Sound Quality

Tt eSPORTS equipped the Shock V2 gaming headset with a pair of 50-millimeter speaker drivers, while its predecessor was based on 40-millimeter units. Since I didn't get a chance to test the original Shock, I'm unable to determine which acoustic aspects improve in comparison to the Shock V2, if any. However, I can say that the sound quality of the Shock V2 is mediocre at best.

Before putting this headset on and firing up my usual suite of games, movies, and music, I expected it to be extremely bass-heavy and excessively bloated in the low-end because of the "Enhanced Bass" label on its box. That having been said, the bass wasn't very deep at all. It's definitely present, but doesn't try to overwhelm you with its magnitude or punchiness.

However, the mid-range is very pronounced and pushed forward, to where I find it irritating—many singers sound shouty and annoying. I'm guessing Tt eSPORTS sought to focus on top-tier in-game performance, because a pronounced mid-range can greatly help with spatial positioning as it makes enemy footsteps easier to pick up. However, for this to truly work, you also need an open and detailed high-range, which the Shock V2 simply doesn't have. The higher part of the frequency range sounds constricted and veiled. All of this results in an odd, artificial, and unbalanced sound signature. While I had some success in picking up my in-game targets in slower shooters, such as Escape From Tarkov and PUBG, more chaotic ones, such as Battlefield V and Modern Warfare, nearly had me paranoid as the Shock V2 made it sound like enemies were pouring in from everywhere.


The passive noise isolation isn't very good at all, to where I wondered if the Shock V2 was in fact built around an open-back ear cup design. Their outsides are perforated, but there's nothing behind those perforations except for some black plastic, so it's obviously a closed-back design after all. However, quite a lot of sound leaks both in and out, so this isn't the headset to buy if you plan to use it in a room with somebody who could be annoyed by the sound leakage. On the upside, it doesn't cause any issues related to closed-back headsets with a tight seal (pressure, talking louder than necessary, etc.)

All in all, you can get a much better performing gaming headset for $65 or even less—the SteelSeries Arctis 1, Corsair HS35 Stereo, and HyperX Cloud Stinger immediately come to mind.