A lot of people think about, but don't talk about, an odd problem at eSports events. You sort of wince at how the players are able to play while thousands of fans are screaming with their loudest outdoor voices and banging boomsticks together while players are playing intense high level games. The fans are doing everything possible to make as much noise to cheer for their team as they can within this reality and twenty alternate ones. The solution: closed / isolated earcups. These do not allow outside sound in and depending on the quality, they can be very successful. 

In any League of Legends LCS tournament, you'll probably have seen the discontinued GameCom Commander or the new RIG headsets in use from Plantronics. These headsets are horrible for the general gamer - uncomfortable for long periods of gaming, your ears will start to sweat, and there isn't much benefit to having such a closed headset on all the time at that level when the only noise you'll be filtering out is a fan and a cat. Short gaming sessions sure, like on a console or at an event, it makes sense, but for allday gaming? Maybe not. 

Plantronics has come up with an interesting solution to provide a top-notch headset that is capable of being used for all day gaming and for gaming events like LANs, tournaments, etc. The solution: a modular headset that many of the components can be swapped out for, including the cans (the swag way to say earcups). You can switch out the cans, strap, mic, and even the connector (the breakaway) and form a headset to fit your situation, with vented / open earcups for casual gaming and switching in the isolated / closed earcups for event gaming or times you need silence. 

The Chassis In-Depth 

I'll first start with the trendsetting piece of the new Plantronics RIG 500 series: it's fully modular, literally every component of it can be replaced (except recabling the cans, which is a very rare desire on headphones in this price spectrum or with headsets in general). The headset is composed of a chassis with slots for the strap (which is detachable), the cans (in three different positions), and the chassis itself which is tough - I tried to break it with my bare hands and I couldn't. 

Everything does fit very snug on the chassis, I used the headphones for well over a week and nothing ever came lose, but you can easily fiddle and replace the parts without much force. Which is an interesting design, because you would think that for the pieces to be so easily removed that it would fall apart, but not in my experience - everything holds together very well. 

On to the cans, they're connected to a breakaway cable (so that when you roll over the cable with your chair or someone runs in front of you it doesn't snag and bust everything, the cables just break off) which has both a USB and a 3.5mm connector (on the RIG 500E setup). You get two cans in the 500E setup and just one can on the base set. The one that every edition shares is the open version - this applies to both the 500 and 500HD and the second can is the isolating (closed) which appears in the 500E setup. 

A quick aside: there are three versions, the RIG 500 (chassis, strap, vented cans, 3.5mm connector), RIG 500HD (everything the 500 has, but a USB adapter instead of the 3.5mm connector), and the RIG 500E (e-sports edition, chassis, strap, vented & isolated cans, 3.5mm connector and USB connector). 

The entry level editions feature the vented / open earcups because those are going to be the absolute most comfortable all-day gaming setup. You won't specifically need the isolated unless you're around a lot of noise, especially for all-day gaming comfort. That's why the 500E takes advantage of the modular nature and includes both the vented (open) and the isolated (closed) cans. The closed are for events, lans, anywhere that you want to have silence while gaming (consoles too), while the open are for just comfortable natural gaming. 

The breakaway cable is a 3.5mm on the 500 and 500E and USB on the 500HD and 500E. I didn't mess around with the 3.5mm, the beauty of low end sets is when they have their own USB built into it for digital sound - the 500HD and 500E are full 7.1 surround sound capable, but I wasn't able to test the full spectrum of that yet. 

In speaking with Plantronics, they will possibly offer a variety of addons and options post-launch, including the possibility that the chassis will remain but various components will be upgradable, meaning that if you wanted better cans you could purchase better cans, if you wanted a different color you could buy a different color, while keeping your breakaway and your chassis.  

All components seem to be able to take a beating. While obviously no suggested, I did stomp the cans a bit and tried to break various parts and it all stuck together well. 

Hands-On 

First of all, I haven't done much with the 3.5mm, I've done it all with the USB (essentially the 500HD). I'm impressed with the level of quality for the price. Gaming headsets aren't monitor headsets, because gaming needs surround sound, it needs strong bass, and it needs voice clarity. The RIG 500 has done very well in all regards for things that gamers need, especially at this price point. In playing a variety of games, from Witch to Call of Duty, it produced the sounds that I needed to hear the most. It passed all the various tests for frequency response and was able to properly produce binaural sound and was so comfortable, I didn't honestly didn't care to ever unhook it and plug my current setup back in. 

I'm going to let these cook for awhile before giving a super official opinion, after I get the software and try them out some more, but right now they're looking to be a real contender at the $59.99 to $79.99 range. Compared to my older Kraken, these are actually far superior. 

Music plays well and the bass is strong and clean. The only nitpick I have so far is that with the USB adapter, they're a little quiet. I don't know if this is solvable with the software, my computer isn't pumping the sound out, that or my hearing is suffering due to my age. Either way it wasn't a bothersome noticeable oh my god do something about this quiet, just a I couldn't pump the sound out to ear shattering levels (through the USB and that's generally standard). 

Highs, lows, and the bass thump are all well accounted for. The eerie sounds of various monsters lurking in the woods in Witcher and food steps in Battlefield came through clearly for me. While I didn't specifically make a point to analyze music, the music I did listen to came out alright - remember though, gaming headsets while they can do music well, are for gaming, while monitor headphones are for music. Headsets have a mic, headphones don't, for instance, and they have a different focus. Headsets need to get positioning correct (where is someone coming from) while headphones need to get music as clear as possible and hit all of the frequencies.

The mic is actually really solid. It sounds good and if you push it up then it mutes which is a great feature of you don't use push-to-talk and need a way to mute your mic without having to fumble for the breakaway to find the mute button or try to press a button on the side of the headphone. 

I'm happy with my time with them so far and they're a force to be reckoned with in the entry level market. While the 500E is $149.99 and tailored toward the professional crowd (with the ability to switch out the cans), the 500HD is very impressive for $79.99.

The RIG 500 should be available later this year, pricing and details are not yet final and are subject to change. I'll provide some more detailed commentary later on as I play around with them more.

For complete transparency, a review copy of the RIG 500E was provided to Ten Ton Hammer.


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Last Updated: Mar 20, 2016

About The Author

Get in the bush with David "Xerin" Piner as he leverages his spectacular insanity to ask the serious questions such as is Master Yi and Illidan the same person? What's for dinner? What are ways to elevate your gaming experience? David's column, Respawn, is updated near daily with some of the coolest things you'll read online, while David tackles ways to improve the game experience across the board with various hype guides to cool games.

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