I love gaming headsets. I used to be primarily a console gamer and the one thing you can’t do without on those machines now is a solid gaming headset. Yes you can run sound from your TV and chat using cheapy mics, but nothing compares to having full surround sound bouncing around in your brain and being able to hear every little thing that goes on in the game. This is especially true of FPS games where you must be aware of everything, even the slightest sound of an enemy trying to sneak up on you. Lately, I’ve also become a PC gamer and while I can use most of my console gaming headsets on it, it’s a massive pain having to unhook everything from my console and transfer it over to my PC in order to get full surround sound. With that said, I decided to go the dedicated route and get myself a real PC gaming headset from Logitech. Not only that, I went with wireless route so that my hands don’t get tangled up in wires as I try to maneuver around a keyboard and mouse. So with that in mind, I hit up Logitech and had them send me over their new Logitech G930 7.1 Surround Sound Wireless Gaming Headset since I was already using the G19s gaming keyboard and the G700s gaming mouse.
Design and Build
When you first see the Logitech G930, you do get the feeling that these are gaming headsets and not just regular music headsets with a mic attached to it. Like most gaming headsets, the G930 is pretty massive looking with heavy duty looking plastic, metal, and lots of padding.
Starting off with the way the G930 looks, it has a mix of different colors, surface finishes, and textures. The upper band that rests on top of your head is matte black plastic with the G930 name engraved into it. Underneath is a rather thick strip of padding that seems to be wrapped in some sort of soft touch vinyl.
Moving down, the “forks” that are attached to the ear cups are colored in a shiny dark grey that looks almost black. There is a swivel mechanism built into them so they can twist and go into a more flat position when not in use or when storing them for travel. The “forks” are attached to the top band via some pretty heavy duty metal extenders that are etched with measurement lines and numbers. They do this so you can evenly space out the headphones on both ends by lining up the numbers.
Moving on to the actual ear cups, each of these are also made of a matte black plastic but they’ve received a soft touch coating to them giving them a smooth, almost silky feel. The same treatment has also been given to the buttons on the left side. Under the ear cups, you’ll find again the same vinyl like covered padding that was used on the headband portion. This makes the ear pads very soft and plush which means they are very comfortable. There is a red plastic spacer between the padding and the outer shell giving the G930 a tiny bit of color in an otherwise sea of dark colors.
Attached to the left ear piece, you’ll find the mic. The mic is pretty flexible and can bend left or right for better positioning. When not in use, you can flip it up and out of the way. This also serves another purpose where if you’re in chat mode, flipping it up will mute the mic for you. A little light will pop up letting you know that it is muted. This is an excellent feature and much easier than searching for a mute button to press, though you can do that too.
In short, I like the way the G930 is designed. It fits great on your head and is very comfortable and offers ample padding. The use of the different finishes seems a bit weird but it seems to work here. Buttons are easy to reach as they are quite large and very recognizable by touch and being able to flip the mic up to mute is a very handy feature that I very much appreciate.
Usage
Setting up the Logitech G930 couldn’t be easier.First you’ll want to head over to Logitech’s website here and download the Logitech Gaming software if you haven’t already done so. If you already have other Logitech gaming hardware, you’ll probably already have this installed.
Next, take the wireless receiver base and plug one end into a free USB port on your computer. The other cable that is attached to the base is used for charging your G930 when it runs out of power. On top of the wireless receiver base is another USB port that you attach the actual wireless receiver in to. You need this part in order for the G930 to work with your PC or Mac. Turn on your G930 and that’s it. It should connect right away and work without any real configuration.
After setting up the hardware, you can then go into the Logitech Gaming Software and adjust the G30’s settings. The software allows you to set custom actions for the G1, G2, and G3 keys on the side of the headset, though you’ll probably want to leave them as their default settings which are for media play.
It also allows you to adjust audio level settings for the volume and mic, but also lets you get more precise with being able to adjust the level of bass and treble. You can get even more advanced and adjust the audio using the advanced equalizer settings.
The next setting screen lets you test the 7.1 surround sound and lets you adjust the sound levels for each channel. At default, they are all the same but you can change this to your liking.
The last settings screen is for voice masking. Logitech calls this Voice Avatars. Here you’ll be able to mask your voice to sound like any number of preinstalled profiles. The software can make you sound like a robot, and alien, or even a hamster. You can even adjust the pitch of each profile. If that’s not enough, you can also purchase additional voice profiles online to use.
Of note, you don’t really need the wireless receiver base for the G30 to work. You can just use the actual receiver unit and plug it into any free USP port. The base is mainly for those who might not have access to front USB ports. You will however still need a micro USB cable to charge the G930 when the power runs low.
If you have speakers hooked up to your computer as well, you’ll have to pull out the wireless receiver if you want to hear audio out of your speakers. The PC basically will switch all audio to the Logitech Wireless Receiver regardless if you have the G930 on or not.
While actually wearing the G930, I found the headset to be very comfortable over long periods of time. The ear cups are very well padded and they fit perfectly over your ears. I love that while using this, I no longer had to worry about having my hands or body getting tangled up in wires. I also love the fact that I don’t need to go searching for the audio controls on my keyboard or on a wire as they are conveniently placed on the left ear and all the buttons are easily distinguished by touch. I also really love that I don’t need to fumble around for the mute button either as I can easily just flip the mic up and it will automatically mute it for me. Very convenient feature to have.
Of course the real reason you would buy this is for the sound and I will say that it is simply amazing. With 7.1 surround sound, I’m able to hear everything in a game as if I was really there. You can hear exactly where all the sounds are coming from as well as sounds you wouldn’t normally hear coming out of your speakers. You can hear footsteps coming up from behind you, guns shooting off in the distance, again, everything as if you were right in the middle of the game. Also, if chatting without another person, I found the chat audio to be very crisp and loud. I had to turn down the chat audio a bit so it wasn’t too loud and as for the mic, my friend said it was coming in loud and clear with no distortion or background sounds.
Overall, this is everything you want in a gaming headset.
Final Thoughts
I absolutely love the Logitech G930. It’s very easy to set up on a PC especially if you already have other Logitech G-series hardware installed. If you don’t, installing the driver for it is a simple download from their site. Just remember you need to install it first before plugging in the the headset. For me, I love how comfortable they feel and how loud they are when you need them to be. It also cuts out a lot of background noise in the room so all you really here is the game you’re playing or the music your listening too.
On the negative side of things, you can’t really use the G930 on anything else other than a PC or Mac. I tried hooking it up to my PlayStation 3 via USB port and all it’s good for is in game chat and chat audio. It does not play sounds from games. The PS3 recognizes the device, it just doesn’t output sound via the USB ports.
Overall, the G930 is a fantastic gaming headset for PC gamers. There’s not much you’ll find wrong with it as it hits all the critical features you’d want in a gaming headset. It’s also pretty affordable if you shop around for it.
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