EPOS H3PRO Hybrid Wireless Headset - Review
There is no doubt that the Epos H3PRO Hybrid headphones has quite the high RRP, one that would have a fair few people questioning whether it’s worth purchasing. Having spent time with this headset, we can say that it is worth the price, but there are some things to be aware of.
Right out of the box you can see that the H3Pro has a great build quality and feels great to hold, with materials that have that premium feel, balanced with a nice matte finish on the plastic and a slight pearlescent finish, and a snug adjustable headband when enlarging to your size. Additionally, the choice of synthetic mesh is a fantastic design choice to bring a little texture, moving away from just plastics. The design of the microphone boom-arm has the same level of attention, but with it being attached to the left ear cup magnetically, it allows for it to be easily popped off and on, just in case you want to use it as a normal pair of headphones. Thankfully, EPOS have added in a magnetic cover to cover the gap where the boom arm would normally be connected.
In terms of external functions, there is the standard 3.5mm jack, one USB-C plug and power button, on the bottom of the left cup. On the right ear cup, you will find the Bluetooth button, volume dial and the active noise cancelling switch, which isn’t as impressive as some other headphones such as the Sony XM3’s ANC. The difference between its active and inactive ANC is unfortunately close to being extremely similar.
EPOS has made the headphones light enough, ensuring that it doesn’t feel like you’ve got a brick on top of your head, but balanced so that you know you’ve got headphones on without ever wondering if they’re slowly falling off. The ear cups fit easily over the ear to ensure a comfortable fit without it feeling too tight, even upon its first use. Additionally, the materials used are a soft almost suede type material that contact your ear area, with a pleather around the edges. This is definitely a welcomed choice as it lets the area surrounding the ears breathe a little better, whereas using full pleather would have retained heat and just left you sweating, which was an experience on the old PlayStation Platinum headphones. As an added bonus, the ear pads are removable and replaceable, which is a fantastic feature as they will eventually be worn down with pleather-like materials.
For those who want to customise the audio settings just a little, the EPOS Gaming Suite software gives you the ability to tweak the sound settings on the H3Pro, but unfortunately seems to only be available for PCs, and not Macs. That being said, the sound produced by these headsets out of the box have been great so far. Without any tweaking, they produce a great level of treble and higher tones, which suit times needed during multiplayer gaming sessions, and/or work calls via zoom or teams. The H3Pro had no issues with any type of muffled sounds or faint/distant communications. For a premium headset like this, they’d want to make sure hearing people’s voice audio are crystal clear. The microphone is just as clear on the other end where players or work colleagues who are listening in have a full and clear audio listening experience, making these headphones not only for gaming specific, but also usable during work calls and meetings.
To close out the trifecta in audio sound, the generic settings cover most genres of music due to the higher levels of treble, as previously stated. And though it’s not perfect due to the slight lack of deep bass, one can assume that this could be adjusted via the Gaming Suite software. Lastly, sound bleeding isn’t much of an issue. The ear cups tend to hold in a lot of audio sound so it isn’t too much to worry about if you’re listening to tunes on public transport. And though it’s still not 100%, you’d have to turn your volume ridiculously loud before fellow commuters feel annoyed.
One thing that differentiates the H3Pro as a gaming headset compared to normal headphones, apart from the mic, is the lack of carry case and the ability to fold it into a compact travel size. Most headphones used for music are somewhat foldable to be placed in some sort of travel case, or even a little drawstring bag from my experience (see Sony XM3). The H3Pro headphones are made more for home gaming as stated on the actual packaging itself but has the bonus of being used as music headphones without having the gamer look, due to the removable magnetic mic boom-arm. EPOS have made a solid and premium feeling pair of headphones that fit comfortably without feeling too heavy, with all the features such as Bluetooth, wireless, connection via 3.5mm and ANC. And though it still may not be perfect as its Active Noise Cancelling feature makes very little difference from my use experience, the comforts and contour of the ear cups are enough to block out most of the surrounding noise anyways.
The lack of music control such as play, pause, next and previous only solidifies that these headphones are primarily for gaming. The RRP price point is definitely on the steep side of things, however these are definitely a good pair of headphones you’ll want to grab if you have the funds to splurge and are a gamer that would want to use them outside of the gaming activities as well.
The Score
8.0
Review unit provided by EPOS
The Pros
+Premium build quality and materials, adding to its comfortable fit
+Good generic ‘out of the box’ audio setting
+Great mixture of audio for gaming, work meetings, and music
The Cons
-EPOS Gaming Suite software is currently only available on Windows devices
-No carry case or bag, reinforcing it being a home gaming headset
-RRP is on the pricey side
