Quality audio makes the music and the gaming. Its what brings the scene or the music to life-like quality. The Steel Sound 5H headset, from Steelpad, certainly fits the bill. Steelpad has been known to gamers primarily for their Steelpad mouse pads. However, they moved into the sound sector with ease. One explanation for this is that they position themselves as gamers’ suppliers, meaning their hardware is geared towards gamers. We received a set of these to take a look at. I’m an owner of Bose headphones and I like my sound. I’m not the easiest guy in the world to impress when it comes to audio quality. Well, how do these compare?

The Package

The packaging of these headphones is quite nice. It is on a supporting frame under plastic covering and is durable. The design is also aesthetic. Open up the package and you get the headphones, the included USB sound card and the little mini-disc which contains the drivers for the USB sound. In trying on the headphones, I found them quite comfortable. The padding is relatively thick and when wearing the set, they do not grab onto the ear tightly like some thicker sets. You can wear these for hours and they will not hurt your ears. The set has an embedded microphone inside one of the speakers. You simply pull the microphone out to use it. And it is bendable so that you can precisely adjust it to your mouth.

Let’s look at the specs of both:

One of the nice things about the headphones is that they come apart. The headband is detachable, allowing you to easily pack the set into tight places without fear of breaking them. And the cord is plenty long for most scenarios, meaning you do not have to worry about turning your head and dragging your gear around. Midway on the cord is the volume control for the speakers as well as the microphone.

The sound of these “cans” is actually pretty good. The bass is solid and the highs are very clear. All around they have a very good range. I compared them to my Bose set and they are comparable. They are not nearly as sensitive (the Bose set required much lower volume to get the same level of sound), but the sound quality was on par. Of course, they do not measure up totally to Bose, but then again, comparing a gaming headset to a Bose set might not be exactly fair.