NZXT Relay Headset, SwitchMix, Speakers & Relay Subwoofer Review

How Much Does it Cost?

These are premium products, and as you can see, that is reflected in the price. The speakers are £229.99, which puts them in the same price range as the Q Acoustics Q3020i (£229), Dali Spektor 1 (£219), Mission LX-2 MKII (£229) and a few others, all of which are pretty fantastic, but it seems NZXT are priced competitively given the quality and power on offer here. The Subwoofer is pretty affordable for what it is too at just £119.99. The headset comes in at £89.99, which is on the premium end for a lightweight wired headset, but the quality of the drivers certainly justifies the price. Finally, there’s the SwitchMix, which is quite expensive, but remember it contains both a powerful DAC, Mixer, headphone stand and that unique switch, so it’s well worth it. However, at £559.87 all in, it’s obviously a pretty serious investment for any PC enthusiast.

However, the price is competitive, if you do something like the SteelSeries Arctic Pro with DAC, that’s £200, plus a headphone stand of your own, then a set of similarly equipped 2.1 speakers, and really, NZXT are right on the money with their pricing.

• Relay Speakers MSRP – $249.99/£229.99
• Relay Subwoofer MSRP – $149.99/£119.99
• Relay Headset MSRP – $99.99/£89.99
• SwitchMix MSRP – $129.99/£119.99

You can check for up-to-date pricing and stock at the NZXT store here.

Overview

NZXT may have shelved these products four years ago due to them not being completely happy with the quality and/or performance. However, it’s clearly been worth the wait, as the products they’re releasing today are simply exceptional. The speakers seem a bit expensive, at least compared to your typical “good” PC speakers that usually cost around £80 and honestly, often sound pretty decent for music, gaming and YouTube. However, NZXT has created something more in line with the HiFi market, and it’s going to be a true next-level upgrade for any PC user.

Now, it’s not that you can’t get most of this quality from other brands, as you most certainly can, but I think NZXT may be the first to put it all into one ecosystem. Not that other brands don’t have amps, speakers and headsets, take Creative for example, but the secret sauce of the SwitchMix and the headset stand with a microswitch is the little gimmick that really sells the package. Much to the phrase “oh, that’s cool!” being uttered any time I demonstrate it. It’s not a gimmick really, it’s a really clever feature. However, keep in mind it really is a level mixer, volume controller, and a powerful High-Res 24-bit 96kHz amplifier too, and since it runs on USB Type-C, it’s pretty much just plug and play too.

The headset looks superbly clean and tidy, well in fairness, all of the new hardware does, with the exception of the subwoofer, which looks like the big black speaker box that it is, but that’s no bad thing, as its size and shape dictate the overall sound. The mixture of black and white looks neat and tidy though, and blends with the brand aesthetic NZXT has cultivated in recent years. Their attention to detail so that everything from their motherboards to their microphones all look like they belong together just adds to the appeal of doing a full NZXT build. They’ve also avoided the mistake of making everything look “gamer” and as a result, the new hardware would look great in a gaming setup, but also just looks ultimately more professional and grown up too.

The sound quality is absolutely superb, and I really cannot fault the speakers, sub or headset in that regard. Music lovers, gamers who want to feel the action, YouTube fans who want to crank the memes, it doesn’t matter, it’s all going to sound excellent. The investment is big, but honestly, from low volumes to party volumes, you’ll hear the worth of your investment pretty much immediately. Well done NZXT, these were well worth the wait.