We console folk are a simple people when it comes to our gaming experience. Plug and play is our mantra and with the EPOS Sennheiser GSP 370, that now applies to our listening experience in 2021, as well. For without simplicity we might as well be on PC.
One of the most important features for any gaming headset isn’t comfort or build materials, but in this writer’s opinion; battery life. EPOS GSP 370 is advertised as having 100 hours of battery life and throughout my time with the headset, it’s a fantastic selling point for one of their less expensive offerings.
While i tend to be more of an earbuds user, I have enjoyed using EPOS Sennheiser GSP 370 and the simplicity of getting it set up to use on my PS5 and Macbook as well as the overall performance.
Battery Life and Sound
EPOS Sennheiser has been known for years to deliver phenomenal battery life in a whole host of different headsets and earbuds. The advertised 100 hours battery life is pretty accurate if not on the button but that’s to be expected with marketing. After pretty heavy use for the bank holiday weekend, it took until Monday afternoon for the red light to flash which indicates less than 20% battery life. Trust me, you won’t have to worry about plugging these in every night or every second night. One downside, however, is that GSP 370 uses a micro USB to charge.
The Microphone is advertised as a high-end experience but it’s a pretty standard offering. It’s a does what it says on the tin, sort of sound. Having used it for a fair amount of time while playing online and for Zoom sessions, it sounds like you’re speaking to passengers from a cockpit. It suffers from not having a wired connection.
With the Dualsense having a built-in mic, I had hoped for a far bigger gap in quality between the GSP 370 and the controller. But, alas it was not to be. However, the GSP 370 mic definitely doesn’t pick up as much of the background noise as the Dualsense mic. The microphone is the same grey colour as the main body of the headphone. To turn the mic off, simply lift it up towards the headband. Put it towards your mouth to turn it on.
Design and Comfort
The design of the EPOS Sennheiser GSP 370 wouldn’t stand out from the crowd when comparing it to the competition. It has a grey and black plastic shell with a healthy amount of padding and fits quite comfortably atop your head. I much prefer headsets to have the understated black or grey look rather than a garish blue of fluorescent green or yellow.
You won’t find any metallic materials in GSP 370 which shouldn’t come as a surprise given it’s seen as the entry-level model in their gaming headset lineup. The plastic material makes the headset far more comfortable to wear for longer gaming sessions when compared to a heavier metal build. Weighing in at only 285 grams, I never felt uncomfortable wearing them or had any sort of strain on my head or neck. It’s a thick plastic that surrounds the headset so it still feels substantial in hand.
There’s a healthy amount of padded fabric underneath the headband that has a mesh pattern that allows it to breathe and not get all sweaty. The earcups fit comfortably on my ears without feeling any sort of strain even after using them for 2-3 hours. The outer layer of the ear cups is a sort of faux suede material that’s extremely pleasant around the ear and gives a premium feel.
On the right ear cup is where you’ll find the volume wheel. It’s not too sensitive so you don’t have to worry about mistakenly increasing the volume too much. It’s a study reduction or increase with every single turn.
Gaming
As purely a console gamer, it’s been a pleasant surprise at the ease of which to set up the EPOS Sennheiser GSP 370. Such a breeze for us simple console folk to not have to worry about firmware and the like and instead just plug in and listen.
So, how do you connect? A little USB Dongle comes with EPOS Sennheiser that allows your headset to connect to the PS5 and PS4. simply plug in the dongle in the front USB port and turn on your headset and it will automatically pair.
Playing games like Horizon Zero Dawn while wearing them gives a new level of immersion that non-headset wearers. You can almost hear bandits’ footsteps as they approach you, or the thud of a nearby thunderjaw that tells avoid that area at all costs. Or at least until you’ve leveled up. Having just received a code for Resident Evil 8, I think it’s worth a test. A terrifying test.
The Bass has a solid amount of depth and doesn’t sound light or tinny. There’s very little, if any, distortion when you turn up the volume considerably, even in an all-action area of a game.
Games like FIFA 21 are where I found the EPOS Sennheiser GSP 370 to really shine. Hearing the crowd shout abuse at each other makes me miss the good auld days of being able to to live sports. The low latency tech inside the headset is greatly appreciated, especially considering that there’s no wired port.
Software Experience for Console and Mac
Or lack thereof to be honest. More and more headphone manufacturers are realising that having a functional app that can change the EQ of your headset is a must. We’ve raved about Jabra’s app offering in the form of the Sound+ app in our review of both the Jabra Elite Active 85T earbuds and Jabra Elite 85H headphones.
The offering from Sennheiser is pretty much exclusive for PC players. Now, I completely understand that these headphones were built with PC players in mind. But to have such a key selling point of the device locked away only for Windows users is an oversight. Like Jabra’s offering, you can change the EQ and other sound options like surround sound in the app.
The Gaming Suite is only available on Windows PC, so for those like me, who play on consoles and work on Mac, it’s a bit of a bummer that you don’t get to experience all of what EPOS Sennheiser GSP 370 has to offer. There is a Sennheiser app in Google Play but unfortunately, the GSP 370 is not on the list of supported devices. Even a simple app for non-Windows PC players would have been greatly appreciated. You’d hope that EPOS Sennheiser would have a little update planned for us console players.
Connecting EPOS | Sennheiser GSP 370 to your Mac is simple. Stick the dongle into a USB port, then click system preferences, then Sound, and then click GSP 370 in the output sub-menu.
In Conclusion
The EPOS Sennheiser GSP 370 offers a sturdy build quality that doesn’t sacrifice comfort as well as being incredibly easy to hook up to both PS5 and MacBook. But, being designed with the PC market in mind means that console and Mac users don’t get the full experience that you’d want for €199. The audio experience is quite good but is let down by the less-than-stellar microphone.
Review unit provided by PR.
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