The EPOS | Sennheiser GAME ONE is a slight improvement over the original Sennheiser G4ME ONE. At least that is my initial assessment as I've only had this new headset for about an hour.
I purchased a Sennheiser G4ME ONE in 2015. I had to buy replacement earpads just twice in those 7 years, though I imagine someone else likely wouldn't have. I have scalp psoriasis so it kinda builds up gunk & wear on the ear pads over time even with regular maintenance/cleaning. Actually the regular cleaning required is probably what wears them down more as eventually they'll tear. The replacement earpads themselves are about $30. I've gotten them from the Sennheiser website which should still have them as the HD515 uses the same earpads interchangeably. They're quite easy to replace. They have plastic plates inside the edges that just pop right out. Though it's not something that'd ever happen by accident, you do have to pull with a fair bit of force. Regarding the earpad material if you're worried it's not "leather" - don't be. Velour is actually far superior when it comes to earpads. It doesn't get hot or sticky and stays relatively clean for a long time. What most headphones have isn't even real leather it's pleather - literally tiny leather scraps ground up and glued to a piece of cloth. Over time it'll eventually break down its bonds and start flaking off all over you, and they're hot and sticky. Velour doesn't suffer from that problem. You can have them for years and they'll never flake off on you or even wear down much at all.
The original Sennheiser G4ME ONE lasted 7 years prior to failure. The point of failure was not the structural integrity of the headset itself such as an earpiece snapping (which did happen with my HD515 despite gentle care), or the speakers or microphone. No what inevitably failed was the cord. This will be relevant later so make a mental note of that.
You see, the original Sennheiser G4ME ONE had a braided cord that was really stiff and really prone to tangling unless you kept most of it strapped together with the included velcro strap thing. And even after 7 years there were bends in the cord that had been there originally when the headset was still in the box. They would not straighten no matter the time nor effort. Worse, the original came with several cord defects where the cord was rather bent with a slight piece of the inner rubber cord poking out like the cord got bent while some automated process was weaving the stiff cord sleeve around it. The only way to correct this factory defect is to very carefully cut the sleeve to release the pressure holding it bent then re-cover the braided cord such as with black electrical tape wound tightly or heat shrink tubing ideally.
Inevitably the cord had a point of failure about 1 inch from where it connected to the headset due to a factory defect bend which I suspect inevitably severed the cord partially. One day the sound started cutting out or sounding super muffled. I managed to figure out a way to finagle it into working by bending it and taping it into place. But alas it was not long for this world and even that only lasted about 2 days before it fully failed completely. May you rest in peace Sennheiser G4ME ONE, you served me well.
Now that brings us to the new headset. But first a brief history lesson: EPOS was originally the branch within Sennheiser that made the gaming headsets for Sennheiser. William Demant Holding A/S entered into a joint venture with Sennheiser in 2003. They had purchased DanaCom A/S a small headset manufacturer in 1999. They would go on to design the gaming headsets for Sennheiser using Sennheiser's headphones as the basis (thus the similarity). 2018 saw Demant A/S and Sennheiser deciding to end their joint venture and Demant A/S formed a new company which is EPOS which had formerly been the gaming headset developers for Sennheiser. Up to speed? Good.
While initially one might see EPOS rather than Sennheiser and be turned off, alas dear reader there is nothing to be concerned about there. Except maybe EPOS customer service, I hear it's pretty bad and they just blame the customer for things. But I haven't experienced that myself so I can't speak to that.
