Cooler Master MasterPulse Pro Gaming Headset Review

Usage & Final Thoughts
The Master Pulse Pro headset has been my main headset for a week now. This means I’ve used it while editing audio, video, playing video games, and listening to music. It’s been hooked up to my PC and we’ve shared our ups and downs. It has great noise cancellation in comparison to other headsets and the sound is amazing. I was skeptical at first when I saw that the Bass FX technology was just the panels on the side of each ear cup. It does make a difference though.

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The comfort levels of the padding is top notch. I don’t think any of the headsets I’ve used before can compete with them. However the bigger your head is the more the aluminum frame will shut as you’re putting more pressure on it. This caused some serious headaches at first but it does eventually get better with use.

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Although there is no actual boom microphone to adjust, there is a microphone on the left ear cup and I knew this was going to be a problem from the moment I saw it. When just talking to friends they described my voice as muffled or under water. Although it is clear it wasn’t as crisp as using a traditional microphone or even some boom mics. This was likely due to the padding needed to protect from sound bleeding through from the headset itself.

In the same conversation I was playing a game with a friend and the audio did bleed over as expected. This got me wondering about some of the other features as well and how they would sound when put to the test. So here is the test that I decided to run. While recording the microphone, I would listen to the same song at a volume level of 10 on the headset. I would record twice with the headset on, normal use. Once with Bass FX On (the panels are off) and once with the panels on, Bass FX off. Then I would record two more times with my just holding the headset in air just to see how much sound the microphone captures, and again once with Bass FX on and off. Here are the results:

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This is all of the audio the microphone captured, it was not excessive it was normal use. If i were streaming, my audience would hear this. If I were gaming with friends in a group chat, they would be listening in to my game, or in this case my music.

With this said though, the audio is amazing. Looking at the yellow bar you can tell that Bass FX does make a significant difference. This is a major advantage when gaming as you do get the sound of clearer footsteps when tested on Counter Strike: Global Offensive. Music where bass is a priority and taking the panels off makes a massive difference.

I really wish there was software for me to test out the different EQ modes and to even configure the 7.1 surround sound. As mentioned above, at the time of this review no software was made available from Cooler Master. I would have enjoyed this headset a bit more if it also came natively with 3.5mm connecter instead of USB, or perhaps an adapter in order to use this on console or even on the go.

Overall I felt like the microphone wasn’t great, with the amount of issues on the noise bleeding through it was better to use my own microphone instead. The real selling point of the MasterPulse Pro comes in the audio and how much of a difference Bass FX makes. For usage on the go, let’s say watching a movie with 7.1 surround sound on a plane trip would be amazing. It does solve one problem but not the other so you might be better off looking for a complete solution. For that ThinkComputers gives the Cooler Master MasterPulse Pro Headset a 7 out of 10 score.

Award 7 out of 10

The MasterPulse Pro is scheduled to release November 11, 2016.

Pros:
● Audio quality
● Comfortable padding
● In-line options

Cons:
● Microphone quality
● Audio bleeds through and the microphone picks it up
● No adapter for mobile or console usage.

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