Hey gang, Valkor here. When it comes to tech, anything tech, I love it when everything works straight away out of the box. At times, I might run into hiccups and then I'll have to run to the instruction manual. But when I open up a new piece of tech and it just works, I have no choice but to fall in love with it. And that’s mainly how I feel about Plantronics latest pair of gaming headphones – the RIG 800HS for the Playstation 4. Straight out the box, they work perfectly. And the awesome just keeps going from there.
On the outset, the 800HS, from a gamer’s standpoint, looks very appealing; it has a cool and edgy mechanical appearance, with thick earcups and soft-padded, suspended headband. The left ear contains all the controls for the headset, which includes power, volume, a control to balance out gaming audio and team chatter, and a microUSB port for charging. Also, in front of the left earcup, you have your noise-cancelation mic that you flip up or down to activate/mute. Finally, below the right earcup, you have a button that acts something like an equalizer, changing the intensity of your audio. What surprised me were the voice prompts that I didn’t expect; I’m so used to tones and beeps that I nearly dropped the headset when the female voiced chimed in that the device was on and my battery was high. But I’d rather have that than some blip or bleep alerting me if my device is on or if the battery is running low.
Setting up the 800HS was very simple; first, you plug the base into your PS4 through the included optical cable and USB. Once powered on, the headset should pair with the quickness as mine did as soon as the Playstation 4 was switched on. After that, you do a little volume adjustment and you’re ready to go. I used the 800HS mainly with two games (and a few small ones) – Hatsune Miku Project Diva X and Final Fantasy 15. The Plantronics 800HS touts that the battery would last approximately 24 hours and since I’ve had a whole bunch of time on my hands, I thought I’d give these headsets a real run. Not a full 24 hours, but just enough to put these babies to work!
The Bang:
First up, the Plantronics 800HS might look bulky, but they’re pretty lightweight and very comfortable; if you’re going to tout 24 hours of gaming, then these headsets better damn well be comfortable. And after many hours of gaming, the 800HS never felt heavy or too tight. As for sound quality, I was used to the bold audio of the HyperX Cloud II, but for stereo headphones, the 800HS sound just as amazing; vocals come through crystal clear, sound effects are strong, and as far as directional audio is concerned, I could easily make out from what direction, where enemies or enemy fire was coming from. When I played Hatsune Miku, I could really get into the music, hitting more “cool” beats, rather than “good” than if I were using just my speakers. And it does have a decent level of passive noise-cancellation; I think if you could raise volume levels from the 800HS, then you could block out most, if not all, outside noises as the earcups form a proper seal around your ears. Next, I didn’t experience any breaks due to the wireless connectivity; I usually keep within a decent range of the base, and since I’m almost always in a stationed position. Lastly, as far as the battery life goes, I can say I haven’t hit a wall yet when it comes to long playthroughs with the 800HS. And that’s including not charging the headsets after the initial charging. I mean I plug them in a couple of times since I’ve gotten them. But I’ve never heard the battery low voice. Needless to say, Plantronics scores a win in my book with the RIG 800HS. They’re comfortable, sound great, and they're long lasting for wireless gaming fun!
The Slack:
N/A
If your gaming audio diet requires fewer wires, then look no further than Plantronics RIG 800HS. For long plays or short runs, the 800HS is totally worth it giving you great comfort and amazing sound quality. So, out of TOV 5 stars, I’m giving the RIG 800HS 4.5 stars.
