Gioteck Headset EX-05s Review

Gioteck”s EX-05s headset has been around for a while and this year, they launched a new edition that”s now compatible with the PlayStation 4. You can still use these with a PC, Mac, PS3 and Xbox 360, making them a good all-around choice at a decent budget.

You”ll need a free USB port to connect this headset to your PS4. At first look, the mess of cables is somewhat intimidating but with a bit of patience and wrangling, you can have the whole thing set up in just a minute, since there”s no need to fiddle around the back of your system. It comes with all the cables you”ll need to hook up to any of the aforementioned consoles, and a handy 3.5mm jack cable to hook up to the PS4 controller for voice chat. So much cabling. Gioteck have been very generous with the length, providing 4.6m of cable so you should be able to sit comfortably away from your console in pretty much any normal setting. Unless you”re one of those Americans who actually has a living room large enough to handle Kinect.

The remote control has separate volume controls for voice and game and a handy mute switch if you need a bit of privacy. There”s a bit of weight to it but enough length in the wire to rest it in casino your lap or on a desk if you have one. I did notice that if you opt to skip plugging in the voice cable for the PS4 – you may just be watching Netflix, for example – the main volume is then controlled by the voice volume dial rather than the game dial. Not a problem, just a bit of unexpected behaviour.

The cans themselves are large and sit comfortably over my ears. I found the headband would leave them slightly loose against my head, which means that people with normal sized heads will probably find them quite comfortable. They have leatherette coverings which you expect to be rather oppressive in these sweaty summer months but I actually found them fine, again, probably due to the cups not sitting tightly against my tiny head.

Priced at about £35 from online shops, don”t expect to get full 5.1 or 7.1 audio but it”s clear, crisp and the directional quality is good enough to hear an enemy creeping up behind you in Destiny. Partly thanks to the wires, the microphone provides excellent sound quality for your teammates. The rubber arm bends easily to move it towards or away from your mouth and the whole thing swings up beside your head when not in use. When plugged into my PC I did get quite a big of background hiss so I wouldn”t recommend this for podcasting but it”s fine for gaming. Here”s a quick demo taken from a PS4 Twitch stream that I did using the headset.

Watch live video from Weefz on Twitch

The headband is unusual in that it has two separate aluminium bands running across the top of your head with a mesh cloth between. This does a great job of avoiding that annoyingly painful situation where a single band presses directly onto the sensitive top part of your skull. The aluminium bands are padded with a thin layer of foam and leatherette so are quite comfortable for long gaming sessions. The giant cans though, make the headset somewhat annoying if you”re in the habit of slouching all over the sofa while watching a show or playing a more relaxing game. I found that the whole thing would press uncomfortably against the sofa cushions far more intrusively than any other headset I”ve tried.

If you”re looking for a budget headset that you could use on multiple systems, then the Gioteck EX-05s is a great choice. The giant cable does make it a little unwieldy and you”ll have to be content with a tangled mess in the corner of your room, but it does the job well.

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