Roccat Kulo Virtual Surround Gaming Headset Review

Introduction

Roccat is one of the most popular and well-known gaming brands on the market today, and with some of the best headsets on the market, it’s easy to understand why. Today, I’ll be taking a look at the new Roccat Kulo Surround headset, a more budget friendly offering that promises a huge amount of features for a very reasonable price tag.

“Immerse yourself in the gameplay and experience more! With the ROCCAT Kulo USB headset you get impressive virtual 7.1 surround sound plus an ultra-lightweight headset with two changeable earpad sets and automatic mic-mute function. The external 7.1 USB sound card delivers thrilling surround sound with separately adjustable levels. You hear footsteps behind you to the left, a rustle, shouts – you’ll hear the enemy before you see him. More often than not, your virtual life hangs by a silken thread. The ROCCAT Kulo USB headset makes the difference and gives you a clear advantage over stereo gamers.” – Roccat

What’s unique here is that this headset comes with a standard dual 3.5mm setup for desktop use, where each jack gives the signal for the headphones and microphone respectively. However, it also comes with a USB soundcard that offers up powerful virtual surround processing while also giving us more connectivity options as not every usage scenario has room for 3.5mm or USB connections and more options is rarely a bad thing.

Equipped with powerful 40mm drivers, a good quality bi-directional microphone with noise filtering, a lightweight design and an on-ear over-the-head design, the Kulo certainly sounds promising, so let’s jump right in and take a closer look.

The packaging is typical Roccat design, with a huge window panel that shows off the actual headset, and main specs like the virtual 7.1 surround and 40mm drivers detailed on the front of the box.

Around the back, a more detailed breakdown of features, showing the 3.5mm and USB connectivity, soundcard and microphone.

In the box, you’ll find all the usual documentation, the USB sound card adaptor and an extra set of ear pads.

The ear pads are quite interesting, as the headset comes with a set pre-installed, but some soft leather ones are also included and can be swapped out to suit your preferences.

The headset comes hard-wired with a durable 2.5m cable, more than enough length for desktop gaming.