HYTE Eclipse HG10 Wireless Gaming Headset Review

Performance/Practicality

The HYTE Eclipse HG10 is a solidly functional and genuinely impressive gaming headset. Despite its relatively simple design, what it does do, it does well. – Although its key features are somewhat limited, it really does excel as a ‘no-thrills’ design that does exactly what it says on the box. – To try and keep things simple though, let’s take a look at some of the general functionality and what the HYTE Eclipse HG10 does well, and not so well!

Wireless Performance/Battery

Connecting via the USB dongle, the wireless connectively is remarkably easy to use. You simply plug the USB in and switch the headset on. Within no more than 2-3 seconds, you’re all hooked up and ready to go.

A slight complaint is that if you do plan to use this between various consoles/systems, you will need to keep moving that USB dongle around. Additionally, you can’t use the HYTE Eclipse HG10 manually through the USB cable. That cable is purely for charging and charging alone! And I can confirm that I hooked the USB up to my PC and no audio was output. This needs the USB dongle which, by proxy, means that the headset needs to be charged to work.

In terms of the wireless connectivity, although HYTE cites no specific range my basic testing suggests something in the region of 10-15 meters before it starts to present problems. In generic terms, this is perfectly fine. I can see no reason why a mid-game trip to the bathroom should cause your headset to disconnect (just remember to wash your hands).

Finally, in terms of battery life, HYTE cites that the Eclipse HG10 should last for up to 30 hours of continual playback off a single charge. Now, I didn’t, of course, sit down for 30 hours listening to something like the full audiobook of Lord of the Rings. Additionally, there doesn’t appear to be any audio or visual indication as to the current status of the battery. In other words, I think you just have to roughly guess if it needs a charge or not which, admittedly, could be annoying should it decide to run low at an inopportune moment.

After having played games for circa 15 hours over the course of 5 days, however, the battery didn’t run out and, on the whole, it gave me no signs that it was going to either. – Could this last for 30 hours? The short answer is that I don’t know, but I suspect that if you were to just give this a quick charge every 3-4 days, you should never experience any problems.

Audio Quality

Starting with the microphone, as this is a unidirectional design, some may initially see this as a bad thing. Omnidirectional certainly sounds fancier. – In many respects though, and especially for gaming, unidirectional is often the better choice as this primarily looks to detect sound from one primary direction. Although the HYTE Eclipse HG10 has no noise-cancelling technology, this design should still help reduce some of the unintended background noise pollution ensuring your voice gets the priority!

In terms of recording clarity though, it’s quite a crisp and sharp microphone that doesn’t really capture the richness of a voice. Perfect for gaming, but in terms of streaming or something like that, it’s not really a phenomenal choice.

Like the microphone, the audio quality of the headset itself has undoubtedly been tailored more towards gameplay than music. In fact, listening to music on it is a generally rather bland experience. It’s a little tinny and lacks any significant bass or depth. Additionally, it doesn’t include any of the higher-end features such as 7.1 surround sound. Overall though, having played a few (mostly awful) rounds of COD and Rainbow Six Seige, the overall audio perception was still decent with me not misplacing any enemy sounds.

Again, the HYTE Eclipse HG10 does feel like it has almost exclusively been designed toward almost competitive-level gaming. It’s more about overall precision than overall quality.

Comfort

We have a bit of a ying-yang situation when it comes to comfort and general long-term usage. The ‘vegan leather’ certainly feels very pleasant on both the ears and head (and I’m bald so I probably have a better opinion on the latter aspect of this than most of you reading this!). In addition, the half-moon earcups fit nicely and snugly. Noise reduction is not a feature, but they block out external sounds quite well. Not as well as a high-end premium headset, but certainly better than most within this upper-mid market.

The only potential issue people may find is during extended gameplay sessions. The comfort on the ears does tend to wane a little as things get a little hot and sweaty after 2-3 hours. You may find yourself lifting the cups just to allow a bit of fresh air in. Breathability is, of course, always a problem that very few manufacturers can find a solid balance for. On the plus side though, with its ‘pleather’ material, a quick clean with a wet wipe should remove any unpleasantness that might acquire over time.

Compatibility

Using the HYTE Eclipse HG10 with a PC, laptop, or PS4/PS5 is 100% easy as pie. You simply plug in the dongle, turn on the headset, and it generally connects in under 2-3 seconds. – The Nintendo Switch is, however, a little more complicated. Unless you have one of the newer OLED revisions (which feature USB ports to the docking station) you will need a USB-C to USB-C cable, or, a USB A to USB C adaptor. I had neither of these to hand so, honestly, I’m sure it works, but clearly not without some potential pitfalls.

What about the Xbox though? Well, hooking it up to my Series S, nope, the HYTE Eclipse HG10 seemed to connect but it outright refused to output any audio. It seems that HYTE didn’t make an error by not including Xbox on its list of supported systems. The HYTE Eclipse HG10 does not (at least under my testing) work on Xbox consoles. Why not? I have no idea!