SteelSound 3H Gamers Folding Headset - First Look and More

First Look:

The SteelSound 3H comes in a clear clamshell package that can be opened without endangering the life of your family.  The package opens easily and can be resealed if you want to package it back up and give to your sister for her birthday.  The headset ships all folded up and looks very tiny at first glance.  When I first opened the package I was surprised that I didn't see the microphone anywhere.

SteelSound 3H Front & Back

SteelSound 3H Closed

After pulling them out of the package and looking at them more closely, I did notice the microphone on the left side.  It is retractable and has very smooth action when pulling it out and pushing it in.  The microphone "boom" is has a thick plastic sleeve that provides durability and smooth retracting action.  When the headset is unfolded you can see the top band that in fact is very comfortable.  It is made from a flexible vinyl, but with proper adjustment fits comfortably on top of your head.  You can also see that SteelSeries has branded this headset with their logos on both sides.

SteelSound 3H Mic Stored

SteelSound 3H Mic Extended

Closer Look:

The ear cups are quite small on this headset, and that is the biggest drawback for me.  They are large enough that you assume that they will cover your ears, but they don't.  Part of your ear is inside the can and the other is squished under the edge of the soft padded cup.  This is comfortable for a while, but really wears on your ear after half an hour or so.  I don't have large ears, and I imagine that this would be more uncomfortable for people with larger ears.  The size of the ear cups leads me to recommend this headset to smaller people with smaller ears.

SteelSound 3H - Inside Can

Mic and Headphone Cable

The connectors are gold plated and this should provide a better signal transfer from your soundcard to the headphones.  I'm not sure if this headset requires gold-plated connectors, but every little bit helps.

Test Setup:

• MSI 975X Platinum PowerUp! Ed Motherboard
• Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 CPU
• Zalman CNPS9700 LED HSF
  
• Crucial 10th Anniversary PC2-5300
• XFX 8800GTX Graphics Card
• Seagate 7200.10 250GB HDD
• Creative X-Fi Platinum Soundcard
  
• Windows XP SP2

On the next page we'll get into testing this headset and see if it's everything we've been waiting for.