Roccat Aluma Premium In-Ear Headset Review

A Closer Look

First up, we have a 4-pole 3.5mm to dual 3-pole 3.5mm adaptor; perfect for converting the headsets mobile friendly jack to work with your desktop computer.

I primarily use my Syva headset for international travelling and mobile gaming, so I am very happy to see Roccat notice this part of the market and include an Aircraft adaptor, allowing you to tap into the non-standard jack plugs used on many older commercial flights.

There are six sets of earbuds included here too, great for those who need spares, but they’re also all slightly different sizes and fits, so when it comes to keeping them snug in your ears, you shouldn’t have too much trouble finding the ones that best suit your needs.

The headset comes hard-wired with an on-cable microphone and controller, the two drivers (of course) and a compact 3.5mm jack plug. The 4-pole design means it’s ready to work with mobile devices, consoles and well, pretty much anything else with 3.5mm jacks.

There’s a single control on the in-line mic, which is perfect for controller music, answering or rejecting calls, etc.

Around the back, the pinhole mic. It doesn’t look much, but the one on the Syva worked great, so I’ve good expectation of this one.

The housing for the drivers is really nicely designed, with a metal housing and stylish shape.

Around the back, you can see the drivers housing has been shaped, not only does it improve the aesthetics, but it’ll also be done to help shape the overall acoustic performance of the headset.

The earbuds are of a good quality and simply push onto the end of the drivers. Behind them, you’ll find a good size outlet for the 8mm drivers which sit just behind the mesh.

Since I’m a fan and an owner of the Syva, I decided to get them side by side for a bit of comparison, as it better shows the differences of each. The first thing I notice, the flat cable design is less wide on the Aluma, making it a little lighter.

The in-line controller is a little more rounded, meaning it won’t catch your clothes as much and is also a little slimmer.

The mounting for the jack is slimmer too, and that makes it even better for plugging into a mobile device in your pocket.

The driver housing is the biggest change, much slimmer, lighter and more durable than before. So all these tweaks aside, how does it sound? Honestly, it sounds very similar to the Syva, and that’s no bad thing, because it still delivers truly impressive bass for in-ear drivers, distortion free sound with enough volume at the maximum that you’ll likely never need to max them out and they do a pretty decent job of blocking a lot of ambient noise; perfect for when you’re sat on the train/plane.

Music, movies, and gaming are all strong performers for this headset, it’s a solid all-rounder and the microphone is just as detailed and clear as it was on the Syva. This is ideal for making hands-free calls from your phone when you’re out and about, but just as good for Skype on your desktop, or team chat on something like the PlayStation 4. Overall, a mostly aesthetic and design quality improvements from the last generation, but better out-of-the-box connectivity, lighter design, and slightly better spec are nothing to complain about.

Price

The Roccat Aluma are available from Scan.co.uk for a very modest £35.87, although we’ve seen them at most major retailers for around the same price, so we advice shopping around for the best deal. This is excellent value for money, especially given the lackluster sounds and build quality you’ll find on most over-the-ear gaming headsets for the same money.