Creative SoundBlaster X Pro-Gaming H5 Headset Review

Peter Donnell / 8 years ago

Introduction

Creative are on of the most iconic and instantly recognisable brands on the market when it comes to audio. Having created some of the most popular and best-performing consumer audio products for the PC market over the last few decades, I’m sure many of you, if not all of you, have owned or used a Creative product at one point or another. So when I heard that Creative felt they had one of the best gaming headsets on the market and that it would cost less than £100, I simply had to try it out.

CLEARER, LOUDER, HARDER, BETTER!

“The Sound BlasterX H5 radiates with comfort in every element of the design. It’s made up of reinforced steel headband and aluminium architecture. Sound BlasterX H5 features an ergonomically-tested design that guarantees comfort over long stretches of gaming sessions, and withstand the rigours of gameplay. Specifically designed for our pro-gaming teams, the H5 Special Edition is distinctly branded with a BlasterX label on both side-plates. Fans could use this chance to take their loyalty to a whole new level. Every time they put them on, it’s a way of showing their appreciation for great sound and comfort, and what they consider as the ultimate weapon for their gameplay!” – Creative

There are a few key design aspects that are going to be important with this headset, such as the fact it was designed for eSports. This means you can expect leather ear pads and a semi-closed back design, helping block out all that unwanted, game distracting, ambient crowd noise. We’ll also be expecting the detachable noise-reduction microphone to be pretty robust and focused on your voice, not the voices of the crowd.

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“Experience your game the way it’s meant to be heard. The Sound BlasterX H5 is equipped with large, responsive 50mm FullSpectrum drivers that deliver astounding sound. Rated at 118dB/mW, the Sound BlasterX H5 is among the loudest gaming headsets of its class. Feel the tremor of every bone-shattering explosion and hear the rattle of gunfire in your gameplay, like no other.” – Creative

The packaging for the H5 is pretty stylish, with a clear bowl-shaped lid on the top showing us a fairly uncompromised view of the actual headset.

Around the back, there’s a little run down of some of the features, as well as the included accessories.

In the box, you’ll find the headset, obviously, as well as a detachable microphone, 3.5mm 4-pole to dual 3.5mm 3-pole extension cable and a 3.5mm 4-pole in-line controller cable.

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A Closer Look

The in-line controller is really nice, with a brushed metal top and the X logo on the front. There’s a large metal slider here too, making it easy to toggle the microphone mute on and off.

Down the side, you’ll find a master volume control wheel, as well as a multi-function button that will be very handy when using the headset with a mobile device.

The headset certainly looks impressive, with a durable metal headband that also forms the ear cup mounts. The backs of the drivers are very nicely finished, with the Sound Blast X logo tastefully applied to give it a bit of a “gamer” style edge, but still managing to look professional at the same time. The overall build quality feels amazing, really flexible on the headband, yet still very durable, lightweight and with an excellent quality finish to look at and touch.

Here you’ll find the bottom of the ear cup has two cutaways, one for the microphone and the other for the audio connection cable, each with a custom shaped hole that allows a clean and secure fitting.

The headband comes with a very forgiving soft leather padding wrapped around it, which helps beautifully distribute the weight of the headset and since it’s already fairly lightweight, that means excellent long-term comfort for those marathon gaming sessions.

The drivers have a good range of pivot to them, helping ensure a clean and close fit around your ears. With even more super luxurious and soft leather on the ear cups, you can almost forget you’re wearing a headset.

While the adjustable headband goes from a size small enough for younger gamers to its rather large maximum extension.

Creative made big claims about the acoustic performance of this headset and thankfully for everyone, they weren’t making it up. The 50mm FullSpectrum drivers deliver incredible presence and volume that’s sure to satisfy any listening environment, but they manage to do so with a beautifully balanced and detailed sound that really puts the thrill into your music, movies, and gaming. The bass is pretty punchy without feeling out of balance to the rest of the range too, although this is thanks in no small part to the closed design and snug fitting of the leather ear pads, as it really helps tighten up that lower end, while blocking out a reasonable amount of ambient noise.

While they’re certainly fantastic for gaming, giving you a really big open sound that I wouldn’t have expected from closed back drivers, I found them even better for music. The detail that comes out in some of my test albums really puts up a good fight that will satisfy fans of pro-audio music headphones that are often many times more expensive.

Creative is well-known for their processing technologies, and the H5 comes equipped with their BlasterX Acoustic Engine software, allowing you to tune in your favourite configurations for optimal performance. While the settings do have a big effect on the sound and you may find one that best suits your needs, I have to admit that the stock performance was just too good for me to want to make too many changes.

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The microphone locks in nice and secure, allowing you to easily bend and twist that flexible boom to your desired location. There’s also a huge windshield on the end, which helps cut a lot of higher frequencies and unwanted noise. With heavy background noise, you still get really punchy and clear chat audio, so I have no doubt that it’ll do a good job in a busy LAN environment, office or even just at home.

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Final Thoughts

Price

A premium headset comes with a premium price tag, so you can expect to get very little change from £100 for the Creative SoundBlaster X H5, although I must admit that’s actually a little cheaper than I was expecting, as the H5 goes toe-to-toe with more expensive competing headsets in terms of acoustic performance and build quality. Right now, the H5 fan be picked up from Scan.co.uk for £85.92 + shipping.

Overview

Creative have really put themselves back on to my radar with this headset, I was expecting it to be pretty great overall, but it’s still exceeded my expectations. Admittedly, I’m not about to ditch my own full-time headset, the Astro A40, but these a damn close contender in my honest opinion. They’re a little more expensive than some of their competitors, however, such as the Kingston Cloud II, Corsair Void, Siberia V3, to name but a few, but I think they have a little bit more of a premium look and feel to them that makes the extra investment feel worthwhile.

The build quality is faultless, and you can see in our photos today that this is one slick-looking headset. The fit is super comfortable and after long gaming sessions, I felt virtually no fatigue from wearing them. The in-line controller, braided cable, soft leather padding, durable metal frame and more all add up to a very neat package here.

The multi-format support is another welcome bonus and something that plays no small part in justifying the slightly higher price tag. Plug them into your PlayStation 4, Xbox One, iPad, mobile, mp3 player, PC and more and they’ll work perfectly. Of course, you’ll only get the software processing on desktop, but the stock performance is great anyway. The added bonus of the detachable microphone means you can use them for calls on mobile devices, or just turn them into headphones when you need to.

Pros

Great sound quality
Comfortable and lightweight fit
Stylish aesthetics
Multi-format support
Detachable high-quality microphone
Easy to use EQ software

Cons

None

“The Creative H5 may have a bit of a price premium compared to their rivals, but the flawless build quality, multi-format support and powerful sound more than make up the difference. A great headset for gaming, movies, music and more.”