SteelSeries Steel Sound 4H Headset Conclusion

Performance

To test the sound quality of the 4H, I played a few of my favorite PC games and listened to a variety of songs on my desktop, laptop and iPod Nano. The games I played were Quake 4, F.E.A.R., Doom 3 and RTCW: Enemy Territory and sound was delivered by a SoundBlaster Live! Sound card. The music I listened to included a wide range of music types, including rap, hip-hop, alternative, classical and since it is the holiday season - some Christmas music mingled in for something different. All testing was conducted with the sound settings in Stereo mode. To test the microphone, I used Skype exclusively.

Since the 4H is primarily designed to be used in gaming, I spent the majority of time using them while playing Quake 4, F.E.A.R. and RTCW: ET. All three games sounded excellent using the 4H, with both ambient sound effects and enemy sounds coming in clearly and distinctly. The separation of sound effects and the accuracy of the reproduction made it easy to track enemy movement while gaming, which is an important feature for any set of headphones to have for FPS gaming. The gunfire and explosions were also easily handled by the 4H s, and there was no fuzziness or other loss of sound clarity from these high-impact effects.

In terms of comfort, the 4H's are top notch and are incredibly comfortable to wear. I wore them for multiple sessions of 2+ hours, and had no issues whatsoever with them feeling heavy or causing any ear discomfort. Their light weight and soft cushioned ear cups and headband make this one area where the 4H's really excel.

During my music listening sessions I found that the 4H s produce a smooth, complete soundstage that makes for an enjoyable listening experience. Although they are not portable, they did an outstanding job with music on my iPod. I did find that the high frequencies were a little brighter than I liked. Adjusting the treble to a lower setting in the sound equalizer helped to even out the sound, and the complete spectrum of frequencies was more balanced. I also found that the bass on the 4H s was not quite as powerful as other headphones I have auditioned in this price range. The bass response was tight and not muddy sounding at all, but even after turning up the bass in the sound EQ, the punch was not as emphatic as what you will find with other closed-air earphones such as the 3H.

Side of the 4H's	Microphone Volume Control	View of the microphone

During my testing of the microphone, my voice was picked up accurately and the other people I spoke with on Skype had no trouble hearing me. I made multiple calls and had no issues with background noise, even though there were other people in the room with me. The retractable microphone was easy to pull out of the ear cup, although it does require two hands to pull it out or to push it back in. The adjustable microphone volume control attached to the cord is also a very nice touch. It allows you to adjust the volume level of the microphone from Off to Low or High without having to access any software to make the change. It also was easy to adjust and stayed in place while I moved my head throughout the testing. Overall, the microphone was quite handy when I needed to use it and was not awkward to get out of the way when I did not need it.

My only real complaint with the 4H's is entirely a personal preference that many people may not find to be an issue. Because of the open design, the 4H's block out very little external environment noise. I like to be completely immersed in whatever game I am playing or song I am listening to, and get easily distracted by outside noise. Dogs barking, doors opening and closing and anyone talking are all distractions that annoy me when I am trying to focus. By design, the 4H is not meant to block out these types of noises.

Steel Series SteelSound 4H Headset

Pros: Outstanding sound, extremely comfortable, effective microphone, reasonable price.

Cons: Allows external noise in, bass is not as emphatic as other competing headphones.

The Verdict: With balanced and overall excellent sound for both gaming and music listening, as well as an extremely comfortable fit, the SteelSound 4H deserves a very hard look for your next set of headphones.

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