Element Gaming Neon 250 Headset Review

Overview

 

Some time ago Ebuyer let us know about a new brand of Gaming peripherals that it was launching, that new brand was Element Gaming. Today I will take a look at the first product that we have seen from this new brand the Element Gaming Neon 250 headset. Now if you’ve been reading our site (you have been reading right!?) then you may be able to take a quick look at this new headset and say, haven’t we seen this before? The answer is yes, as Element Gaming’s new Neon 250 has a very strong resemblance to the Shogun Bros Ensense, reviewed by pcG Mike some 6 months ago. Now this is no bad thing as Mike was impressed and that headset was awarded a Gold award…

The Element Gaming Neon 250 ‘Elite Gaming Headset’ is a circumaural (over the ear) headset with 50mm Drivers and a Frequency Response of 20-20KHz. The Neon 250 also features 7.1 virtual surround sound, a stow away microphone and an in-line remote. But the real icing on the cake is the Vibration module that is tucked away inside each ear-cup!

 

 

 

The front of the box is actually quite smart showing an image of the headset (with mic) and on the right there’s a window allowing you to see the headset within. We have the Element Gaming logo and brand name top left, ‘Elite Gaming Headset’ top right and the product name NEON 250 bottom left. In the far bottom right hand corner Element Gaming highlight the following features:

The back of the box goes on to again feature the Element Gaming logo etc and also list the headset’s specifications (see image above and Specifications/Features below).

 

 

The left side of the box highlights the Neon 250’s Controllable Vibration, Retractable Microphone and Reinforced Headband.

While the right side of the box allows us to take a better look at the Neon 250 hidden within.

 

 

As you can see the headset itself is well packaged and protected by a cardboard frame, not the best we have seen but more than adequate and in keeping with the products value.

In the box, other than the headset itself we find a Technical Brief (user guide) and a small Driver CD (haven’t seen one of these in a while, looks like I might have to break out an ODD!).

At the time of review the Element Gaming Neon 250 headset is retailing for approximately £25 on Ebuyer and comes with a 1 year warranty.

 

Specifications/Features

courtesy of Element Gaming

* Additional details available here

 

First Impressions

 

First impressions are good especially when you consider the RRP of £33, in fact it is very good! The Element Gaming is a good looking headset and seems to be well made too, I also rather like the Neon blue colouring on the ear-cups and inner headband. The best aspect of the headset as this point (looks wise) is that the Neon 250 looka like a Gamer’s headset set without the often, over the top styling…

 

 

Looking at the left ear-cup there’s not that much to see apart from the unusual (I rather like it) shield styled shape of the ear-cup, with its gun-metal silver surround. In the centre we find the Element Gaming logo, that presumably lights up when powered up (let’s hope so!). At the lower back edge of the ear-cup you can also see two additional gun-metal silver strips that give the headset just a little extra bling! Just above this, on the arm supporting the ear-cup, we find the following ESAB-91YO, although I have no idea what this signifies, the product number maybe!? The left ear-cup also houses the captive (fixed) cable. The cable itself (3 metres in length) is braided and features a smart black/blue zigzag effect.

The right ear-cup is identical to the left but has no additional functionality to speak of. Both ear-cups are also fixed, having neither swivel or tilt, which may be a problem where comfort is concerned…

 

 

The fixed headband seems to be primarily made from plastic, while the inner part is also made from plastic it is reinforced with sprung steel. The top of the headband is a little dull, normally here you would expect to find the model name and/or brand name…

The inner part of the headband is far less dull, thanks to those two neon blue foam cushions, that actually give plenty of support for the Neon 250’s overall weight of approximately 340g.

 

 

The Element Gaming Neon 250 is already a big headset (i.e. it fits big heads!), yet each side can be extended by a further 35mm, meaning that this headset is suitable for all but the Tefal heads among us! 😉

As you can see those ear-cups feature thick leather cushions, in that rather smart Neon blue colour. The inner part of the ear-cup, where the 50mm Driver is located is covered with a soft(ish) mesh black fabric, that might just be a little too rough, we shall have to see. There’s plenty of room in there though, even for my slightly oversized ears, which is always nice to see (or is that hear)…

 

 

The left ear-cup incorporates a swivelling microphone that can be tucked up into the ear-cup when not in use. A feature that I’ve always been a fan of, as it keeps that boom out of your peripheral vision when it’s not needed.

