Customer Reviews

SteelSeries 5H V2 USB Gaming Headset with Virtual Surround 7.1 Sound (Black)

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Let me start off by saying, for gaming i don't think there is a better headset out there. The virtual 7.1 works flawlessly and the mic on this thing is crystal clear. Its relatively comfortable, although I start to sweat around my ears around the 1 hour mark. Also if you are considered one with a small head, i might go try it on first. I have what you call a large head with some hair and i have this thing cranked all the way down. Works for me but not so sure about others.

Music - Very mediocre. i know it is optimized for GAMING but i still feel it fell short in this department. don't expect to be blown away or even satisfied if you want to listen to music a lot on headphones.

All in all its a solid headset, and is well worth the money if you are into gaming.

UPDATE:so it has been 4 days and the right side of the headphones has stopped working. i am very surprised/annoyed because i handled these things like a baby and still went out on me. i thought it was something funky with vista so i turned on the "flip sound" so the left side plays on the right and visa versa and no sound still. plugged it into a friends computer and same thing. not very happy that i spent $100 on these and they fail within such a short amount of time.

Like other reviewers, these failed on my after a few months with the right speaker cutting in and out. For the money you can get much better sound quality, I would not recommend these to anyone.

Great fit and build quality. Be aware that these headphones are specifically designed to be short on bass, aka in an FPS game "quiet footstep" noises are more key to your survival than "rocket boom" noises.

I got the Steelseries Siberia headphones for my wife, which are better for use for mixed use, but don't have the retractable mic like these do.

As advertised, this is gaming headset. Customers who purchased this headset for strictly for FPS game should be very satisfied. For customer who is consider purchasing this product thinking they can sacrifice other sounds of music, video play, etc thinking sacrifice is very minimal, think again. This headset is not for everyday use. I read the reviews and knew headset was horrible reproducing sounds outside of gaming but took a risk thinking how bad can it be. It's really bad. You hear almost no bass in music and have to turn EQ on always. But turning bass on will make Speakers in headset distort playing music with heavy bass in any volume. Watching movies on PC with headset is little better but voice and rest of the sounds feel very distant. It feels like movie is playing inside a small hall. This is same problem for playing games other than FPS. Any games with nice background music or cinematic trailers have to suffer its quality. For $$ you paid for this headset, not sure why you have to sacrifice any sound. Headset itself, mic and built quality are good. I been using it for about 2 month and hope it will last forever. Headset is not for everyday use but playing COD4, CS:source, Crysis is at its best. Customers thinking minimal sacrifice, do not buy this headset. This is FPS game headset ONLY.

I always use headphones when at my home computer (which is a lot). When I'm gaming I also use a cheap mic. I was looking for a solution to avoid two cords dangling from my head and getting tangled up, while still getting good performance from both devices. While the 5Hv2 solved my problems with cords, the sound just wasn't quite good enough.

The mid-tones are well defined and clear, the highs are okay if perhaps not sharp enough, but the bass tones were a real let down. I have no taste at all for cans with sloppy overdriven bass, but these just sounded flat.

I didn't keep these long enough to really speak to comfort but they seemed alright. There were just little tight and the padding a bit harder and narrower than I'm used to, but I was able to wear them for a couple hours without discomfort.

These headphone should be adequate for most people gaming with them, or those who only use their headphones when they can't use regular speakers. The sound is better than some other integrated headset/mics I've used, and I really like how the retractable mic works.

I'm no audiophile, but sound quality dose matter to me, and I use my headphone a lot. If your like me, especially if you ever listen to music at all, you'll want something better, even if your still being strangled by all the cords hanging from your head.

I've had this headset for close to 2 and a half years now. The sound seemed good. Gunfire was crisp, footsteps were nice and clear in first person shooters. However, a couple of months after I've used it, the sound from one of the cups started to cut off. You could get it back by moving the volume dial until you hear sound from both cups again. That didn't really affect the sound as much as it was just an annoyance. Then shortly after, the thin plastic cushion on the headbands started to disintegrate. Little black pieces of the plastic would flake off and the sound now is static-y in the cups.

Overall, for the price, the quality is really bad. The build material needs to be upgraded or else this headset would probably not even last a year. The new 7H seems to have the same material on the headbands so I would watch out for the flaking problem. A suggestion for Steelseries would really be to use cloth for the headband cushion and just overall have better wiring in these cans.

For $100, I would expect that the connection to the head phone plug would last longer than one month of use. After one month of moderate use, the wires near the plug shorted out leaving me with an expensive set of plastic ear muffs. I have had $5 head phones that have lasted longer than this. Very disappointed in the quality of construction of this product. Had pretty good sound quality while it lasted.

Like most headphones, these are made so the earpads nearly touch when the device is not being stretched, so it'll fit somebody with a 2 inch wide head. The amount of force required to stretch it to the width of a normal head is excessive and uncomfortable in my opinion. There is no adjustment for that. The only adjustment is to slide the pads up or down, which does nothing to the horizontal force that they apply. The pads have adequate circumference for my ears, but they are not quite deep enough, so there is a painful pressure on part of my ears (the antihelix, google it), in addition to the uncomfortable pressure on the sides of my head.

I put it across a wide sofa arm for several hours in an attempt to stretch it out. There was only a very slight improvement. It is still very uncomfortable due to the excessive horizontal forces squeezing my head like a vise. This is a major downgrade from the Plantronics DSP-500 headset that I had been using for several years until it broke (both in terms of comfort and sound quality, but most importantly comfort).

I wish headphones were advertized with some kind of sizing information. One size fits all is always baloney.

I've had these headsets for a little over a year now and the right earphone stopped working completely, which is quite frustrating when you are trying to play games. However, their USA warranty lasts only for 1 year, conveniently enough to expire right before my headset broke. Total customer support time took 2 weeks before they let me know that my warranty was expired.
The drivers were also a pain in the ass to get working on my computer.

That being said, when they worked, they worked quite well while for gaming, but were mediocre for music. They aren't uncomfortable, but I wouldn't exactly say they were enjoyable to wear.

So...
Gaming Quality.... 4/5
Music Quality..... 3/5
Drivers........... 2.5/5
Customer Support.. 1/5
Longevity......... 1.5/5
Money's Worth..... 1.5/5

These headphones are not worth $80+ at all.

I bought these to replace a broken pair of 4H's.

These have the same sound as those, so if you're looking for something cheaper, get those. I bought these because I needed to take these apart because I move them around a lot, and I needed the braided high-quality cables because they're abused by other people.

As some other people on the internet have noted, this headset is geared towards gamers with its custom high-treble soundscape (for bullets and footsteps, which are very noticeable), so if you're more than an occasional music listener, these might not be too good for you. I hardly ever listen to music, so this wasn't a problem for me.