Alienware Pro Wireless Headset Review: Old School Sound Cannons

Like each of Alienware’s caller products, specified arsenic the Dell-owned gaming brand’s Aurora PCs and astir recent laptops, the $230 Alienware Pro Wireless Headset says nary to UFO, bearing a much modern aesthetic you spot connected practically immoderate different brace of cans. They’re a joyousness to wear, and games seldom dependable arsenic bully arsenic they bash nether these cups. And yet, I wonderment if Alienware has taken excessively galore cues from the past with this release, and not conscionable due to the fact that it looks similar each different headset you tin bargain today.

Cast your eyes backmost to Alienwares’s Tri-Mode A2930H gaming headsets with earmuffs that look similar chopper landing gear, and you’ll get a wide thought of however overmuch this plan has changed. How overmuch you’ll miss the weirdness depends connected however agelong you’ve been with Alienware and whether you crave thing genuinely unique.

The redesign looks sleek, and much importantly, it feels large clamped astir my head. Still, determination was a benignant of anarchy to the aged mothership plan connection that I miss, if thing other than successful the abstract.

The much you usage the Alienware Pro headset, the much you recognize this instrumentality is designed ne'er to permission your gaming den. Its non-removable cups bash not fold in, truthful there’s nary slim packaging solution. The mic doesn’t fold oregon descent into the headphones. You unplug it and worldly it determination harmless for fearfulness of damaging it. It reminds maine of older headsets from days of yore wherever gaming was done astatine home, alone, and for hours astatine a time. That’s not however I play games anymore.

Beyond each these plan choices, a bully gaming headset boils down to 3 things: Can I deterioration it for hours without my caput feeling similar a boiled potato? Is the audio prime bully for each types of games and music? Can my friends perceive my yelps of fearfulness and (increasingly rare) cries of joy? Alienware’s latest offering does each 3 without compromise. It volition beryllium a comforting show too my gaming computer, but it surely wouldn’t beryllium my archetypal prime for gaming connected the go.

Alienware Pro Wireless Headset Review: Design and Comfort

© Photo: Kyle Barr / Gizmodo

The champion happening I could accidental astir the Alienware Pro Wireless Headset is that I forgot I had them connected aft a while. Deep into a crippled with ANC on, I could vanish into the game. The faux-leather representation foam cups and headpiece cradle the head, and the plan didn’t adhd overmuch value to my noggin, astatine conscionable 315 grams, oregon .7 pounds.

Just listening to euphony connected my PC, I felt I didn’t request immoderate abstracted brace of headphones to beryllium alongside the headset. If I were lone utilizing it for listening to euphony oregon podcasts connected a regular commute, I would beryllium happy. The happening is, I wouldn’t instrumentality the Alienware Pro Wireless retired of the house. As I mentioned, the cuffs don’t fold back. The pads aren’t removable. While the instrumentality feels sturdy with a mean push, pull, and prod accent test, I wouldn’t consciousness harmless knowing they’re sitting astatine the bottommost of a backpack without a case. It would request to beryllium a large case, astatine that. Alienware said it kept this plan to marque them much sturdy. At the precise least, the operation of aluminum and integrative feels durable.

Alienware’s over-ear headphones don’t see a telescoping oregon pullout mic. You plug the roar mic into the left-hand earcup’s 3.5mm socket. Yes, it’s bully to person a axenic headset if you’re not playing with friends, but keeping way of a abstracted mic is simply a earthy woody for idiosyncratic similar me, whose table is perpetually swamped with gear. I erstwhile ended up with the headphones successful my bag, but the mic was near successful my office. Lucky for Alienware, my RPG nighttime got canceled implicit the weekend, oregon I would beryllium acold much cross.

If you don’t expect to beryllium talking on-mic overmuch successful your gaming, past support it successful a harmless spot wherever you won’t hide it. The occupation is if you don’t privation the mic successful your tract of view, you request to region the headset and unplug it. A brace of Steelseries Arctis Nova 5 headphones consciousness acold much fragile than Alienware’s headset, but astatine $130, they’re besides acold much transportable with a telescoping microphone. That’s the tradeoff.

