Closer Examination, Build Quality and Comfort

In terms of design, build quality, and comfort, the Mad Catz F.R.E.Q. 4 is nearly identical to the F.R.E.Q. 2 (reviewed here). Because of that, I have no choice but to rehash what I wrote in my previous review while focusing on several key differences between the two. It goes without saying that all of the photos in this review are of the F.R.E.Q. 4.


The design of the Mad Catz F.R.E.Q. 4 has strong industrial vibes. Its most distinctive visual element is the dual headband. The principle of the dual-headband design is simple—instead of having to adjust the "height" of your headset by sliding the ear cups up and down the frame, just putting it on your head will have the inner headband stretch as necessary.


The outer headband is made out of metal and holds the headset together, while the inner one consisting of two padded metal wires resting on top of your head. I have a fairly large head, but came nowhere close to fully extending the inner headband—there's plenty of space to work with even if your head is exceptionally big. The tension of the inner headband isn't too high, so you won't feel like there's something pulling the ear cups up while wearing it.


The inner headband isn't heavily padded, but doesn't feel uncomfortable at all; the suspension system does a good job of distributing the weight over the top of your head. The pleather-covered, foam-filled ear pads are fairly comfortable as well. Clamping force of the frame could be slightly lower, but soft materials mostly make up for that. Even though you won't exactly forget you're wearing it, the Mad Catz F.R.E.Q. 4 gaming headset can be used for multiple hours at a time without causing any significant discomfort to any part of the head.


The ear cups are sealed and made out of plastic. There's a black metal plate on both, with the Mad Catz "cat scratch" logo printed on them. Together with exposed screws, it all looks very industrial and raw, which is undoubtedly the aesthetic Mad Catz was going for. Beneath the metal plate is a weird-looking RGB-backlit pattern. The colors are bright and vivid, and there are some effects you can assign to these LEDs, but an in-depth look would be a waste of everyone's time—a headset is worn on the head, so you definitely won't be able to see it while using it.


The wires that connect the ear cups loop through the inner headband. They're fully rubberized, but you should still take care not to yank them when handling the headset. The left and right channel are clearly marked on the inner side of the frame.


The microphone is built into the left ear cup and retractable. Here, you can see it fully extended and completely retracted. The rubberized arm of the microphone is surprisingly short—fully extended, it lands next to my cheek rather than the mouth. It's easy to bend, but doesn't really stay in place. I did try to talk directly into it and came to the conclusion that by keeping it further away, Mad Catz avoids popping noise, which is quite excessive when the capsule is positioned directly in front of the mouth, but non-existent its default position next to the cheek. At the same time, the quality of my voice didn't change significantly, so this is an acceptable trade-off.


Some 50 cm down the non-detachable USB cable, you'll find an in-line remote control. It has a microphone mute button, volume up/down buttons, and 7.1 surround sound button. Strangely enough, while the microphone mute button glows red when the microphone is muted, the 7.1 surround sound button isn't backlit, so quickly glancing at the remote to figure out if the surround sound is on or off is not an option. I'm not crazy about the position of the remote control; it would be more intuitive around 15–20 cm further up the cable. A clothes clip would also help, but Mad Catz didn't equip the remote with one.


The cable is terminated with a simple USB Type-A plug.