There is so much going on here that even five long pages don't seem enough to talk about what AceZone has done with the A-Rise gaming headset. At a quick glance, it may seem simple enough to use ANC and EQ profiles for games, and indeed there are many gaming headsets on the market which do either, or both, at a much lower cost too. The issue is that ANC applied by itself is already a very tricky balance. Imagine you are a pro gamer who has been used to IEMs or sponsored gaming headsets their entire career. IEMs can be great for fit and isolation while also providing you a well-tuned signature for bass, mids, and treble. You get accustomed to how something sounds and suddenly the lower frequencies are no longer as prevalent because some new headset has too strong ANC. You may even lose on some audio cues altogether, and then there's the inevitable pressure feeling in the ears if it's not well-executed. Not strong enough and it comes off as a hazy blur that feels completely gimmicky. The A-Rise, I found, uses both feed-back and feed-forward ANC coupled with the strongest passive noise cancellation of any headphones to put out a good combination of lower noise floor and isolation while still having enough energy for various game audio segments—especially FPS games such as CS:Go and Apex Legends.

Then there's the microphone which is an integral part of gaming together, be it online or in an arena in front of a rabid live audience. While the headphones part of the A-Rise does an excellent job drowning out the external noise, the microphone transducer design, arm, and algorithms in the headphone help cancel out some of the external noise too so those on the other side hear your crisp voice. Indeed, using the A-Rise for Zoom calls was interesting because I inevitably ended up with lots of "what microphone are you using?" questions. It doesn't compare well to a good external mic with a larger driver but it might just be the best gaming headset mic I've ever used too. Add to this the EQ profiles leading to the operating modes and, at least in some games, I came out convinced that the A-Rise can give you a competitive edge over other gaming-centric headphones.

So if this feels like a must-have for some games, especially if you are gaming competitively, how come most of us have not heard of the brand before? For one, AceZone is quite new to the scene and COVID didn't help with lots of e-sport events being cancelled since the company was formed. Then there's the part where people are simply too skeptical to use this, or even have sponsors to please. The A-Live is the live tournament version of the A-Rise that some of you may have seen on various European majors already. It's not as user-friendly but is otherwise very similar in functionality. You may also have seen many gamers use IEMs under the headset, which in itself is relegated to just the microphone for talking with team mates. It takes a while to convince people to get out of old habits that have been working well for them, and I've been told many have slowly but steadily coming to accept the potential of these headsets. Perhaps AceZone working further on the operating modes will help speed this further, especially if we can get game/map-specific profiles as I've been mentioning over the course of the review. It's a newish brand that also has to up its distribution to be more accessible for customers around the world but so far it's been good. I am also impressed by both the management and the engineering team they have on board, and there's no denying that the A-Rise is a great entry to the gaming headset world which feels like a much more expensive aviation headset instead. It's quite expensive and isn't for everyone, but those who feel this can be useful for gaming are likely be to pleased with the purchase.