PowerColor Alphyn AH10 Review 1

PowerColor Alphyn AH10 Review

Wireless Performance & Battery Life »

Closer Examination, Build Quality and Comfort


The PowerColor Alphyn AH10 features a minimalist design with a subtle black-on-gray color scheme. The only distinctive detail is the pseudo-perforated metal mesh on the exterior of both ear cups, which might trick you into thinking that we're dealing with an open-back design. However, this isn't the case; the ear cups are in fact fully sealed.


The headset's frame is constructed from an aluminium alloy, with most of it encased in the headband. The outer side of the headband is wrapped in pleather, featuring a large, etched PowerColor logo, while the underside is padded with soft foam. Pressing down on the top of the headband reveals a hollow interior, which detracts from the perception of luxury and premium build quality. That said, I did not encounter any build quality issues during my time with the Alphyn AH10.


The ear cups are mounted on aluminium hangers, a design commonly found in many popular gaming headsets. Connecting the left and right channels is a partially exposed coiled wire, which stands out as a distinctive detail. While most manufacturers opt for a rubberized or braided wire in this area, PowerColor's choice adds a visually intriguing touch to the generally neutral design of the Alphyn AH10.


The headset's height can be adjusted by sliding the ear cups along the metal frame. A dot pattern on the inner side of the frame helps ensure both sides are aligned evenly, providing a simple guide for adjustment.


The ear cups are notably large, accommodating oversized 50-millimeter speaker drivers with a dual-chamber design. The ear pads are filled with very soft memory foam and wrapped in pleather, providing a comfortable fit and a good seal around the ears. However, the lack of airflow means heat buildup is inevitable, especially during extended use. Expect to take short breaks after an hour or two of continuous wearing to let your ears cool down.


The ear pads are held in place by six plastic tabs. With some force, they can be taken off and replaced, which is a nice addition to any headset, as it ensures its longevity. PowerColor already offers a replacement pair of gray ear pads to anyone who leaves a review of the Alphyn AH10, but they're made of same materials as the original ones, so it remains to be seen if the company plans to offer cloth ear pads, that would fare better in terms of heat buildup (but comparatively worse when it comes to passive noise isolation and bass response).


The right ear cup features a single USB-C port, which is used for charging the battery. The headset cannot be charged and used simultaneously. As soon as a cable is plugged into the charging port, the headset powers off and remains off until charging is disconnected.


All other controls are placed on the left ear cup. Here you'll find an analog volume wheel, which works separately from the Windows volume. Then there's a textured microphone mute button. When pressed and held, it activates and deactivates the microphone's ENC (Environmental Noise Cancellation) feature. There's no visual indication of the microphone being muted or not; you have to rely on voice prompts, broadcasted through the headphones.


Next, we have the power button, which also acts as a pause button (single press) and sound profile selection button (double press). Finally, there's an 3.5-mm analog audio input. When used, the headphones automatically turn off and switch to passive (wired) mode. As this is a 4-pole (TRRS) port, it works both as input and output, meaning the microphone remains fully functional in wired mode.


The retractable bi-directional microphone has a rubberized arm that has no trouble staying in the desired position, although it's too short to reach the mouths of users with a large head, like myself. PowerColor supplied it with a foam pop filter, which you can put over the capsule for a more professional look. The microphone can still be retracted with the pop filter on.
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Jan 22nd, 2025 03:45 EST change timezone

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