Closer Examination, Build Quality, and Comfort

Thanks to its massive ear pads and dual-headband design, the Sharkoon Skiller SGH50 looks quite striking. The outer headband consists of two strips of metal connecting the ear cups and providing structural integrity to the headset.


The inner headband is suspended on an elastic strap, padded with foam, and wrapped in pleather. 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. This design makes the headset feel lighter than it actually is, which is good news for the Skiller SGH50 as it's quite hefty, coming in at 342 grams. The padding of the inner headband feels nice. There's no excessive pressure being applied to the top of the head. The tension of the inner headband isn't too high, so you won't feel like something is pulling the ear cups up while using the Skiller SGH50. The stitching on the edges of the headband looks messy, but it held together without any issues during my time with the device.


The ear cups are connected to a pair of metal hangers in two places. Both sides of the Skiller SGH50 have a decorative plastic plate with Sharkoon's logo.


The ear cups can be swiveled. This is what makes them adjustable to various head shapes and sizes.


The ear cushions are round and exceptionally thick. Sharkoon went with a typical combination of foam and pleather. The sheer thickness of the ear pads and even weight distribution provided by the aforementioned suspended headband make the Skiller SGH50 comfortable to wear. I was afraid that wouldn't be the case when I saw how big it is, but Sharkoon obviously considered that when deciding on the ear pads. One detail bothered me, though: because of the thickness of its ear pads, the Skiller SGH50 is so wide that I kept noticing its ear cups in my peripheral vision, which I found somewhat distracting. I should point out that I'm using a 34-inch ultrawide monitor, which has me occasionally move my head left and right. When I was looking straight ahead, as you will if you have a regular 16:9 monitor, this wasn't an issue at all.


The ear pads are held in place by three plastic hooks, making them easy to take off and potentially replace.


The left and right channels are clearly marked above the ear cups, in case the microphone's orientation isn't telling enough.


The wire connecting the ear cups loops through the inner headband. Its exposed parts are rubberized. I'd prefer it if they were braided. As long as you're not doing anything unusual with the headset, the durability of the wire shouldn't be an issue, though.


The round ear cups are encased in plastic, with the Sharkoon logo engraved in the middle. The two rings surrounding the ear cups have a chrome finish. This is obviously a fully closed-back design.


You'll find a 3.5-mm connector for the supplied audio cable on the left ear cup. The cable connector has a lock-on mechanism that makes accidentally disconnecting it impossible, which also makes your life more complicated if you want to replace the cable for any reason.


The cable is 1.1 meters long, rubberized, and has an in-line remote control. The remote is equipped with a microphone mute switch and small volume dial.


The "main" 1.1-meter cable is terminated with a 4-pole (TRRS) audio connector you'll use to connect the Sharkoon Skiller SGH50 to laptops, gaming consoles, and mobile devices. Sharkoon also supplies a 1.5-meter extension cable and dual 3-pole (TRS) splitter, which is needed when connecting the headset to a sound card with separate headphone and microphone ports.


The left ear cup contains a 3.5-millimeter microphone port for the supplied omnidirectional microphone.


The bendable microphone arm is covered with a series of metal rings. Thanks to that, positioning the head of the microphone in any preferred way without worrying that it won't stay in place is easily done. The head is covered with a windscreen, which makes it look more professional and helps with popping noises.