As someone who enjoys gaming on a PC, it is always a struggle to find the right combination of a quality headset with a decent microphone. Gamers will know and understand that your gameplay relies on what you can hear around you and how well you can communicate with your teammates.
Now, as a gamer who plays many different games including Warcraft III TFT, World of Tanks, Civilization 5 and more, I do enjoy playing with online friends which means people need to be able to hear my voice.
Cue the Logitech G430 gaming headset. While using the Logitech provided headset, I found that comfortable, reliable, and feature packed headsets are not out of reach financially. With its 7.1 Dolby surround sound speakers and its noise-cancelling microphone, the G430 has a lot to offer most PC gamers. Throughout my review I will be covering the following topics: the unboxing, build quality, speakers and microphone quality, features, and finally my overall thoughts.
Figure 1 – The G430 on their box.
Unboxing the G430
When unboxing the G430, you’re first greeted with the vibrant blue headphones. Then you’ll find the user manual underneath along with the non-detachable 7.5ft audio cable. To the left hand side there will be a Logitech branded USB to audio + microphone 3.5mm adapter.
The headphones right out of the box were fairly comfortable on my head after adjusting the headband. The boom microphone swung down directly in front of my mouth, keeping it far enough away from my mouth, yet low enough that it was not visible/distracting to my vision. The actuator arm on the boom microphone is also well built, as while shaking my head to demonstrate movement, the microphone stayed firmly by my mouth.
Figure 2 – USB to Audio + Microphone adapter.
The included USB to audio/microphone adapter, as shown in figure 2, allows users, like myself, who own a laptop or PC that have a single combo jack to be able to use the G430. Combo jacks are more common than ever as it saves manufacturing costs, so it’s nice to see Logitech providing the adapter for those people.
As I said above, the G430 comes with a blue 7.5ft (2.3m) braided audio cable. This may seem nice at first as desktop users can plug their headsets directly into either a sound card or motherboard, but for laptop users, you end up with a substantial amount of cable lying around. The cable does have a Velcro strap that could be used to tidy away any excess
Finally, with first use of the headphones, you may find the speaker sound to be muffled or muted. Headphones should always be broken-in before putting them to full use. Before testing, I made sure to break-in the 7.1 surround sound speakers by playing my music collection on very low volume and increasing the volume incrementally for a few hours. This should be done with any headphones before using them at high volumes.
Figure 3 – The G430 headphones in their “lie flat” position.
Build Quality
Built and designed by a brand that is very well spoken of, both in the gaming community and here at TSF, I would assume the G430 to have an adequate build quality.
For a headset that costs $79.99, it puts the G430 in the midrange area as far as gaming headsets go. The outside headband is a plastic shell that surrounds a thin metal band which is actually quite sturdy. The earpieces are also constructed out of a plastic housing, but keep in mind that due to the plastic housings this significantly lowers the weight.
The padding around the headset is a soft cloth material and offers a thick padding that allows users to wear the headset all day long without any discomfort. Although the padding is not memory foam it still provides a comfortable sit on your head. Let’s also not forget about the thick headband padding that adds extra support.
The microphone is well positioned along the left ear cup and is adjustable. It has an active listening microphone that is pointed towards your mouth, as well as a secondary noise cancellation microphone to stop outside noise from being picked up. A boom microphone is not liked by some. However, I was pleased with it as when listening to music, I could move the microphone away from my face.
Finally, there is the extremely long braided audio cable that is also well built. The cable appears to be capable of many years of use (something I am unable to test) and also has a volume wheel and sliding mute switch right on the cable itself. Having the volume wheel is a plus as you can keep your PC volume at a stock setting, but adjust the headset’s volume separately.
Figure 4 – The G430 with cable and adapter.
Speakers and Microphone Quality
This is actually my first experience with a full gaming headset. Previously if I were playing a game where I had to speak to my teammates, I had to either use my laptop’s built in microphone or fall back to my Logitech H555 headset, which I would only normally use for phone calls.
