Audio Performance

I'll split the audio performance analysis into two parts - gaming and music. Even though the headset produces the same sound regardless of what it's being used for, you won't necessarily look for the same things while annihilating your virtual opponents as you will when listening to your favorite tunes.

Gaming

With the Nebula GX50, Rosewill obviously aimed to offer a big, dramatic type of sound that's very likely to surprise and satisfy gamers on a budget. Instead of being natural, refined, and subtle, the sound presentation is explosive. The bass hits with significant ferocity - so much so that I caught myself lowering the volume in first-person shooters, or the gunfire would have otherwise bit into my ears too much. Dynamics isn't something this headset even tries to bother with. It's loud and aggressive and, as such, quite fun in various genres.

I have to admit I didn't expect this headset to have much to offer in terms of spatial positioning because the midrange sounded a bit recessed and the soundstage doesn't seem very wide. Luckily, I was wrong. I had no trouble figuring out where my enemies were and what they'd do next, even in games that have a lot of stuff happening at once, such as Battlefield 1. This became particularly true after I fiddled with the midrange frequencies in an attempt to fix their lacking presence in the factory-tuned sound signature. Read more about that in the music-performance section of the review, just below this one.

When used at a normal volume level, the Nebula GX50 doesn't leak much sound. It's not perfectly quiet either, though. Unless you have someone trying to sleep within a meter from where you game, you shouldn't have any issues with its passive noise isolation.

Music

The Rosewill Nebula GX50 could do with more midrange clarity, especially around 500-3,500 Hz, where the frequencies sound a bit recessed. Because of that, some genres, particularly guitar-driven ones, lack the fullness and rhythm needed to sound truly enjoyable. On the other hand, genres that put an emphasis on bass sound okay. The Nebula GX50 has enough punch and tightness in the low-end for that kind of usage. The highs also don't buckle under the pressure of high volumes, so you can pretty much go as loud as the integrated sound card lets you, and that's quite loud.

The overall sound presentation feels a bit overengineered, and some tissue connecting the low-end, midrange, and high range was lost in the process. Luckily, there is something you can do to help yourself - install the official driver, even though it's not needed to get the headset to work, and utilize its built-in systemwide equalizer to push the 1,200 Hz and 3,600 Hz frequencies upward. Just be careful not to overdo it as that can swiftly lead to some irritating noise. I wouldn't recommend going above +4 dB on either of those frequencies.

The question of whether to pair the Rosewill Nebula GX50 with an external USB DAC/amp isn't a question at all since it only supports USB. This headset's price is too low to justify an investment in even the cheapest of DAC/amps even if it were to support the connectivity such a setup takes.

7.1 Surround Sound

The 7.1 Surround Sound on the Nebula GX50 has to be the most subtle one I have ever heard. It's activated by pressing the "Virtual 7.1" button in the driver. You can force it to change the sound signature significantly if you start manually changing the positions of the eight speakers or rotate them around in their virtual space, but if you leave them in their default positions, you won't hear any significant differences over this headset's standard stereo mode.

It almost seems as though Rosewill wants us to play with the way in which the speakers are positioned - perhaps to push them further away from our ears to increase the width of the sound. I didn't find a single setting that struck me as more immersive and informative than good old stereo mode; perhaps, you'll have more luck. Some factory-tailored presets would be much appreciated, at least to give us something to experiment with. There's something to consider for future driver updates, Rosewill!