Steelsound 5H V2

Steelsound are the other half of SoftTrading that also make mouse pads and now gaming headsets. The successful line of Steelpads are joined by the Steelsound 5H V2 headset, a successor to the original 5H headset that went through major quality control issues resulting in a recall of this headset. During its global recall, Steel replaced faulty headsets with new ones even offering free mouse pads as a kind gesture to unhappy customers. The V2 is said to be an enhanced 5H with greater comfort, durability and enhanced microphone. Hopefully the engineers at Steel have set things straight.

On first handling the 5H V2 it impresses with its build quality and construction. The 5H V2 feels very sturdy and well built. Twisted in a few different positions and it didn’t seem to have any squeaking or feel like it was taken to the point of snapping. The cable is quite thin but it is weaved in cloth and feels durable, the extension cable is also built with the same materials.

The headset isn’t very flashy looking, though the matte finish is pretty nice, and conservative, not screaming for attention like say, the Siberias. The sturdy headband with Steelsound 5H V2 printed on, coupled with the soft to touch headband and ear pads leave you anticipating to put them on.

Click to enlarge: Nice matte black finish

This headset retails for USD$99 (approximately AUD$129, accurate at time of writing) at the Steelseries Online Shop. Detailed specifications for the headset as found on the Steelseries website:

Headphones
Frequency response: 16 - 28.000 Hz
Impedance: 40 Ohm
SPL@ 1kHz, 1 Vrms: 110 dB
Cable length: 1 + 2 = 3 meters (10 feet)
Connectors: 3.5 mm

Microphone
Frequency response: 75 - 16.000 Hz
Pick up pattern: Uni-directional
Sensitivity: -38dB
Impedance: 2k Ohm

Sound quality

Like the original 5H the ear cups of the 5H V2 are a closed back design. This provides isolation from outside noise, and the 5H V2 did an acceptable job of this. People can still be heard when talking around you, but softer background noises are more or less silenced.

Click to enlarge: Closed design

What’s immediately noticed when hearing these headphones for the first time is that they are very treble focused. I wasn’t sure if this was a faulty pair because the treble was very very pronounced. I asked a colleague how his pair sounded and he noted the same thing. A quick look at the Steelseries website notes that they’ve been optimised with specific gaming oriented frequencies. This is probably so that subtle noises such as footsteps and the sound of a weapon being picked up in games such as counter-strike are heard more clearly. In practice, this worked very well and in-game the emphasis on treble isn’t noticed quite so much, but it was definitely still there.

The fact that the 5H V2s give an unnatural advantage in-game is great. However, just one problem… this makes the 5H V2 almost useless for any other application. After only a few seconds of listening to music with the headset the exaggerated treble simply became unbearable. Different music ranging from rock, classical and rap all suffer the same fate. The 5H V2 is strictly a gaming headset.

As mentioned above the sound quality of the 5H V2 in-game is phenomenal. The positional audio on this headset is surprisingly good, despite being closed which generally results in poorer soundstage. Far away AWP shots and bomb drops could be heard, the bass is actually not too bad when it kicks in either, but the extreme treble and relative lack of mid-range makes this headset quite impractical for use out-of-game. If you have another pair of headphones those should be used for music.

The volume control on the 5H V2 unfortunately is not as nice as that found on the Siberia. Crackling happens along several different points of the volume spectrum and like the Siberia the sound is a little unbalanced on the lower volume, but eventually evens out.

Comfort

The Steelsound 5H V2 is a very comfortable headset to wear. The ear cups are lined with felt and lushly cushioned and are very gentle on your head. They are circum-aural and the 5H V2s actually do completely cover the ear. The cups are deep and the ears rarely touch the inside of the headphone. The upper headband is generously cushioned and is covered in plastic leather.

Click to enlarge: Soft, deep cushions

The headband exerts pressure evenly and has just enough to keep the headset from sliding around, otherwise there was little pressure and long use of this headset shouldn’t pose a big problem. It isn’t self adjusting like a few other headsets in this round-up, though the size adjustment notches feel like they could lose their click after prolonged use.

Click to enlarge: Notched head band adjustment

The only gripe with comfort may be getting sweaty ears if the headset is to be used in a warmer environment. The 5H V2 due to being closed don’t let much airflow in and may result in discomfort over long gaming sessions when ambient temperatures start to heat up. Thankfully cloth is much more bearable than plastic leather on the ears for prolonged use.

Gamer features/practicality

The 5H V2’s new microphone is a welcome upgrade. The microphone now reaches all the way around to the front of the face and has no problem of rotating in its place to point straight to the mouth, as a result pickup is excellent. Because the microphone is agile and easily tucked away there is little chance of losing or breaking it.

Click to enlarge: Far-reaching retractable microphone

So far the 5H V2 has appeared to be a strictly gaming headset, and this shows as the in-line volume control cannot be removed from the headset. It is attached to the headphone end of the cable and due to the microphone being built into the headpiece; has a very simple cable system. 1metre attached to the headphone (containing both headphone and microphone wires) and a 2metre extension. Easy, smart and even less tangle. The in-line volume control also has a clip so that it can be clipped on to a shirt or pocket, or be used as a tie clip if you wish to look your smartest at LANs =)

Click to enlarge: In-line volume control

The main feature that sets the 5H V2’s gaming oriented features apart from other headsets is its collapsible design. As noted in the introduction, the 5H V2 feels very durable. It doesn’t appear to have any flex or weak points. It came as quite a surprise then that it is possible to quickly disassemble the headset into 3 separate pieces – the headband and the 2 separate ear cups. This makes the 5H V2 ideal for taking to LANs in small bags and each of the 3 pieces with the microphone tucked away has no weak spots to break, this is an excellent piece of design and great idea for travelling gamers.

Click to enlarge: In 3 pieces