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Methodology
Testing the Sennheiser GSP 300 involves using it as my main headset for a period of no less than one week. During that time I listened to several hours of music from varied genres, as well as used it to play a number of games with different soundtracks and audio effects. It was also used in several different VOIP scenarios, to test its microphone quality and ability to differentiate audio sources on the fly.
Gaming
Although a lot of gaming headsets like to cover their insecurities with a bass heavy sound that sounds great when you are blowing your friends up, but can fall down in more atmospheric games, I did not find that the case with the Sennheiser GSP 300. It has a lovely, clear sound, which really lets you differentiate different parts of the mix – whether you are shooting a rocket launcher at your feet, or exploring a tranquil ocean.
To give this headset a thorough testing I ran it through its paces in first person shooters, in explorative puzzlers, meditative walking simulators and fast paced strategy titles. I ran the deserted office buildings of Inside, I conquered armies in Age of Empires and explored the terrifying depths of Subnautica all while paying keen attention to just how good this headset sounds. Gladly, I can report it does not disappoint.
Gunning down zombies in Left 4 Dead is really punchy, but equally so nothing ever feels drowned out by the mix. Just because you are laying waste to a heap of undead in front of you, does not mean you cannot hear your friend's call for aid off to your left. Likewise when you hit a certain, shall we say, accoustic section of Inside, you hear it coming a mile off, but very firmly in the ear as you would expect.
Of course, this is no virtual or real surround sound headset, so you cannot expect much far forward or behind audio, but the headset does a decent enough job of placing sounds in a 3D space.
If I were to say that the GSP 300 has a strength, it would be in those quieter, more subtle mixes, rather than the bombastic. This is a headset that sounds good in most settings, but if you give it some breathing room it does feel the most well equipped there.
If I had one complaint it is that it does feel like it lacks a little volume for the big heavy hitting moments in some games, but that is likely something that you will only notice now and again and if you really want to disassociate from the world around you.
Music
As much as a great headset can make gaming that much better, audio is just one part of the mixture of factors that go into making for an enjoyable gaming experience. In comparison, music being entirely auditory means that your enjoyment of it lives and dies with the quality of the output. While that is dependant on the input digital file as much as the headset itself, we always make sure to use as high-quality tracks as we can for testing purposes.
Although not the best musical headset I have listened to in my tenure of testing different hardware here at KitGuru, the Sennheiser GSP 300 does a pretty bang up job. It has a really strong breadth of frequencies. At the bottom end, the bass can be ultra deep and rumbly, or punchy and chest thumping as required. The highs are well represented too and the whole mix has a clarity that is maintained throughout the volume range, which means whether you have it cranked or whisper quiet, you will get the same great audio experience.
If there was one part of the mix which is not quite as full as the others, it is the mids. They do not fall off the map, but could do with being a little bit punchier if this reviewer had his way.
This is where normally software tweaks could even it out, but Sennheiser's GSP 300 does not have its own suite of tools. If your sound card has its own system, you are all good to go, but it seems a shame Sennheiser would not have its own settings for tweaking things perfectly for its hardware.
Again, I feel like this headset could do with some extra volume. I do not need a headset to make my ears bleed if I even approach the upper volume settings, but I found myself reaching for the knob only to find it maxed out more than once during my week-plus of testing. It is loud enough for general playing, but for those of you that often look to turn things up to 11, this headset will likely leave you disappointed.
Comfort
The Sennheiser GSP 300 is very comfortable. The padding on the headband and ear cups is good for long periods of use and I did not find my head unduly overheating – though this is not the time of year where that is common place.
One area of complaint I did have though was the shaping of the ear cups. They are designed as over the ear cups and feature ear-shaped padding. That works very well if you get the fit just right, but in some cases I had some ear ache (as in the cartilage) after a few hours of use because one ear cup was sat partly on the ear instead.
Maybe I just have big ears, but I would like to see a slightly larger earcup opening in future versions.
Microphone
While I really liked the function for muting the microphone by lifting the boom arm up, that is where my praise for the GSP 300's microphone ends. It is extremely quiet unless the mic is very, very close to your mouth, so you will have to bend it into position. This was at the defaulted 100 mic-volume in Windows settings too, which also meant a lot of background hissing.
Dropping it down to 80 fixed that, leaving a very clear, but still incredibly quiet voice. It was almost inaudible to most listeners. I had the same experience myself with the Windows Sound Recorder. Very poor.
Although not configurable, this headset does have built in noise cancelling, so it may be that it is just overzealous on this headset. This is something we have seen with other designs before, so while not necessarily surprising, it is a shame.
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