Gamecom P80 - Review

Computer headsets their days seem to exist in one of two ways, affordable but corded or expensive and wireless, there are a few that have crossed the line between them, but they usually end up with poor sound quality. Then you get a unit like the P80, one the blends the best of both, in what has to be one of the best wireless headsets I have used in a while.

The first thing I noticed once I removed them from the box was just how small the entire unit was, not only did it look small, it felt small. The size of the headset can’t be underestimated, the headband is sleek and sturdy, yet flexible enough that I could move one ear cup off my head without having the other move and speaking of the ear cups are large enough to sit over the ears of almost everyone without issue, but the important thing is just how heavy the unit is, it’s not very heavy at all. You will notice the weight, it’s not something you can avoid when you put something on your head, but the weight here is actually even across the device, with the bulk at the bottom of the cups, so it never feels like its pulling your head down.

The most important part of any headset is the sound quality, you would never use one that caused sound to come through like it was inside a tin can and thankfully the sound here is as clear as you can get. As the P80 can be used with PC’s or PlayStation 4, there is a good chance you will get a lot of uses from it, whenever I used it to listen to music via the PC, the default settings had enough bass in the music that it sounded nice, with the balance just right as well. There was some tinkering with the equalizer settings as I wanted to make sure I had the best possible sound setup for music I could, but that is a personal taste thing, but just going by plug and play you will be right. I also ran through a series of Skype calls with it and was impressed with the amount of clarity I could hear with the voices on the other end, it was nothing special, but it was nice to note.

The microphone was able to pick up my voice, with me talking at a normal level of volume, something other headsets have struggled with in the past. In order to mute the mic, you need to not hunt around for a button while playing a game, just flick up the mic and when it clicks you will hear a beep and that indicates that it is now muted, to unmute just pull it back down. On the left ear cup, you will also find a range of buttons for volume control and music playback functions, with the buttons themselves quite large, which helps avoid hitting the wrong.

Of course, the real test of any headset on a PC is the sound when gaming, which is something that the P80 handled really well, the engine sounds in Project CARS sounded clear and a lot bass was present, Call of Duty and Skyrim all sounded wonderful as well, it was fun to experience. But as the headset is PS4 compatible, I also put it to use on that as well. Disney Infinity 3.0 was a game I reviewed, so I spent a lot of time playing it, and listening to lightsabers and blaster fire was really fun to listen too. Tearaway Unfolded had wonderful sound, the tears of the paper came through nice and crisp.

The Gamecom P80 from Plantronics is one heck of a headset, the battery life is more than capable of lasting through any length gaming session you can throw at it, with the comfort of the design and padding of the ear cups, I was able to wear it for quite a long time without any discomfort. If you need a new headset then this is one you need to check out.

Thanks to Plantronics for supplying the headset for review