QPad is growing on me. We’ve been working with them for a little while now, and have had the chance to check out a few of their peripherals of late, mostly their 2019 models, but still. Now we’ve got the chance to really dive into their new range of items, and with it comes the QPad QH-700 gaming headset.
The QPad QH-700 gaming headset is a robust, well built set of headphones, that scream simplicity, but that’s okay. There’s no bells and whistles or frills, and QPad have done a great job of builting a simple gaming headset that just works, and a bonus is they’re plug and play too.
They’re not particularly heavy either and have been an absolute treat to use during longer gaming sessions. I’ve had these on my head for hours at a time, and I’ve never had a feeling of pain or tightness. They weigh around 350 grams and again, that’s not heavy at all.
They’re also built surprisingly well too, and have a metal spine running through the headband. The steel sliders are nice and firm, and the areas that connect to the cups themselves are again metal, and the hinges feel solid. The issue I have though, and it’s a bit of a pet peeve of mine with headphones, are the exposed cables between headband and earcup. The cups are covered in memory foam padded leather which does help with comfort as well.
The cups themselves house a 50mm driver, which fit over the ears. The cups are closed, which help with noise isolation, but unfortunately, produce a very narrow soundstage compared to open-back headphones. But for immersion sake, the boomy rumble you get from firing guns or blowing up C4 in a game or even smaller audio cues like shattering glass or footsteps running around a corner. The frequency response sits between 15 and 25,000 Hz, which is very generous with all types of media, from games to audio to video media.
The QPad QH-700 gaming headset uses conventional hard-wired 3.5m jack connection to connect to your PC, or games console as these do work with Xbox and Playstation too, and because of their plug and play nature, make them a wonderful headset to pick up without the need to faff around with drivers or install files. There’s an extender cable if your PC is sitting on the floor, or if you just need a bit more slack when gaming. There’s also a detachable mini condenser microphone which has an adjustable boom arm, which sounds alright, but it’s no match for your usual streaming setup with a Blue Yeti or similar on the desk. I use my QH-700s with a GoXLR Mini, and they’re wonderful, as I can get just the right balance by using the slider on the mixer and also the volume wheel on the right earcup. There’s also a mute button just above that to cut off audio through your microphone if you’re not using something external like an XLR microphone into an audio interface or a USB condenser like a Blue Yeti. I don’t use the onboard microphone myself, I have my Rode Podcaster mic plugged into the GoXLR mini.
The QPad QH-700 gaming head is an incredibly solid piece of kit, that doesn’t mess around with virtual sound or fiddly drivers or equalisers to get lost in, so if that’s your bag, then give these a miss. But if you’re like me who just need a simple set of headphones, with a 3.5mm aux cable to plug into your PC, or even into a GoXLR or similar audio interface, then you can’t go wrong. They retail for around £60 – 65 online from various retailers, making them very competitive in the gaming market. For more information, head over to the QPad website.
