweaked slightly. Bass is something that I thrive on, whilst there isn't a significant reduction in bass when compared to the other headsets mentioned above, it could be enhanced a little. I say this for those perhaps with onboard sound. I have various soundcards that I can use to enhance the bass boost so this isn't particularly any concern.

Comfort

With a choice between two different cushions its fair to say that the 7H gives you an option that many headsets don't even offer. Personally I prefer the leather memory-foam ear-cushions. Even after an hour of gameplay they don't irritate the ear. The entire headset is fairly light unlike previous headsets I have reviewed such as the Psyko 5.1. Combing a lightweight solution with extremely comfortable materials means you hardly notice you are wearing the 7H.