1MORE Spearhead VRX Gaming Headset Review

A Closer Look and Performance

1MORE has a strong reputation to uphold for great looking hardware, and I’m happy to report that they hit the mark this time around too. This is a gorgeous looking headset, and still has some of the design points of their other headsets and headphones. One thing that really stands out to me is that unique ear cup mount. It’s mounted on a 45-degree pole in a pivot. It’s all metal fittings of course, so it’s super durable and the slim fittings mean it’s lightweight too.

Tucked into the top of each of these pole-like mounts, you’ll find a tiny microphone housing. These are on each side of the headset for the ANC. For those that don’t know what that is, it can listen to your surroundings and cancel out ambient noise while you’re using your chat microphone. It won’t stop you hearing ambient noise, but it will block it out for those listening to your microphone. This is good for team chat, as it means your audio rings through nice and clear, even with background noise.

Super Soft

The ear cups are super soft. In fact, think of a headset you know has super soft and comfortable padding, and then imagine this is better; because it is. The whole headset is lightweight anyway, it’s been nipped and tucked to save weight and feel light on your head. The luxurious padding forms a soft yet enveloping seal around your ears and you could easily forget you’re wearing it during those long all-night gaming sessions.

The headband is auto adjusting, and I normally hate these are they either don’t fit my large head or worse… Many of them have strong springs that make the ear cups feel like they lifting up my ears a little. Fortunately, that’s not the case here, and it sits on my head like a custom fitted crown.

Built-in Controls

Everything you need is within reach with the VRX. It’s not got a million buttons, but it uses the available space well. There’s a microphone on/off switch at the top. It’s a nice slider switch with a well-defined click too, so you know for sure when you’ve hit it. Below that, there’s a dual-purpose wheel for controlling the volume. However, plus it till it clicks and it becomes the bass level dial instead, which is pretty neat. There’s no auditory beep or anything to let you know it’s maxed out, which is a shame.

However, be warned of the volume level in general. We found that over USB setting it to between 12-20% was plenty loud. Sure, you can crank it to 100, but I tell, it’ll knock your freaking head off in a hurry. This headset is loud, so loud that even Superman would be hurt. Then again, if you’re rocking the 3.5mm cable, it’s less extreme and the boost is a big help with quiet audio sources too. Bonus, extreme volumes still didn’t distort one bit, and I mean at all. Very impressive and mighty drivers here.

The chat microphone is absolutely tiny, so small and so out of the way one would think it useless. Don’t be fooled though, this little pinhole microphone works exceptionally well. Its pickup level is quite natural and it avoids most background noise easily enough too. For gaming and Skype calls, it proved more than adept and will compete with many bigger microphone solutions on other high-end headsets. Not sure how it does it, but if it works, it works, right?

Mighty Bass Driver

The most striking thing about this headset is the sound quality. At first, it sounded quite hollow and overly bright. When there’s no sound playing, tapping the headset is like ringing a bell on your head and you can hear the drivers chime a little. However, crank on some games, movies, music, or whatever and it thunders into life. The bass is just endlessly detailed and with a crushing low end. However, it sounds distant and I mean this in a very good way. There’s a 30Hz cutoff that sends a vibration through the drivers. It’s not that gimmick “rumble headset” crap we’ve seen on some gaming headsets. This is a purely auditory and a soundwave trick that adds weight to the bass levels, much like a standalone subwoofer would move larger volumes of the air in the room.

The headset comes with a powerful EQ through its software. Personally, I still think the stock settings while very flat sounded are a little on the bright side for the mids and treble. A little mid-range push went a long way to expanding the texture of the sound. That’s subjective though, but I strongly suggest diving into the EQ and setting things up how you like. The very capable drivers have a lot to offer and handle heavy EQ profiles really well.

Lightsaber Headset?

Finally, a retractable lightbar. This is a weird one, it’s like an RGB lightsaber and seemed pretty daft to me. It looks like it’ll be stuck in front of your vision. However, it’s really not. It sits just at the extreme of your peripheral vision. This light can then give you an indication if your mic is muted or not.

Furthermore, you can set it to match the RGB of the ear cups or slide it back out of sight.

The lighting effects are pretty superb, not too over the top and with plenty of customisation. You can turn them off too, but everything is RGB these days, so if that’s your thing, it’s here.

Headtracking = Awesome!

What strikes me the most about this headset is the head tracking audio. It’s absolutely freaking fantastic how well it works. For stereo, when you’re facing forward it sounds just as you would expect. However, turn your head off to the side and you’ll hear the audio stay where it was. Look to your right, and the sound perfectly fades round to your left ear. Turn 180-degree and it sounds like it’s behind you. Look up or down, it just works. It doesn’t sound like a gimmick when you try it, it sounds correct, and that’s properly amazing.

When used with a surround audio source, things are even better. When playing Elite Dangerous, I could hear my Nav console in front of me, my engine noises behind me and other ships off to my right. As I turn my head slightly to the right to look at the ships, the Nav console now sounds more to my left, perfectly relative to where I was looking. It’s something that has to be heard, but it’s like VR for your ears… yeah, that’s the best analogy I have, deal with it.