Sound Quality

The MSI Immerse GH50 uses a pair of 40-millimeter dynamic drivers, exactly like the less expensive MSI Immerse GH30 I complimented for its sound performance, especially considering its reasonable $50 price tag. With plenty of power in store to push it to unbearable listening volumes, the supplied sound card is perfectly capable of driving the Immerse GH50.

Even though the MSI Immerse GH50 is $20 more expensive, it closely follows in the footsteps of the Immerse GH30 by again providing a lot of bang for your buck in terms of sound quality. It's tuned in a completely unobtrusive way with no part of the frequency spectrum sticking out. The bass is present but not bloated—there's no sluggishness or overhang, nor does it color the midrange in any way. The midrange is pushed forward, so you'll get a ton of information about your surroundings while gaming, which is especially beneficial in multiplayer shooters. While playing games like Warzone and Apex Legends, the Immerse GH50 kept me very aware of approaching enemies, the direction of gunfire, and other important auditory cues, which felt great. In music, the midrange delivered pleasant-sounding vocals and nice instrumental separation. The high frequency range is satisfyingly detailed, at times slightly unrefined and a bit harsh, but nicely done overall.


Although the MSI Immerse GH50 sounds quite lively out of the box, you can play around with the system-wide equalizer in Dragon Center to make it sound even more energetic and fun. Just be careful not to overdo it as the built-in speaker drivers don't respond well to aggressive equalization. The picture above is my suggestion of a nice sound profile. The 120 Hz range is slightly boosted to give the headset a bit more "meat" in the bass region, and I lightly tuned the mids and highs (500–8.000 Hz) to open up the sound a bit more. Whatever you do, avoid using the factory-provided sound profiles as they sound absolutely horrendous.


The ear cushions form a good seal with the sides of the head, and the speaker drivers are tightly sealed inside the ear cups, so passive noise isolation is very good.

As for the "Enhanced Bass" feature of the MSI Immerse GH50, which is toggled with a switch on the in-line remote control, it's nothing more than a gimmick. When you activate it, the bass is massively boosted, and the earcups vibrate whenever deep frequencies are played. This causes an unpleasant, tingling sensation inside the ear canal and completely ruins the tightness of the bass, as well as the overall control. Perhaps younger gamers will get a kick out of it. I couldn't handle it for more than 10 seconds at a time. The things I do for these reviews…

7.1 Virtual Surround Sound

7.1 virtual surround sound is implemented through Cmedia's Xear technology. There are tons of filters and settings to play around with (Gaming Gear > Headset > Xear Effects), but regardless of what you do, it's impossible to escape the fact that turning virtual surround sound on causes the sound to become compressed and significantly less detailed than in stereo mode. It's almost like playing the same audio signal at a very low resolution. The surround effect itself can be interesting in certain situations, but don't expect it to help with spatial positioning—it doesn't. It adds a level of immersion in atmospheric games, although I'd never trade that for pure sound quality, which the MSI Immerse GH50 delivers in stereo mode. That said, the 7.1 virtual surround sound feature is worth trying out, I just can't recommend using it permanently.