These are great headphones! They are lightweight, comfortable, have a good build quality, look good, are reasonably sized, and most importantly, sound great when gaming.
I'm pretty picky about audio and have a variety of nice audio equipment and unlike the others in this review, these sound pretty good when listening to music as well (an area these also won out over the others tested below). Although these are not a 7.1 set (their pro's are), they sounded about the same in COD: MW in my testing as various the other 7.1 headphones i tested. I didn't go with the 7.1 set of Eksa's because they require software for the effect and because of this are not 7.1 when used on xbox, ps4, etc. Worth noting, these headphones actually have a compact sized volume remote which i much prefer unlike unnecessarily huge remotes on the other headphones reviewed below.
I had a few criteria (in this order of priority) for selection that limited what I chose to test which were
- Price (less than $40 or less)
- Comfort (doesn't matter how good they sound if they aren't comfortable right?)
- Cross Platform
- No Software Requirement (They needed to not require software to sound their best)
- Build Quality
- Stylish
- 7.1 chip was preferred
Those criteria knocked out some otherwise fine options like the Jeecoo (usb only) that are reviewed really well so i settled and tested the following - the Black RGB 7.1 Runmus, the black with blue LED R Runmus 7.1, and the PeoZarr 7.1 gaming headsets. Keeping this simple and not going to pretend I'm some kind of 'golden' eared wonder (if you've been around and headphone reviews / headphone forums, you'll understand what that means)
Black RGB 7.1 Runmus
These sound great, they are what i originally had only as a gift but had some mic issues and had to return, which led me to try the Eksa's and others. 2nd pair i tested again were fine. Great depth, the 7.1 really shines, can isolate footstep locations in COD:MW. My brother loves them, you will likely be satisfied if you can forgive build quality which is cheap but sufficient. The 3(well 4) cons with these are 1) build quality, quite plasticky, but for the price, fine 2) and was kind of deal breaker for me, the mic isn't very flexible and couldn't really reach my mouth despite my normal sized head which made voicechat suffer at times (annoying white led light as well when plugging into usb) 3) big dorky volume controller that adds unnecessary weight 4) RGB led just looks bad and i could care less, thought you'd be able to change the color but i guess that's too much to ask at this pricepoint and thus totally forgivable, i just opted not plug it in. I almost kept these but the Eksa's were the better all-rounder and ultimately more comfortable and sounded with music as well. I think these may just edge the Eksa's though for games. I found them quite comfortable and not overly hot for many hours of gaming most of the time. For pure gaming, i think these would serve you well if you can live with the con's.
Blue LED 'R' Runmus 7.1
These are same headphones (driver wise) as the black Runmus, specs matched but i had to test to confirm because I could not figure out the difference other than the shell. These DO NOT come with the USB extension cord to use the LED's unlike the black Runmus above. These have the better mic (much more flexible, easily hits your mouth) and potentially better build quality? you decide, kind of a toss up. Cons 3(or 4) 1) same volume controller issue as black runmus 2) deal breaker, way too much clamping pressure on my head despite stretching out 3) less ear padding it would seem than the black Runmus
PeoZarr 7.1
Popular and well reviewed for good reason, they are cheap, very comfortable and easily the cushiest earpads (I can see these getting warm), and sound about as good as any of the above - did not test with music though. They also have the most stylish LED option imo, if you're into that. I do not recall if they came with the USB extension cord for consoles. BUT, these are FRICKIN huge, no seriously, they make all the others here look like baby headphones, they are ridiculously big for no reason, you will feel like an idiot wearing this. That being said, if you don't mind that, you'll likely be happy with these. Cons 1) Trump level 'BIGLY HUGE' 2) same volume controller con as the others 3) potential microphone cut out problem, not sure, couldn't totally verify this with my brother as COD:MW has plenty of bugs and in general, their in-game chat kind of sucks...better to use the battle.net app which seems consistently reliable.
Hopefully, my thoughts help narrow your decision, testing was tedious but not extensive, quite a few hours were put in on each. In summary, i love the Eksa's, they are a great headphone and the best all around imo for the money. I think you'd be hard pressed to get better unless you compromise some of my criteria above or spend a lot more money.
| Brand | EKSA |
|---|---|
| Item model number | HSHIHF_SML |
| Hardware Platform | Gaming Console |
| Item Weight | 1.12 pounds |
| Package Dimensions | 8.39 x 7.83 x 3.82 inches |
| Color | Red |
| Manufacturer | EKSA |
| ASIN | B07XXQ4RFF |
| Date First Available | September 15, 2019 |