You tin take Bluetooth, 2.4 GHz, and wired connectivity done USB-C. There’s an further fastener for the ANC, which chimes successful with an audio cue erstwhile you power it. It was casual to link via some the USB-C dongle and Bluetooth. Just cognize that the dongle volition automatically instal Alienware Command Center connected your PC, whether you privation it oregon not.

Alienware claims the headset has a 75-hour artillery beingness with ANC off, though 35 hours with ANC on. Talking, you’re expected to get 35 hours with ANC disconnected and 25 hours with it on. I utilized the headset perpetually and exclusively connected my machine astatine location and astatine enactment for a week. I didn’t person to complaint it once. If it does ever tally low, Alienware says you should get 8 hours of listening clip from 15 minutes of accelerated charging.

As a past note, the Alienware Pro headset is compatible with PC, alongside PlayStation 4 and 5, and Nintendo Switch. Just retrieve you’ll request to look elsewhere for an Xbox headset.

Alienware Pro Wireless Headset Review: Sound Quality

© Photo: Kyle Barr / Gizmodo

The graphene-coating drivers and the 50 mm speakers (bigger than the 40 mm drivers connected the A2930H) offered a listening acquisition that could get the astir retired of astir immoderate crippled I played oregon video I thought to watch. The people of a crippled similar Frostpunk 2 felt other grandiose coming done these headphones. The opening prologue for Metaphor: Refantazio was made each the much epic than it was playing connected a Steam Deck without the headphones.

The lone constituent that disappointed maine was the bass. It wasn’t arsenic punchy arsenic a crippled similar Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 mightiness yet demand. I was much blessed with the highs and treble. That’s not to accidental you won’t get the eardrum-thrumming dependable you privation from bass-heavy music; it conscionable won’t shingle you to your core.

It does marque it a small much hard to tune to the close volume. The speakers connected the Alienware Pro tin get alternatively loud, but if I didn’t privation the high-pitched characters successful Metaphor drilling into my eardrum, I needed to sacrifice a small of the deeper tones of the game’s music.

None of that is simply a dealbreaker. If it sounds nitpicky, that’s due to the fact that those were the lone existent critiques of the dependable I could note. As for the microphone, it’s good, though thing special. I sounded good to my friends connected Discord and coworkers connected Google Meet, but of course, it’s not going to regenerate a podcast setup.

The progressive ANC connected the mic didn’t origin immoderate distortion erstwhile I recorded my ain voice, either. The Alienware Command Center App doesn’t person galore controls oregon audio presets different than configuring the level of Transparency Mode.

The ANC is precisely wherever you request it for tuning retired the sounds of a engaged office, a engaged street  (including a protracted honking match) extracurricular some location and enactment windows, oregon erstwhile my member is desperately trying to get my attention. With transparency mode on, I didn’t get overmuch blockage from the cuffs, and I could perceive lone the smallest muffling of radical speaking nearby. Relying connected passive sound cancellation offered a coagulated mediate crushed that does amended to chopped retired voices than different adjacent sounds similar footfalls of creaking floors. I didn’t consciousness the request to power disconnected from ANC during gaming.

Alienware Pro Wireless Headset Review: Verdict

© Photo: Kyle Barr / Gizmodo

The Alienware Pro Wireless Headset is simply a ace coagulated brace of headphones you tin get astatine this terms point. It’s truthful comfy it makes up for its physique limitations and deficiency of customizable pads and mic. The dependable prime is conscionable astir wherever you privation it to be, and possibly with tiny bundle updates it could beryllium adjacent much fine-tuned.

At the aforesaid time, it feels a small excessively mundane. Because of that plan and the constricted software, you won’t find overmuch usage for it extracurricular the home. It’s precise on-brand for Alienware to restrict users to its design, arsenic the institution knows what works. It’s the benignant of headset I cognize I would leap for archetypal erstwhile I’m location and acceptable to play a crippled connected the sofa by myself. Unfortunately for you, Alienware, and me, that’s a rarity nowadays.