CM Storm Ceres 400 Headset Review
Overview
The CM Storm Ceres 400
Well, you get a stereo headset with 40mm Drivers and no Virtual Surround, a omni-directional microphone and an in-line control box with volume control and a microphone on/off switch. The headset is also adjustable and features 90mm ear-pads.
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The headset came in a smart black and red box with the contents (headset & user guide) protected by a plastic tray. The front of the box also features a large window allowing you to see the Ceres 400 and it’s in-line control box.
The back of the box provides an introduction to the Ceres 400 describing the headset as both rugged yet comfortable and highlights the 40mm Drivers and the specially designed sound absorbing cushions.
The left side of the box outlines the CM Storm Ceres 400 specifications, these can be seen below.
Within the box we find the Ceres 400 headset itself and a user guide.
At the time of review the CM Storm Ceres 400 is retailing for approximately £35 and comes with a 2 year warranty.
Specifications/Features
courtesy of CM Storm
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* Additional details available here
First Impressions
First impressions of the CM Storm Ceres 400 headset is good, but there’s no doubt that this is a budget headset. If feels very lightweight (250 grams), but certainly doesn’t feel flimsy, although there is plenty of plastic! Of course the lightweight is likely to help when it comes to comfort. There’s also not much in the box just the headset and a user guide, but then what does one expect for around £35. I think I need to bear this in mind during my review…
The left ear-cup features the omni-directional microphone and the right ear-cup is the same as the left, but minus the microphone and has no additional functionality to speak of.
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The headband appears to be made entirely from plastic and features a good sized (35mm x 130mm) foam pad in the centre.
The headband of the Ceres 400 is also adjustable and the headband can be adjusted approximately 35mm on each side. I would say that my head size is probably average and those with smaller or larger heads will be well catered for.
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The ear-pads feature a large 90mm foam cushion with a covering that doesn’t appear to be as soft as one would expect. The pads are also of a size where your ear is unlikely to fit within, suggesting that this headset is very much on the ear to as opposed to over the ear. These two aspects may well affect the comfort, we shall have to see…
The microphone swivels around the ear-cup so can be positioned upright when not in use and can be swiveled into position, closer to the mouth when required. Now although there is some flexibility in the centre of the microphone boom, it’s very little and when the boom is bent into position it tends to just want to move back. This means that you will struggle to get the microphone much closer than a couple of inches. Although, as you will see later this is not necessarily a problem.
Approximately 50cm down from the headset we find the Ceres 400’s in-line control box. The control box features a small volume control wheel and a simple microphone on/off switch. At the other end of the 2.5m non-braided cable we find the x2 3.5mm jack plugs (headphone/mic).
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Hardware Installation
The Cooler Master Ceres 400 was simply connected to the headphone and microphone sockets of my ASRock Fatal1ty Z77 Professional motherboard. Now although the plugs do have some smart Cooler Master names/logos (maybe they should have had headphone/mic symbols!) on them they’re actually quite hard to tell apart, you’ll have to look at the subtle coloured bands on the connectors themselves for that.
Testing Methodology/Setup
The Cooler Master headset was tested using my rig as a platform; running Windows 7 64bit (service pack 1) with all necessary Drivers installed. As no software is supplied or required for full functionality of the Ceres 400 headset no fresh install of Windows was performed.
The following games were used during testing:
- Tomb Raider
- Ghost Recon Online
- Mass Effect 3
- Metro 2033 (benchmark)
- Unigine Heaven (benchmark)
- Unigine Valley (benchmark)
Hardware Performance
- Headset
The performance of a headset is predominately based upon what it sounds like, therefore what we have here is my opinion on what I think about the audio performance of the CM Ceres 400 headset; of course this is somewhat subjective.
The good news is that the sound produced by the Ceres 400 is definitely better than expected, I didn’t expect too much from a headset costing around £35, but I was wrong. The sound produced by the 40mm Drivers is pretty good, it’s not going to challenge some of the more expensive headsets that we have tested, but then it would be wrong to expect it to. The bass is particularly noteworthy, sounding impressive for such small Drivers. The mid-range and the treble is a little less impressive, but overall the sound is good, especially when you factor in the cost. I did notice that in some games I did find myself with both the Windows volume and the in-line control volume at maximum, so if you like your Games really loud, this headset may not be for you…
- Comfort
I thought that the Ceres 400 headset would be really comfortable, mainly due to its lightweight of around 250 grams, although I did note that the ear-cups are effectively fixed i.e. they don’t swivel left/right and or up/down. I found that when wearing the headset for long periods of time (2+ hours), my ears began to get a little sore. This discomfort is caused by two main factors, the first issue is that due to the size of the ear-pads the Ceres 400 neither seems to fit over the ear or on the ear. This problem is then compounded by the fact that I wear glasses, of course this is relatively common and can’t be helped! What this means is that some part of the ear-pad is always pressing on your ear and if the frame of your glasses (should you wear glasses) is behind this, it can result in some discomfort. If you don’t wear glasses of course this is likely to be less of a problem. Adjusting the headset slightly every hour or so, seemed to alleviate the discomfort to some degree.
- Microphone
The omi-directional microphone can be swiveled into position near the mouth, but the springiness of the microphone boom means that although you can get the microphone very close to your mouth, it’s unlikely to stay there. The good news is that despite this I found the microphone to work surprisingly well, although I had to use some unusual settings in both Windows and our VOIP client of choice (Ventrilo). My VOIP friends even said that the microphone was one of the better ones that they had heard me test…
Final Thoughts
I wasn’t expecting much from a £35 headset but the Cooler Master Ceres 400 has proved me wrong, as long as you factor in what one would expect for the price, then the Ceres 400 represents really good value for money.
The Ceres 400 came well packaged, although there’s not much else in the box, save for a basic user guide. The headset seems relatively sturdy, with no cheap hard plastics (that are likely to snap!) used in its construction. The headset while lightweight (approx 250 grams), isn’t as comfortable as one would of thought. This is mainly due to the fact that the ear-cups neither sit over the ear or on the ear, they’re a little ‘half and half’. Unfortunately this means that over longer periods of time (2+ hours) the Ceres 400 can get a little uncomfortable, I found myself just adjusting the positioning every hour or so. The fact that I wear glasses also compounds the problem, meaning that a small part of the headset rests on my ear, which in turn presses on the arm of the glasses adding to the discomfort. The Ceres 400 isn’t an uncomfortable headset by any means, but it could have been a little better designed.
When it comes to performance the Ceres 400 sounded far better than I thought, with a good deal of bass being delivered from the 40mm Drivers. The mid-range and treble are less noteworthy but are certainly good enough with no obvious problems with the sound being produced. Although I did notice that I was able to use the headset at full volume (Windows volume = 100% & in-line control volume at maximum) during a couple of Games and Benchmarks, so if you like your games loud this headset may not be for you. The microphone is a little difficult to get close to your mouth, but having said this I was complemented by my VOIP buddies on the sound being re-produced, so no problem there.
Overall I have been impressed with the Cooler Master Ceres 400 headset, the headset works well; having good sound and a surprisingly good microphone (even if it did take a bit of setting up!). It’s only real weakness is that long term comfort (2+ hours) suffers due to the ear-cup design (see above); but to be fair at this price, it’s somewhat unfair to complain I feel…
Verdict
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