Testing Methodology
For testing we will be testing on a PC . We will be examining the headsets performance in Music, Movies, and PC games.
Before running these tests, the headphones were properly burned-in, in order to bring out the full characteristics of the sound. This is done in order to allow the speakers in the headphones to burn-in since they often sound different out of the box, than when you burn them in for 20-50hrs. After the burn-in period, all tests were conducted.
So let us continue to the good stuff!
Music
Music testing is done with the 7H being driven by an Asus Xonar DX sound card, all music is formatted in FLAC at 256kbs bitrate. Different music albums were used in order to get a feel for how the set would perform on different music genres. This same testing methodology is used across all headset reviews as to not give discrepancies across different types of music/ artists.
The first album I used was Aly & Fila – Rising sun which is a Trance/ Techno album. Compared to the last Steelseries headset, this one completely blows it out of the water. Sounds are much more crisp and even across the board on this particular, but.Mids and Highs are a little muddy. Bass is present but not overwhelming, it gives a little punch but doesn’t give you the feeling that there is too much.I must say however that with the Highs lacking a bit, if there are lots of female vocals in particular the flaws show up a bit more and sound comes out too flat. Compared to my Sennhesiser HD555 set, they just aren’t quite there but are much closer than any other Steelseries offering to a full-fledged audiophile headset.
Next up is the Folk album Bring Me your Love by City & Colour. This album is used in order to give a good sense of the mids and highs, as well as some input on the finer details in guitar chords and other sounds.Once again, the flatness of the highs pokes out quite often. Although it isn’t too bad, it is something you notice quickly. Aside from that, small details will stand out strongly if you listen to them. Individual guitar chords come in crisp and clear, vocals are quite clean as well. Not much muddy sound at all in this particular album, everything is pretty crisp and the soundstage is good all around.
For the next album/ genre there was a nice change of pace and we took a look at the punk album Full Circle by Pennywise. I have to say that this album does not sound very good with these headphones. Everything across the board was somewhat muddy and not very clear. I must say that various types of rock and metal music sounded fine though, so dont worry if punk isn’t your thing.
Finally we took a look at the Rap album K.O.D. by Tech N9ne. Overall, this album sounded pretty good. Lows could have been a little less punchy and muddy though, I felt an actual punchy sound from the speakers during some songs. Mids and Highs were pretty good, small details were easily noticed if you pay attention. If you like to turn up your headphones and jam out these might not be the best since the base kind of hurts at higher levels.
Movies/ Video
Lots of people use their headphones when they watch movies or their favorite TV shows. Testing is done by watching Blue-Ray rips of the following series at 720p or 1080p on the VLC media player.
Life-
This BBC/ Discovery channel is simply stunning visually and audio-wise. Everything comes in very clear through these headphones. Little tiny details come in nice and crisp, from the soft splashing of waves from fish, to the running of ants feet you can hear everything in great detail. Even at higher volumes they were still clear, but once you got to a certain point they became muddy and unclear. So it might be a good idea to keep these cans at low-medium volumes.
Band of Brothers –
Being quite an amazing series, Band of Brothers was a perfect fit for a war experience. Explosions boom with a realistic sound that echoes in your ears, footsteps are crisp and clear especially in snow. The sound of dirt hitting the ground can be noticed distinctly as well which shows the great detail of the speakers used in these cans. War scenes give a chill down your spine due to the realistic nature of the sound, even when not watching the actual video it is easy to have a mental picture of what is happening. Something not all headphones can say.
Now let us move on to what Steelseries has made its name in, gaming performance.