Now in terms of the new headset it's almost identical. Almost. There's some definite differences. Visually there's of course a slight difference in the branding and the dial. The biggest change however coming from a user of the G4ME ONE for 7 years is the microphone. The original was stiffer and could be slightly bent and retain that slight bend. They both are able to easily flip up or down with a satisfying click so you can get it out of your way when it's not in use - most headsets don't have that feature. The new one is a little more floppy and will not retain any kind of bending. It also picks up a slight hum in Audacity though not anything else so I don't know what's up with that yet. However I am happy to report that the cord quality is vastly improved. And when I say vastly I mean it. It's a braided cord as well but it's a much softer less stiff braid and as a result it doesn't retain factory bends from the box. It will actually straighten out just fine. Furthermore, it doesn't have factory defects of misbraiding in bends to the cord. I may have just lucked out and got the golden goose on that one, though I'll speculate they've just improved their process overall and it's less likely now with the new headset.
The sound quality is pretty much the same for the headphones themselves. They're pretty much in line with the Sennheiser HD515, no change there. They're good but not perfect. A far cry better than most headphones to be sure - certainly $20-60 ones. But compared to $1000+ headphones obviously they're found wanting. They're pretty neutral and I'd put them at around a 4/5 which is as good as you could really expect from anything not outrageously priced. They're much better than cheap or low quality headphones though, don't mistake that.
The microphone quality of the original G4ME ONE I think was a bit better. I'd have called it a good quality microphone far better than most headsets. The new one though has the aforementioned problem that I'm not even certain as of yet to be a true problem but I've knocked down the overall sound quality from 4/5 to 3/5 to account for that. It does however not happen in anything but Audacity. In Windows audio playback in sound it's fine and it's fine in Discord. So I suspect it's a non-issue.
On sound quality just let me go ahead and say this because some of you out there even calling yourselves gamers may be slightly technology illiterate when it comes to hardware. If you just plug the headset in and go to town as-is you are quite obviously going to have much lower quality sound than you should. So let me help you with that. When you plug it in Windows will automatically have it set at 16-bit 44100 Hz CD Quality. This is bad. In fact it's the worst possible setting this headset could use. You'll need to go into your control panel and open sound and go into the speakers in playback and the microphone in recording and up the quality to 32-bit 192000 Hz studio quality. Though to be fair most cheap headphones will only have a range of 20 to 20,000 Hz. Even at the lowest possible setting these headphones should be twice as good as that. But yes indeed if you believe the sound quality is subpar it may well be your own fault. Do ensure you've set this setting properly so that you're getting the highest quality audio possible both from the headphones and the microphone.
I'd also suggest enabling loudness equalization in enhancements. You can also go to the spatial sound tab and enable Windows Sonic for Headphones. It pretty much adds 7.1 virtual surround sound to things capable of it. It's similar to Dolby Atmos. It pretty much simulates having speakers all around your room so if you for instance hear footsteps from the top right of you it'll sound like it's coming from that direction. You can check out the "Dolby Audio - 7.1 Surround Test Demo" on YouTube to test that out.
Another issue with sound quality could arise not from the headset itself but your soundcard or lack thereof. I personally have an ASUS ROG X570 Crosshair VIII Hero motherboard which has the SupremeFX S1220 CODEC which the codec itself & the DACs (ESS® ES9023P High Definition DAC) rival some pro grade stuff. It's not perfect but it does suffice. Depending on the grade of the onboard sound of your motherboard, unless you have a high dollar top of the line motherboard it's probably not great and you may need an actual sound card to get the full benefit from these headphones.
All of that said I have only just gotten the EPOS | Sennheiser Game One despite having an original Sennheiser G4ME ONE for 7 years. So if anything in regards to quality changes I'll be sure to edit my review to report any issues that arise.
| Brand | EPOS Gaming |
|---|---|
| Series | 506080 |
| Item model number | 506080 |
| Hardware Platform | PC |
| Item Weight | 1.38 pounds |
| Product Dimensions | 2.44 x 2.5 x 9.25 inches |
| Item Dimensions LxWxH | 2.44 x 2.5 x 9.25 inches |
| Color | Black |
| Batteries | 1 Lithium Polymer batteries required. |
| Manufacturer | Sennheiser Communications |
| ASIN | B00KK8ZLEC |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Date First Available | May 26, 2014 |
