Steel Series 9H Gaming Headset. Brilliant Audio For Gamers

Andy Mossack reviews the Steel Series 9H Gaming Headset

If you are the type of person who simply yearns for a great gaming experience you need to have a couple of important things in tow. A top of the range graphics card, and a headset that’s meaty enough to deliver an in-game audio experience which matches the stunning visuals top games are capable of generating. The Steel Series 9H gaming headset will certainly take care of one of those two requirements, its rugged design and outstanding noise cancellation capabilities the stand out features for me.

For over a decade, Steel Series has built an enviable reputation for building quality gaming peripherals. Perhaps inspired by the legacy of Danish design innovation, what started out as a couple of Danish gamers designing a innovative glass mouse mat has ended up a global beast firmly entrenched in high end gaming products and worth over $50m.

So does the Steel Series 9H gaming headset live up to gaming headset match up to the Steel Series reputation?

A very positive start was the double braided nylon cord cable emanating from one of the memory foam padded ear cups, a durable non tangle solution to the spaghetti mess that befalls so many headphones. Speaking of memory foam, I welcomingly found some more sitting under the head band, so all this foam padding ensured the phones sat very snugly and all this extra padding added to the excellent noise cancelling effect.

The good start was built upon with a neat and flexible uni directional microphone stalk that simply pulls out from the left cup to use and tidily retracts when you don’t need it.

So, all good so far then.

The Steel Series 9H gaming headset proudly champions the additional USB sound card that comes supplied, which when combined with the additional Steel Series Engine 3 software offers a suite of extra sound enhancers such as Dolby surround sound, an equalizer and various sonic presets for specific games. In reality, the standard setting is not going to make you jump out of your seat, but tinkle with the equalizer software and you’ll soon notice the built in sound drivers doing their stuff. The sound card also allows for firmware downloads and indeed my installation gratefully accepted a firmware update almost immediately.

The beating heart of the Steel Series 9H gaming headset is without doubt the noise isolation. There is no doubt all that added memory foam padding combined with another sealed internal enclosure at the back of each speaker labelled “double enclosure technology” by Steel Series delivers an excellent isolation effect. Whilst the headset itself may not be DJ quality as far as using it for music, although I found it perfectly adequate, it is designed directly for gaming.

“Tournament quality design and competition grade audio” is what the Steel Series 9H gaming headset marquee shouts, and for me it is a brilliant quality addition to a gamers arsenal. Plug it in and go get ’em.