Sennheiser PC 350 SE headset

Type: Peripheral
Brand: Sennheiser
Price: £104.99
Purchased from: Amazon.co.uk
Overall rating: 4/5

My previous headset was the Ozone Strato Evo 5.1 gaming headset, which incidentally is the one up from what HolmesyLogic has (at the time of writing) - he's a cheap sod and didn't want to pay for the word "Evo".

That headset served me well. Both times I had it... My first relationship with it was ended abruptly when I got back from work one day to see that one of the earpieces had been snapped off, barely attached, hanging by but a single wire. Not wanting to venture away from something I knew I loved, I bought the same headset, only to be let down again - this time, by the headset itself.  10 months later the sound started to waiver in one ear... a bit of twiddling with the in-line control pod would normally sort this out, and it wouldn't happen too often to be fair, but it was still too annoying, so back to the drawing board I went!

After talking to an old friend, it was pointed out to me that Sennheiser did a gaming headset - I was assured that it was of high build quality, with good sound and high comfort levels. I was sold, so off I went to get myself a brand spanking new headset... It's sad how excited I was..

I was amazed when the package arrived - it was so small! This headset twists and folds such that it fitted into a schmancy little case, measuring just 23 x 20 x 5 cm and looking good enough to taste. I got it out immediately (the headset that is..) and was very impressed by it's look and feel. The ear cups seemed unnecessarily huge, but it really does seem to help with comfort and noise cancellation, as they're extremely comfy to wear (even on really long gaming sessions) and the blocking of external sounds is sufficient enough to make me act like a 90+ year old man whilst wearing them.

Feature-wise they're rather simple, but effective and although the in-line controller on my previous headset with left/right/bass levels etc was nice, I didn't use it. The Sennheiser 350 SE has three positive differences; a braided cable, 'real' audio connections (3.5mm jacks) instead of USB and a headset only volume control - the right earpiece has a spinny circle to manage volume, but unlike before this doesn't alter the volume on my PC, just how it's delivered to the headset. This would be very advantageous for people with speakers, as you don't need to keep adjusting settings between output devices.

My only worry when buying them was about the microphone, as I had previously had a flexible mic - making it easy to bend out/in/up/down, whereas this headset uses a stiff set mic that just rotates up and down. One nifty feature is that moving the microphone up out of the way, actually mutes it, though unmuting can actually take a few seconds and apparently when I mute/unmute the person on the other end can get some strange sounds - not that it bothers me! Overall the mic is great quality with it's only shortfall being the same of every other mic I've heard/tried, which is noise cancelling. My voice is clear, but you still have a faint waterfall sound in the background - though that could be because my PC is sitting on my desk next to me of course.

Long story short, they look good, feel good, sound great and are well worth the money.