Throughout my time gaming, I’ve gone through my fair share of headsets. I’m not particular per se, but there are definitely characteristics I’m not willing to compromise on. Here’s what I typically look for:
My Headset Wishlist
- Great sound quality at a decent price
- A clean minimal look that doesn’t look gamer-y with an abundance of angles/branding/etc
- The ability to work seamlessly across multiple devices and scenarios
As you can see, my list isn’t extensive at all. My journey started with the PlayStation Pulse 3D headset which weren’t bad. Then one year at PAX, I stumbled upon the LucidSound booth and picked up pair of LS30 wireless headphones. I loved how they look with their premium feel and finish while not feeling gamer-y with a ton of RGB and angular design. After an abysmal interaction with their customer experience, I picked up a pair of Arctis Pro Wireless headphones and they’ve held strong as my daily drivers for the past five years. The only issue I had was with the pleather ear cups wearing out, but that was easily remedied with a pair of third party cushions.
Then I found the Roccat SYN Max Air headphones. I’ve never used or listened to headphones by Roccat, but I am familiar with their other accessories that adorn our studio like the Roccat Kone XP Air, which we reviewed. Not only that, but Roccat is actually a subsidary of Turtle Beach of which I have a lot of experience of back in the day during the Windows XP era. At that time, their Sound Blaster sound cards were it. I had some high hopes coming into this review then, given their parent company’s audio expertise. Before I dive into my thoughts, let me give you some general info:
In the Box
- SYNC Max Air headset
- removable mic
- USB-C cable
- USB-C to USB-A cable
- wireless charging/transmitter dock
- paperwork (boring)
On The Headset
- USB-C port for charging and updating firmware/profiles/settings
- power button
- bluetooth button
- volume wheel
- mic monitoring wheel
- charging contacts
- port for removable mic
They have a touch of RGB on the charging base and a very cool RGB honeycomb effect on the lower half of the headphones themselves. We all know RGB makes them sound better, but in all seriousness, the SYN Air headphones sound really good. They’re pretty comfortable too with earcups that don’t push too tight against my head. One of my favorite design choices, other than the fact that they don’t use plather, is the choice to not use the ski goggle headband and still maintain their comfort. While I love my Arctis Pros, the headband always leaves a headband indentation across the middle of my head whereas the SYN Max Airs do not. Each side of the headset also has the right amount of tension for adjusting the height. Roccat did a great job of making them slide smoothly while also keeping their position with general use.
In regards to audio quality, the headset sounds pretty good, as I expected, with crisp sound and a pretty good sound stage. The spatial 3D audio works better than I thought it would, with the ability to hear footsteps and the like from every direction. If the default sound is too flat or not quite to your liking, you can hook them up to your Windows PC and change everything from the equalizer to the RGB (obviously). If you have multiple consoles like me, I’m happy to report the headset works when plugged into PS5 via USB and Switch via Bluetooth. With that said, there’s a few gotchas that disappoint me I’ll touch on below.
There are a few design choices that dock a few points from this headset. While I appreciate the rapid charging dock, I wish the magnets were a bit stronger. I feel like I had to make sure the pogo pins made contact every time I set them on to charge by wiggling them slightly to ensure they connect. Another odd decision is that the physical volume wheel doesn’t change the Bluetooth volume for devices like the Switch or a phone/tablet. Even wirder is that it doesn’t change the volume from PS5 when the dock is connected via USB even though the device is fully recognized by the system. Oh, you have a Xbox? Well it doesn’t work at all! The lack of compatability with other devices coupled with omitting audio inputs or HDMI passthrough shows this set of cans is clearly meant for PC gamers, and that’s okay. I planned on these being my PC set anyway, but this also means my Artcis Pro Wireless will remain my main set in my living room since my TV, Switch, PS5, Xbox, and PC all work through it thanks to optical its optical input. The battery life also isn’t as good as my Arctis Pros, however, this really isn’t much of an issue since I just throw them on the charger after a day or two anyway. I hope the pleather holds up and doesn’t start dry rot and fall apart. Another minor gripe is that the headset makes a very loud beep when it’s powered on.
All in all, Roccat has crafted a fine headset with clean aestetics, crisp audio, and a bit of fun RGB flair. These are pretty good if you’re primarily using them on PC and even if you want to use them with PS5, although you will need to plug/unplug the dock via USB between them. They also work great with Switch via Bluetooth (it took Nintendo long enough to add it).
