Introduction

The SteelSeries started off with just the simple SteelPad line of gaming surface products. These were a great success and therefore created a fuzz about SteelSeries as a "Gamers Brand". A while after the initial success, the SteelSeries product line was expanded to include both mouse mats and headsets optimized for gaming. The SteelSound 5H line comes in two variants one with a USB sound card, and one without the sound card. The version with sound card is specifically aimed at providing the same sound quality to avid LAN goers who might not be using their own PC at an event.

It has been a while since the SteelSound 5H was released but SteelSeries haven't been sitting idle all this time, in fact they have been rather busy coming up with an optimized version of the 5H, namely the 5H v2.

The new version of the SteelSound 5H features even better padding than the old one, they have almost doubled the amount of foam padding to the entire structure in order to make it more comfortable. Besides that they have also reworked the internal connections for increased durability, which was a problem with the old version. Now let’s see just how the new version performs.

Package

As with the old version of the SteelSound 5H the new one comes in a transparent box that lets the buyer inspect the headset for any damages and so forth.


As you can see from the package the headset is developed in cooperation with some of the best CS 1.6 teams in the world, i.e. Complexity and MouseSports.

Specifications

• Frequency response: 16 - 28.000 Hz
• Impedance: 40 Ohm
• SPL@ 1kHz, 1 Vrms 110 dB
• Cable length: 1 + 2 = 3 meters (10 feet)
• Connectors: 3.5 mm, mini-jack

Microphone:

• Frequency response:75 - 16.000 Hz
• Pick up pattern: Uni-directional
• Sensitivity: -38dB
• Impedance: 2k Ohm

As you can see from the specifications, nothing has changed from the SteelSound 5H. The only real changes to the headset are the appearance and comfortability. Some of the things they have changed is the cord, where the SteelSound 5H had a standard cable the v2 has a sleeved cable, which looks nice.