Gaming headsets. There are many different options out there and today we are going to take a look at Sennheiser’s G4ME ONE and G4ME ZERO to see if either these these headsets meet your game audio needs.
It is easy to see that the G4ME ZERO and G4ME ONE are sister products. At first glance the two headsets pretty similar. They are both solidly built, weight 312 grams and both contain two 1/8 inch jacks at the end of the connecter cable, one for the headphones and one for the mic. If you want to use these headsets with a console, you will need to use an adapter to combine the two cables. The adapter we tested with is from Sennheiser.
Both headsets feature two transducers in the ear pieces for audio output. They have been optimized to provide extremely accurate reproduction of the game audio and each unit is mechanically and acoustically tested. G4ME ZERO and G4ME ONE both live up to that claim and the sound quaintly is excellent. I had no problem at all distinguishing my friend’s voices versus the in game audio.
The headsets have handy volume controls on the right ear that make adjusting the volume very easy when you are playing. No more scrambling for the tv remote.
Sennheiser claims that both headsets are noise cancelling so that you are not disturbed by your surroundings. I found that they weren’t completely sound proof and I could hear around me if someone called out. Mind you that I don’t game with the volume turned up to eleven.
The microphone resides on the left side and is also noise cancelling. Catherine and I played some multiplayer Assassin’s Creed 4 Black Flag and she found my voice to be very clear but had a slight bit of compression. We are assuming that the compression is coming from the PlayStation 4 for internet optimisation. You can easily mute your voice instantly by lifting the microphone. You will hear a distinct mechanical click when you do so.
Now to the differences. The ear pads on each of the headsets are made of two different fabrics. G4ME ONE is a velvety felt like material and the G4ME ZERO is leather like. They are both very comfortable but I prefer the G4ME ONE. It feels like a pillow on the side of your head. I also found that the fabric let air flow through better than the leather so that my ears didn’t get sweaty.
Another difference between the headsets is portability. G4ME ZERO is designed to be collapsable and comes with a hard carrying case to protect your headset during travel.
The last difference lies in the price. G4ME ONE is $249.95 USD and G4ME ZERO is $279.95 USD. The $30 difference definitely has to do with the collapsibility and the case. The prices are in the mid range for gaming headsets.
All in all a good series of gaming headsets by Sennheiser. They are very comfortable to wear, sound great and have handy features like the mic mute and the ear mounted volume control. My end choice between the two would be the G4ME ONE just for the earpiece fabric. I would forego the portability for comfort and the lower price doesn’t hurt either.