Sound Quality

When it comes to the sound quality compared to most if not all "normal" gaming headsets, the Sennheiser PC38X is in a league of its own. I'll put it this way: don't think of this as a gaming headset. These are serious hi-fi headphones with an added microphone. Even though Sennheiser doesn't reveal much about the built-in speaker drivers other than that they originate from the EPOS | Sennheiser GSP 500 and GSP 600 gaming headset family (you can read my review of the GSP 500 here and the GSP 600 here), we do know that they're dynamic neodymium magnet drivers with a frequency response of 10–30,000 Hz, an impedance of 28 Ω, and a sound pressure level of 109 dB. Sennheiser also points out that they're using heavier voice coils in their custom-designed speaker drivers than in the PC37X, which is how they managed to achieve a bass that digs deeper than you'd expect from an open-back design.

Open-back headsets are generally more pleasant to use because they offer a wider soundstage with better stereo imaging than their closed-back brethren. They have a couple of advantages in terms of practicality, too. Firstly, you can hear your own voice clearly while talking, which prevents you from shouting, sounding nasal, or having the feeling of "pressure" in your head. Just as importantly, your ears won't be as prone to sweating since the openness of the ear cups increases airflow. The only downside of the open-back design is the massive and unavoidable leakage of sound. Everyone around you will hear what you're listening to, and any remotely loud sounds externally will mess with your ability to properly hear your games, movies, or music. Since many gamers don't have the luxury of owning a dedicated gaming room, a vast majority of gaming headsets are closed-back. As such, the Drop + Sennheiser PC38X could be considered somewhat of a niche product. On the other hand, if you're after an open-back gaming headset, your options are very limited, and it's great to know that you can get a high-quality product such as this one.


When I first sat down with the Drop + Sennheiser PC38X, I pressed play on one of my Spotify playlists and typed out a random e-mail. Soon, I was stopped in the middle of a sentence because of what I was hearing from the PC38X. A couple of moments later, this headset, and the song that was playing, had my full attention. Before long, there I was sitting in my home office with all the lights and even the monitor turned off, going through my favorite songs, albums, and artists and absolutely loving every moment of it.

There are several reliable ways to know you're listening to a special pair of headphones. Them grabbing your attention and making you want to listen to your favorite tracks with your eyes closed is only one of them. Another clear indicator is when you catch yourself constantly turning the volume up just to get more of that wonderful sound you're hearing. This effect is very present with the Drop + Sennheiser PC38X. Even though it's very easy to drive, as any integrated sound card will do just fine, I thoroughly enjoyed connecting it to some of my more high-end audio gear, including the Audiolab M-DAC DAC/amp, Cambridge Audio CXA61 integrated amplifier, and EVGA NU Audio PCI Express sound card designed by England's very own Audio Note, and blasting it much louder than I normally would if this were just an ordinary gaming headset.

The overall tonality of the Drop + Sennheiser PC38X is very warm, making it an instant crowd-pleaser. The mid and upper bass regions sound lush, with just the right balance of meatiness and tightness. The bass rolls off below 50 Hz, so there's not much sub-bass content on offer, but this isn't something you should be bothered by unless you're listening to nothing else than EDM and hip hop. If that's the case, you most likely aren't even considering a pair of headphones with an open-back design.


The bass smoothly transitions into a fantastically tuned mid-range. I don't know what magic was done here by Sennheiser, but the mid-range on the PC38X sounds like someone's pouring honey into your ears in the best possible sense. The warmth of the vocals and instruments, anything happening in the 250–4,000 Hz region, is almost palpable. Then there are the exceptionally well-balanced high frequencies that deliver a ton of detail, but never slip into harshness or sound too forward. I was able to hear very fine details, such as reverb subtly added to certain vocals, and make sense of the dense, multilayered vocal tracks in the music I listen to daily. This is the kind of performance I can otherwise only get from headphones costing four or five times as much.

The soundstage and overall imaging are two more areas where the PC38X truly shines. In games, particularly in multiplayer first-person shooters, this headset delivers a shocking amount of precise information about enemy movements. In titles like Warzone, Apex Legends, Battlefield V, and Valorant, I was able to pinpoint their distance and direction pretty much instantly. The PC38X made me feel more confident on the virtual battlefield—it quite literally turned me into a better gamer. There's also a three-dimensional quality to the sound of the PC38X. This is something you'll become fully aware of when you find yourself turning around your back because the PC38X tricked your brain into thinking the sound is originating from your surroundings rather than a pair of drivers placed very close to your ears.


I'm not a big fan of frequency-response graphs as they're oftentimes completely misleading and not at all in line with the actual sound of an audio product, but this one, available on Drop's website, corresponds with my listening experience after changing from the preinstalled mesh-knit fabric earpads to the bundled velour ones. There's a very slight increase in perceived bass response, and the mid-range sounds a touch more forward, but other than that, the differences between the two are almost nonexistent. You can simply use whichever ones you like best. The overall tonality and performance of the PC38X will be preserved.

There's just one potential drawback to the sound performance of the Drop + Sennheiser PC38X, which won't be relevant to most (if any) users but should be mentioned regardless. When playing exceptionally deep bass at extremely high volumes, way above anything I'd be willing to expose my ears to for longer than 30 seconds, the speaker drivers can and will distort, and even bottom out—the drivers try to exceed their excursion limits; so much so that you'll hear them "click" inside the ear cups. This isn't something I ran into during everyday usage. I only discovered it after deliberately pushing the volume to uncomfortably high levels for the purpose of this test. I should also mention that this was only possible after connecting the headset to a higher-quality sound source, such as the EVGA NU Audio PCI Express sound card. The integrated sound card on my motherboard wasn't able to push the Drop + Sennheiser PC38X to a volume level where the aforementioned distortion is audible. With that in mind, while this can be considered an issue, it's definitely not an issue I'd ever run into as an owner of the PC38X.

The Drop + Sennheiser PC38X delivers an exceptionally well-rounded sound performance, and it is exceptionally enjoyable to listen to. I'm absolutely confident in saying that this headset will deliver the best sound quality many of its buyers have ever heard. Yes, it's that good.