I’ll have to start purchasing EPOS headsets from now on if they’re anything like the H3 Hybrid. The simplicity of its design and functionality mixed with its duality means that you’re purchasing quality at the $179.99 asking price. Definitely, a headset to consider when looking for a gaming solution.
Simplicity and eloquence make up the H3 Hybrid headsets from EPOS. If you’re not familiar with the company, they are owned and operated by Demant Group, which also owns and operates Sennheiser. If Sennheiser is foreign to you, then you need to stop reading this review because you are not serious about audio. Not a joke. They are the best in the business when it comes to professional audio production. Audio snobbery aside, since EPOS was formed from the gaming bones of Sennheiser, you know you’ve got some audio masterminds at work with these headsets.
Now, with that introduction aside, I have always been fascinated with the gaming headset experience. Having reviewed the always dependable Turtle Beach lines, as well as the high-end audiophile’s go-to with Audeze, I had expectations on how the H3 Hybrid should feel and function. Let’s get right into it.
Design and Functionality
These two categories are vital for a good gaming headset experience. It’s my go-to when it comes to figuring out if a headset is worth buying or not. If your design is off, then your functionality goes to pot. If your functionality is too complicated, then a user will limit the use of the headset, regardless of quality. A fault on either side and the headset needs work. The balance of quality and comfort, plus the need to avoid a mental IKEA functionality block is what makes a headset good.
The design of the H3 is out of this world simple. From the moment I took them out of the box, the headset felt like it wanted to be worn constantly. When I slipped it on my head and laid the two ear pads over my ears, I could see the design had been thoroughly thought through. The pads were light, they didn’t press against my ears too hard, and the bridge holding each pad didn’t press down on my huge head. For a headset that costs $179.99, it didn’t feel like a high-end experience. Don’t get me wrong, it was quality, but it didn’t need the polished extravagance that comes with that price tag. Rather, it seemed only concerned with making your ears comfortable, making the microphone, which can de-magnify from its ear pad, seamless in its design and function, and it felt like it could withstand a bevy of abuse from gamers.
What’s equally remarkable about the H3’s comfort is how it treated its functionality. The H3 felt natural, comfortable, and above-all-else understood in function. The power button, the aux port, the Bluetooth button, all of it made sense without asking you to re-learn what you’ve been taught with past devices. This is the first headset where instructions weren’t needed, rather you push a button and get what you ask for, an HCI junkie’s dream. You might be reading this and thinking that it’s posh trash from a writer that enjoys creating dramatic words for a gaming headset. That isn’t the case. Audeze, a $399.99 headset, required a steep learning curve when it came to design and function. Eventually, it’s easy to get, but pressing things twice at certain speeds, having to toggle the 3D button quickly to turn it on/off, while serving multiple functions through one button, and holding down the power and Bluetooth for an insane amount of time to get it to function might as well have come with a certification program. It was the only headset that I had to look up functionality online to understand. This is why functionality is vital.
The H3 headset is not that at all.
Turtle Beach headsets ran along the same simplicity line as the H3 but had to go through various iterations to reach comfort. Even the impressive Elite from Turtle Beach had a heat-trapping issue that was great during the winter but stunk during warm weather. Its comfort level lied somewhere in the middle, which was not a great place to be for a price tag of $199.99.
The H3 is the best of all worlds. It relays comfort through cushy ear pads, while also simplifying functionality with a handful of buttons that don’t require instructions or certification to operate them.
Uses
The headset is as advertised and sounds beautiful. Having used this headset for the last 10-15 hours of streaming Death Stranding: Director’s Cut on the PS5, I had little issue with hooking it up to the PlayStation. The headset comes with an aux port and a cable that hooks to the controller. It requires no drivers, no installation, no additional software from Sony or authorization – it just works. It also sounds amazing.
When I used it on Discord the last few days, I found it to be quite easy as well. It was detected and received by Windows 10 and 11 without a hitch, and Discord brought it in quickly as my main audio device. Streamlabs detected fine as well, and the Bluetooth functionality was easy to get going – press/hold the BT button, search, and boom…done. Sadly, no PlayStation 5 BT connectivity, which is Sony tradition for pretty much every BT headset not labeled Sony.
What is probably one of the more eye-popping parts of the headset is its duality, where you can play on the computer with Steam, receiving solid audio, and answer a phone call from a device without muting the other. I have never seen a BT headset that accepts both at the same time and controls them separately. It’s like a simple audio mixer, where you can control the game’s audio with a round flat knob on the ear pad and control your mobile device through its own volume controls. It’s an odd feature to prop on a pedestal, but a cool feature you didn’t know you needed. I’m not sure I’ll be satisfied by another headset because of this functionality. It’s freaking brilliant.
Issues
The issues section here is going to be minimum. The only potential problem I had with this headset is the unique aux stereo cable that came with it. While one end is plain-jane with stereo, the other end has a specifically crafted design that locks into the headset aux port. Ultimately, it’s just another mini-stereo end, but nonetheless, you don’t want to lose that cable. It does a superb job with keeping that cable latched in, but my fear of losing it causes me a great deal of stress. It will render my PS abilities damaged at best.
This is the only issue I have with the headset. Everything else is perfectly designed, functional, and it is a headset that you can keep on for hours at a time without noticing.
Conclusion
I’ll have to start purchasing EPOS headsets from now on if they’re anything like the H3 Hybrid. The simplicity of its design and functionality mixed with its duality means that you’re purchasing quality at the $179.99 asking price. Definitely, a headset to consider when looking for a gaming solution.