 

 

Approximately 1m from the headset we find an in-line remote, shaped a little like an X. The remote features volume control by way of two buttons (+ and -), microphone mute with coloured indicator (red when off (well actually it’s more like pink!)) and an audio mute button with no re/pink indicator (which is a little odd!?). All of the buttons/indicators on the remote illuminate blue when on (apart from the aforementioned mic mute of course). In the centre not only is there a smart illuminated (blue) Element Gaming logo but there’s also a V button for VIBRATION. There are two levels of vibration (although this doesn’t seem to be mentioned anywhere!?); Low and High, with the Low setting denoted by a dim illumination and a high denoted by a bright illumination. Vibration can also be set to off, should you so desire…

 

 

Overall the Element Gaming Neon 250 is looking really good; it’s a good looking well made headset, with pretty much all of the features a Gamer needs. If it sounds good too and that vibration effect is any good, then Element Gaming may indeed have a winner on their hands with the Neon 250…

 

Hardware Installation

 

Connection to your Gaming Rig is simple, just plug the single USB plug (found at the end of that 3m long braided cable) into any available socket on your PC. Then install the software supplied on that little CD, you have to use the CD as the software (surprisingly) doesn’t seem to be available on-line!

 

Testing Methodology/Setup

 

After the software install completed I got a rather strange message, not an error just a message (see left). This message seemed to suggest that it didn’t want me to reboot my machine after the install, and that I should decline the offer!? Obviously this is what I did! Then I rebooted it later… 😉 NOTE: I also spotted in the back of the supplied Technical Brief (manual), that if you were to change USB ports the software should be re-installed!?

 

GAMES/BENCHMARKS USED IN TESTING:

• Survarium (BETA)
• Dying Light
• Metro Last Light (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 Element Gaming Neon 250 headset; of course this is somewhat subjective…

First let’s quickly cover that illumination, while all of the illumination is good, I’m surprised to see that the illumination on the ear-cups cycles between Red, Green and Blue. In my opinion it should just be blue, or maybe just pulsate blue, as that’s what’s more in-keeping with the design and colour scheme of the headset. A little bit picky I know, but you cant control it from the software either! Still looks good though… 😉

 

 

A good question may be to ask what sort of a sound quality do you expect to get from a £25 headset? Well the answer is definitely not this good a sound quality! The sound quality produced by the Neon 250’s 50mm Drivers is very good indeed and rivals some of the best £50 headsets out there, it’s almost as good as our favourite headset (well it was!) the HyperX Cloud. The all round sound is very good with an decent bass level without being overpowering. The mid-range is the headsets’s weakest area but it is still good, and the highs are also well catered for, but may not deliver the shrillness of some more expensive headsets. To be honest I was shocked at how good the overall sound was, and I was even more shocked that I liked the 7.1 virtual surround sound implementation, something that I’ve never been a fan of! Anything that’s got me convinced must be pretty good IMHO! There’s plenty of volume on offer too, so if you like it loud…

Of course the performance section wouldn’t be complete without talking about the Neon 250’s vibration feature. The best word for this is Brilliant!

Why? Well, other than the obvious it makes the bass far more impressive, now you can feel that (spoiler alert!) skyscraper falling, when you blow it up in Dying Light. The rumble is really impressive, especially when you set it to high, I did most of my Gaming on the Low setting as I wanted to keep all of my fillings in my mouth! 😉

But what really sets the Element Gaming Neon 250 apart from other headsets is what this brings to the immersion of Gaming, let’s be fair that’s why most of us play Games; to get immersed in this world set out before our eyes. Well the bottom line is that the Neon 250 makes this better, now you can add another sense to your immersion: FEEL!

 

• Comfort

 

As I stated earlier; the Neon 250 is a pretty large headset (and I don’t mean size or weight), I mean that it caters for large heads, now while I wouldn’t say I had a large head (INSERT PUN HERE), the end result is a headset that doesn’t clamp as much as one would like perhaps! In fact I’d say it clamps enough, but only just! Now while the headset’s not going to fall of your head any time soon, it does feel a little odd at first, but I did find myself getting used to it after a few days. The knock-on effect is that the comfort level is high, as there’s very little force on the side of the head. Even the basic cushions in the inner headband seem to do a great job of supporting the headset’s 340g weight. Over many hours of Gaming I didn’t really feel any discomfort at all!

Also as this is a circumaural (over the ear) headset, your ears need to fit within the ear-cups. Element Gaming have chosen well here as I had no issues with my slightly oversized (sticky-out) ears fitting within the confines of the cup. You’d be surprised how many manufacturers get this wrong, ending up with a headset that fits neither over your ear nor on your ear. Thankfully no such issues with the Element Gaming Neon 250.

