If you take gaming seriously you understand that for you to be able to perform at your best you need an adequate setup. That means you need a good mousepad, a good mouse, a fast monitor, and finally, you need good headphones that will guide you well through your games.
If you have researched the gaming headset market you most definitely have heard of the legendary Sennheiser PC37X headphones or some variations of the same model (Game One, Game Zero, etc).
There are many causes for the popularity of this specific headset, and today after using them daily for 3 years, I am here to give you the exact reasons why these headphones will most likely stay on my table until they break down beyond repair.
The biggest reason for you to purchase the Sennheiser’s PC37X is their sound. You know Sennheiser does not mess around when it comes to quality sound and the PC37X’s deliver above and beyond what you would normally expect from a 120$ headset.
Image Source: Massdrop
The headset is open back therefore it has a wide soundstage with crisp highs and clear low frequencies. You will never hear any muddy base, and in games like CS:GO or Valorant where you need to pinpoint people’s locations through sound, because of the aforementioned wide sound-stage, it will feel like you always know exactly where people are.
Speaking in more technical terms, the Sennheiser PC37X headset sports an over-the-ear design with a frequency response of 15–28,000 Hz. The impedance is 50 Ω with a sound pressure level of 116 dB.
If all these numbers tell you nothing then once again in simple terms Sennheiser PC37X sounds phenomenal with a very balanced sound where no frequency gets drowned out. This will not be your usual experience with “gamery” headsets that have overly emphasized bass that booms in your ears.
Once you get used to how balanced and open the sound feels on the Sennheiser PC37X’s you won’t be able to go back to anything less than this.
The second aspect that makes the Sennheiser PC37X headset so appealing to the gamer community is the microphone quality. This headset has been reviewed many times and everybody has arrived at the same conclusion: the PC37X offers the best sounding microphone quality if you do not have a standalone mic already.
Image Source: Massdrop
This claim can be proven by looking at the sheer amount of streamers and pro players (especially in the CS:GO scene) that use the included headset mic on the PC37X to stream.
Once again in more technical terms, the microphone on the PC37X has a frequency response of 50–16,000 Hz and a sensitivity of -38 dBV/PA. The pick-up pattern is noise-canceling which is what makes the mic so universal in its use.
Overall the microphone capsule used in the PC37X headset is one of the best without a shadow of a doubt, and to outdo its performance, you would need a standalone mic altogether!
The Sennheiser PC37X headset is rather simple when it comes to the materials used. Everything is constructed out of hard black plastic and it comes equipped with velour pads and a velour headband cushion.
Initially, this design decision was weird to me since it makes the headset look very industrial and muted, but after 3 years of use, I understand why Sennheiser and Massdrop built this specific model like this.
The headset is simply put built like a tank. Although it is made out of plastic, it never felt cheap, moreover, it feels sturdy and flexible overall. My pair of PC37X’s look like they have been through war, but every time I put them on, they feel and sound the same as on the very first day I got them.
So what can I say about the build quality? If you want a headset that will simply not die for many many years, this is your best shot!
Although being extremely simple, the Sennheiser PC37X headset comes with a couple of neat tricks hidden up its sleeve. The most important one is probably the ability to pull up the microphone on the headset to mute it.
This might feel like an understated feature but I think that this implementation of muting your microphone is simply splendid. You have an audible click noise once the microphone is muted and visually you can tell that the microphone is not in front of your mouth.
This gives you confidence that the mic is 100% muted so you can have your private conversations with ease.
The second neat feature is the hardware volume knob on the side of the headset. This is once again an understated feature that works extremely well. I can’t count how many times I was playing something and when somebody walked into the room all I had to do is turn down the headset volume and talk to them.
Image Source: Massdrop
This is obviously also possible because of the open back design, but overall this is such a freeing experience that I have come to love and appreciate.
The last hidden feature is the fact that the headset cable on the Sennheiser PC37X is removable.
Honestly, I do not often plug them out, but in case the cable is the first one to give out, all you have to do is order another cable from Sennheiser and you are good to go.
Image Source: Massdrop
A hidden downside here is the fact that the headset does NOT use a standard 3.5mm jack and instead uses a proprietary Sennheiser sizing. This is a small deterrent to purchasing the headset if you have your own custom 3.5mm cables, but overall this should not be a big issue.
The greatest thing about the Sennheiser PC37X headset is that it does not need any software! You plug them in and that’s it – you have great sound, great mic quality and it took you exactly 0 seconds of setup time.
I can understand people’s concerns about no software but honestly, the PC37X’s are well-tuned out of the box and have a very good sound signature. Moreover, if you are really upset about how they sound, usually audio drivers like the Realtek ones come with equalizer software which can help you tune your headset a bit.
The quick conclusion here is: software bad – PC37X good.
The Sennheiser PC37X headset is simply a phenomenal deal for the price of 120$. Usually to achieve this type of performance and sound quality you would have to pay a lot more, but fortunately, the collaboration with Massdrop gave us gamers an awesome deal.
If I had to choose one gaming headset to recommend to all gamers around the world this would be it! Long live Sennheiser and Massdrop!
The Sennheiser PC37X headset is simply put one of, if not the best options for gamers that want good quality sound, and a superb quality mic for a decent price. It is not a surprise to see Sennheiser produce such a good piece of audio technology, what is surprising though is how well it lasts over time, being able to produce the same clean sounds even 3 years later!