SteelSeries H Wireless Dolby 7.1 Headset

UPDATE 9-4-15: I just wanted to add something to my review here that might help others looking to improve comfort. After long sessions of wearing these my ears would sweat, and they would squeeze too tight and be very uncomfortable and eventually painful. I also have some Astro A50s and noticed that the material used for the ear pads on the Astros made them much more comfortable. So I started searching for some ear pads that were either cloth or velour and found these here. Brainwavz HM5 Velor Memory Foam Replacements Earpads - Suitable For Many Other Branded Large Over The Ear Headphones - AKG, HifiMan, ATH, Philips, Fostex. I read a couple reviews of other people using these for their Steelseries H's so I decided to give them a try. And WOW and I am glad I did. They have literally made these 100% more wearable with no discomfort. They are a little hard to install, but I was able to do so without any trimming or cutting. And they work perfect. Nice and soft, without the sweating and tight fit. If you have the Steelseries H's and want them to be more comfortable this is a MUST. Ive added a few pics as well. Thanks for reading. Original Review: Ever since my loved Turtle Beach XP500's broke I have been headset shopping for something equal or better. I know theres been upgrades to the XP500's with the XP510's, but there was 1 main reason I stuck with the 500's. The 500's take 2 AA batteries and the 510's have a built in rechargeable battery. Some might say that having the built in rechargeable is better, but I prefer the 2 AA's and I'll explain. Most of the current wireless gaming headsets out there today use a built in rechargeable pack that gives them about 6-12 hours before the battery dies. This would be fine if all I did was game with my headset. But I use my headset for all audio from my TV. So my laptop, Direct TV, game consoles, smart TV apps, etc. are all connected so any TV audio goes to my headset. So I use them a lot. What I did years back was just buy a bunch of rechargeable AA's so I didnt have to buy new batteries for the headset. With the 500's it was so easy to just pop 2 new recharged batteries in it when they died, and then charge dead batteries. With any headset that has a built in rechargeable battery it essentially becomes a wired headset if you need to use it while it charges. I tried the new Turtle Beach Elite 800's but didnt like the sound. So I exchanged them for the Astro A50's which have great sound. But they have the same issue with the batteries. When they die you have to hook up a USB cable to charge it, essentially making it a wired headset while it charges. Which took an average of 4 1/2 hours to charge. What I did was buy another set of Astro's and have 2 in rotation. Kind of like I did with the 500's batteries. But needless to say this was an expensive solution. $300 for each set times 2 = $600. But it solved the issue. So I figured it was worth it. I was going to just keep it like this until I watched a video called the top 10 gaming headsets. And thats where I first saw the Steelseries H Wireless. I then watched and read several more reviews. And LOVE the way they solved the charging and battery issue. So simple of an idea, yet I havent seen any others do this other than some Trittons for the 360 only. And that is it comes with 2 swappable battery packs. And the receiver itself is also the charging station. So you just take out the dead battery, install it in the charger and put the freshly charged pack in. You never have to charge the headset itself. So it never needs to be wired. Brilliant, yet so simple. And then as is this wasnt enough they sound absolutely awesome. Very crisp and clear. The only drawback is the bass just isnt as punchy as the Astros. But unlike the Astros the Steels have fully customizable EQ settings. The Astro's just have 3 EQ choices. With the Steels you can tweak the audio to your hearts consent with 5 different adjustable bands. Ive made 3 custom sets that have come very close the Astros. The receiver is great as well. As I stated before it doubles as the charger. And has a crisp clear OLED screen. My only gripe is that the screen stays on all the time. And when I turn the brightness all the way down the setting doesnt stick. A couple minutes later the brightness goes back up on its own. I have contacted Steel and I am waiting for a reply about this. The receiver gets its power 2 different ways. You can either power it with USB or a DC adapter it comes with. The adapter is like a cell charger kind with a USB port. It also comes with 4 different plug type options depending on your region. As far as cables they throw the kitchen sink at you. It comes with 6 Cables. Optical, USB, Power, Analog, Mobile, and 360 Chat cable. So whatever your needs you should be covered here. I have my receiver far away from the TV so I just use a 15' USB cable connected to my TV's USB port. This way when I need the receiver either on or off I just use my TV. I would have preferred a way to shut off the receiver with a button. But thats not an option. Maybe later with a firmware update they could make it where the main volume setting button could double as the power button via a long press. And of course there the headset itself which is very nice. Its mostly plastic, but looks premium. I read that it has metal in the headband to prevent it from breaking. Which is exactly what happened to the XP500's along the headband. It only has 2 buttons which I love. It has the power button that doubles as the mic mute with a tap. And the volume button that is clickable which works to also control all the receiver settings. You can use it to toggle through the settings, make changes etc. The mic is fully retractable which is nice. The Astros had a mic that was always out. When you need to mute the mic you just short tap the power button and a red led at the end of the mic indicates you are muted. Another short tap and your mic is active again. So needless to say I love the headset. I hope this has helped anyone reading to get the ONE for them also. Update: In my review I mentioned that I didnt like that the screen on the receiver stays on all the time with no off switch. Well I came up with an idea to remedy this for anyone else that may want the same. Since the way I have it set up is getting power via USB rather than the power plug I thought there must me a way to stop that signal. So I looked up USB toggle and found this. JBtek Raspberry Pi Micro USB Cable with ON / OFF Switch - Easy Start / Reboot ! Im going to run this to the receiver, then run a long USB cable to my TV. Then I will just double sided tape the switch to the stand next to me so I can just turn it off and on as needed. Anyway just wanted to add this to the review. Update to this part. It worked perfect. All I have to do now to turn off the base station is push the toggle button on the switch and it shuts off. Easy fix. I should have added this earlier. But the us toggle I linked here mas a micro USB connection, and the Steelseries Base station has a mini USB port. So I had to cut off the micro connector on the toggle and wire in a mini USB connector. After that it works great. Just click the toggle to turn it off and on.