Beginning with the speakers, I tested the G430’s speakers against many different types of headphones including the: Beyerdynamic Custom One Pro, Beats by Dr. Dre, and Shure SRH440. Now, with the exception of the Shure, both the Beyerdynamic and Beats headphones are far away from the $80 price tag. However, my testing outcome may be something of a shock.
As these are gaming headphones, I mainly tested them in a gaming environment. The G430’s speakers worked exceptionally well compared with the two high end headphones. The G430 provided me with outstanding quality and sounds while listening to either gameplay or music. First I tested the headphones in World of Tanks where there are many explosions and an environment that has sounds coming at you through 360 degrees. The Shure lacked in providing me with a clear indication of which direction the sound came from, whereas the G430 was clear. I then tested the G430 with gameplay plus music in the background. This test actually out preformed both the Custom One Pros and Beats. Personally, I feel that it handled the multiple sounds better. Let’s also not forget that the G430 is the only unit here to have a microphone.
When it came to video and music playback the Custom One Pros and Beats did well to outperform the G430, but that is understandable as both are above the $200 price tag. Saying that, it does not mean the G430 had a poor rating while listening to music, but rather could be better tuned for such.
As I do not have any microphones to compare, I used the next best thing and tested the G430 against my laptop’s built in microphone. This offers a standard which most people will be able to relate to. While using the gaming chat program, Ventrilo, along with the built in Steam voice chat, people listening to me said that they could hear me well and without any issues. I decided to play music on a portable speaker about 15 feet away from me to test the noise cancellation microphone. With my voice on push-to-talk, I was surprised to find that people listening to my voice claimed that they could not hear the music at all while I was talking. In the end, I asked the people listening whether I sounded better using the laptop microphone or the G430. They stated that I was louder as well as better to understand when I was using the G430.
Figure 5 – Logitech Gaming Software
Features
The premium feature of these headphones is the Dolby 7.1 surround sound speakers. As most headphone or gaming enthusiasts know, Dolby speakers are some of the best you can get. They are equivalent to how most gaming keyboards use CherryMX switches.
The 7.1 surround sound performs by having seven channels of audio that have a low-frequency effect. The game outputs where a sound is coming from at which point, it is interpreted by the headset to indicate which direction the sound came from. It’s as if you’re actually in the battlefield.
Each earpiece has a 40 mm driver that has a 32 ohm input impedance. The earpieces have a frequency range between 20 Hz – 20 KHz and have a sensitivity of 90dB. The microphone on the other hand has an impedance of ~2.2K ohm and a frequency range of 50 Hz – 20 KHz.
Next is a feature I came to really enjoy, which was the lie flat earpieces. The earpieces on the headphones swivel through 90 degrees which allows you to rest them on your chest, so that they are out of your way if you’re not currently using them. Since they have the ability to swivel, this also means they are less prone to breaking if dropped.
Although I did not use it much, Logitech does offer its own custom software to fine tune the headset’s sounds. Running on either Windows Vista, 7 or 8 and using the included USB adapter, the Logitech software has the ability to change how the headset performs and sounds. This is nice for people who wish to fine tune their headsets.
Finally, there are the ear cups sport padding. We all know that sitting for hours with our headsets on and playing some hardcore games can increase the heat and sweat in your head. Logitech has designed the G430 to have sport performance cloth ear cups that are removable for washing. This makes cleaning your headset that much easier.
Figure 6 – Logitech G Logo
My final thoughts
All in all, I am quite happy with the Logitech G430 gaming headset. It offered more than I expected and did it all within a budget friendly $79.99. I found prolonged usage of the headphones to be comfortable and offer [S]an[/S] excellent noise cancelling from outside noise, whereas the sound and microphone perform as gamers would expect them to. With its three year warranty, you can’t go wrong with these headphones and it seems to be that Logitech has done an excellent job at once again creating another great product.
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