 

• Microphone

 

On-line testing with our VOIP program of choice (Razer Comms) proved the microphone to be more than up to the task, with pcG Mike suggesting it was like having me in the room with him, ooh creepy! 😉

What’s also rather nice is the fact that the microphone can be swivelled back up into the left ear-cup when not in use. And then of course there’s the oh so useful microphone mute button (nice and easy to reach & activate) on the in-line remote, with its somewhat disappointing (pink for Off, blue when On) indicator!

 

• Software

 

 

Headphones

 

The screenshots pretty much speak for themselves so I’m not going to go into too much detail here: The first tab, Volume Control features simple volume sliders (Master, Left & Right), the next tab allows you to modify the Sample Rate (although I upped this to 48KHz it didn’t seem to make much difference). The Equalizer tab really speaks for itself (there are some presets to choose from, although it would have been nice to see some Game related ones too!). The Environment Effects tab also speaks for itself, should you wish to choose from some of the presets (off by default). 7.1 Virtual Speaker Shifter is the main tab for turning On/Off and manipulating the virtual 7.1 surround sound, while I have no idea what Xear SingFX is for, but it’s obviously music related and luckily Off by default. The final tab Xear Surround Max (On by default) seems to widen the surround effect a little more…

 

 

Microphone

 

The microphone section of the software also features Volume Control and Sample Rate, while the Xear SingFX tab allows you to manipulate the output from the microphone and features Magic Voice allowing you to pretend to be a dinosaur! The final tab is Microphone Boost, On by default.

 

 

Final Thoughts

 

Let’s just get one thing straight, the Element Gaming Neon 250 is the best sub £50 headset that I’ve ever tested, in fact it is probably the best product I’ve ever tested, because at £25 it’s an absolute steal!

The Element Gaming Neon 250 headset came well packaged in a smart box, with a side window allowing you to see the headset within. Maybe they should have shown off the in-line remote too, as it looks particularly cool, especially when illuminated. Once out of the box I was immediately impressed with the build quality of the Neon 250, it seems well made, sturdy and utilises quality plastics throughout. I looks good too, with its neon blue padding and those large shield shaped ear-cups, there’s no doubt that this at least looks like a Gamers headset.

Comfort wise the Neon 250 scores well, despite the ear-cups having no swivel or tilt functionality and the 340 gram weight of the headset, is surprisingly well supported by the two foam inner headband cushions. What also aides comfort is the fact that the Neon 250 has very little clamping force, now while this may be good for comfort it does seem a little odd at first.

That aforementioned in-line remote is pretty cool too, especially with its blue lighting, featuring volume control, microphone mute and audio mute, as well as allowing you to control the Vibration feature. Only the pink looking illumination of the microphone mute button when active lets it down!

Now the main topic when it comes to performance is the audio quality, but of course the Neon 250 has an ace up its sleeve in the form of that Vibration feature. But let’s cover the audio aspect first; The audio signature produced by the Neon 250 is actually pretty impressive, especially when you consider the cost. I wasn’t expecting much, but boy was I wrong, the Neon 250 can easily hold its own against many if not all other sub £50 headsets out there! Bass reproduction is very good, without being over powering, both mid-range and treble are good also, but they lack just that little bit of accuracy that the like of a HyperX Cloud has. Turing off the virtual surround sound though does of course help. Talking of virtual surround sound, the surround Effect (it’s not real after all!) produced by the Neon 250 is actually very good and one of the better effects that I’ve heard. As many of you know, I’m not normally a lover of VSS, but here it just seems to work…

What we really want to talk about though is that Vibration feature activated via the in-line remote, there’s two settings Low and High. With either setting the rumble is immediately perceivable, in fact with it on High you might even lose some fillings! 😉 But it’s what it adds to the immersion of a Game that’s most noticeable, it may be a clichéd statement but, now you have another sense to rely on in-game and that’s feeling. Never before have I ever tested a headset that brings something as good as this to the party, now that I’ve experienced it, I don’t want to got back to a regular headset again…

As you may have already gathered I’m rather impressed with the Element Gaming Neon 250 headset, but to be honest that’s an understatement; why? Because not only is the Neon 250 a good looking, well made headset with great audio and an impressive Vibration feature, it only costs an astonishing £25! To be honest I’m blown away…

 

Verdict

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Many thanks to Element Gaming for providing this sample for review