Marvo Scorpion PRO Gaming HG9053 Headset Review

A Closer Look & Performance

The Marvo Scorpion PRO Gaming HG9053 Headset looks fantastic, with a design that appears to be open-back, thanks to the false mesh on the back. However, that’s purely aesthetic, as they’re actually sealed drivers and lock the sound in surprisingly well. There are a few glossy bits on here, but they’re more like an exoskeleton rather than the bulk of the design, and I think it looks pretty cool.

Admittedly the design does look a bit old-school for PC gaming, more in line with what peripherals looked like ten years ago compared to the more modern stuff on the market right now. However, that’s likely how Marvo keeps their costs so low by repurposing older designed to meet modern gaming demands. There’s certainly nothing wrong with that, especially when they’re clearly passing those savings onto their customers. I like the lightly textured silver finish on the middle section too, you can see the Marvo logo within, but that is red LED lit when they’re powered on.

The cable is hard-wired, but the mount is surprisingly robust. More interesting, it’s recessed into the mid-section of the ear cup, which should prevent the cable from being bent up by your shoulder when turning your head.

There are many interesting design features on this headset that I wouldn’t ever expect at this price range. While the ear cups have some plastic components, all the actual adjustment and mounting hardware is metal, making the headset surprisingly robust.

Look at that lovely metal pin holding the ear cup to the headband!

What’s interesting is that you can turn the ear cup around, making it more comfortable to wear the headset around your neck between games. Of course, smaller adjustments allow for a much more balanced fit around your ears too. It’s quite a stiff mechanism too, so generally, it stays at the angle you set until you move it again by hand.

However, if you look at the cable from the headband to the ear cup, it’s floating fairly freely between the two. This means you can spin the ear cup all the way around. Actually, you can keep turning it until the cable chokes its self around the headband. However, it’s a nice little addition to this headset for a cheeky bit of DJ style usage.

Just remember to turn it back the right way so you don’t stress this cable.

There’s a lot of pivot too, more than you’ll likely ever need. However, combined with the headband sliders, it’ll ensure a fit for all head sizes. Furthermore, it ensures the ear cups fit snug around your ears, helping provide some passive noise isolation.

It doesn’t end there either, you can bend the absolute hell out of the headband, turning it into a late Picasso version of its self. Of course, it doesn’t bother the headset one bit, but hey, if you find your head is inside out one day, this could be useful.

It’s a really comfortable headset though, actually, one of the most comfortable I’ve reviewed in ages. The headband isn’t solid. It’s actually just the two metal rails you can see at each side, with a padded PU leather headband between them like a hammock or stretcher. Once you’ve tried a headband this wide, you’ll have to wonder why so many brands use a thinner one, this is a LOT more comfortable.

It’s a breathable design too, so on hot days, it’s not going to completely bake your noggin.

I said before that the headset has closed back drivers. However, thanks to the large around-the-ear ear cups and their soft PU leather padding, they create a near-perfect seal around your ears. This blocks out a lot of external noise passively and locks in the sound of the drivers too. This means you can have your music a little bit louder before people near you start to hear it. It also means that while I’m using this headset and my kids are playing the Xbox at the other side of the room, I can only hear the occasional taunt from them, but not the general drone noise of their gaming.

It’s plug and play, so no software or anything is needed. It just worked straight away. When powered up, the red LED lighting fires into action, and it’s fairly subtle and just adds a bit of pizzazz; regardless of if you like it or not, it’s unlikely to bother you when you’re wearing the headset. There’s lighting on the controller too. The whole front face is a large button, and you just squeeze it for quick microphone muting/unmuting.

The drivers are surprisingly punchy, certainly more than enough power that you should likely keep it wound back a bit. At this price range, it’s a competitive sound too, nothing groundbreaking, but certainly nothing I can fault. There’s a good amount of detail in the mid-range, there’s a nice punch to the bass, and the treble is nice and clear. I’ve been blasting Planet Rock Radio through them for a few hours today alone, and really, I can’t complain at all.

There are some built-in profiles too, and often, I find them to bit a bit crap, but these are fairly decent. There’s a gaming mode, which pushes a little more treble.

Movie mode gives you a bigger sound, boosting the bass and adding more treble.

While Music scoops the mid and gives you a more punchy sound overall, however, they’re not overly boosted profiles either. While I wouldn’t say each specifically met the needs of their respective icons, you’ll likely settle on a single profile for everything and leave it or leave the EQ off for a flatter sound.

As for the microphone, well, it’s alright, I guess. It bright and clear and didn’t really present any issues like distortion or popping. However, keep in mind it’s a fairly standard mic, so it doesn’t have ANC or anything like that. However, keep the microphone off to the side of your mouth, and it works great, but if you have a noisy keyboard, maybe stick with push to talk rather than leaving it live all the time.