I hadn’t heard of SADES until I was given the opportunity to check out the $80 SNUK headset. Devices in this price range are great to check out as so many people look at a $300 headset and weep, myself included. So the question is, do you get enough bang for your buck from the SNUK?
The first thing I noticed is that the SNUK is a good looking pair of headphones. It has a sturdy style sitting somewhere between the slimline beasts and the usually clunky looking cheaper headsets. The biggest note is the shiny plastic look they have.
The headsets are plastic heavy, which is much expected in this price range. SADES would have done better to have given it a matte finish because the shiny plastic does look like it is a cheaper headset. Which to be for it is, and one benefit to all that plastic is it is light.
One thing a lot of expensive tech peripherals do is light up, especially mice and keyboards. This doesn’t normally happen with headsets but the SNUK has had a crack at bringing it into the space and to be honest, I don’t get why. When you are wearing the headset you don’t notice it so it doesn’t enhance your experience, and if you leave it plugged in and your PC goes idle, it regularly stays lit up which is odd. I get why they tried it because not wearing it is quite cool, but it doesn’t enhance the gaming experience for you.
One thing with any headset that is super important is how comfortable it is. The pricier wireless headsets with all the features can get heavy, and even with expensive padding you are always aware you are wearing a headset. The comfortable padding around the headset and cheaper foam around the ear cuffs added to how light it is was enough to make it easy to forget I was wearing a headset at times.
When it came to the sound quality for the audio and mic I was happy. When I put the volume up on the PC to 55% I started hearing a lot of crackling. Now to be fair to the headset, at the loudness my deaf arse was uncomfortable with the volume, so at usable levels I was happy with the sound. The mic picked up some background fuzz in my tests, but it wasn’t a lot.
One annoyance is that the headset only has a USB plug. Given a lot of console controllers also offer 3.5mm jack inputs on consoles, a splitter with that as an option would elevate the headset quite a way. But as the headset is at the cheap end it is a fair concession to make with the volume controls on the cable super easy and useful throughout my testing.
At the end of the day this is an $80 headset, and for that price I am happy with what I got. It bounced enough during testing that I wouldn’t be worried about kids breaking them easily, and they fit my son’s head better than all of my other headsets. If you want more features you are going to have to spend more money, but if you need a cheap entry point you will be happy with the SADES SNUK.
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