Alien Isolation with 7.1 sound? What could possibly go wrong?
That was the thought running through my head when I donned the Sades Locust Plus PC gaming headset and dived into Creative Assembly’s stealthy sci-fi title. It didn’t end well; I was jumping even before the Xenomorph turned up. And not even ten minutes after its first appearance, I’d noped right out of the game. You can cycle through the Sades Locust Plus’s LED colours, but brown isn’t one of them.
That’s not to say the Sades Locust Plus gaming headset is perfect substitute for proper surround speakers; you don’t have the physical distance that you do with a speaker perched on a shelf behind you. But compared to a pair of standard speakers, there’s a welcome improvement.
The Sades Locust Plus gaming headset sits comfortably and easily over my ears and, as was the case with the other Sades set I got my hands on, sweaty ears were non-issue. Playing non-7.1 games, sound quality was excellent, particularly on bass-heavy titles like DOOM. That’s not to say other titles or types of music are a non-starter; I spent a good ten minutes being wowed by how clear choral performances sound on this headset.
However, the driver software doesn’t include many audio options, so you’ll need to rely on Windows 10’s own features. I had the same issue with the Sades Armor headset too. At least the Sades software was more visible this time around, appearing as an icon in the system tray, but I would have loved to be able to click a button and apply different effects; concert hall, living room, etc.
As was the case with the Armor, there’s an in-line volume control that allows you to change LED colour, mute the speakers and the mute the microphone (which also delivers excellent quality). What’s odd about the in-line volume control, though, is that muting the speakers doesn’t turn mic’s LED red, as it did on the Armor. It’s always blue; hit it and the mute icon appears on your PC’s screen, but if you’ve left your PC alone it’s possible to forget you muted the headset.
Amusingly, the Harry Potter font once again features on the packaging. I initially thought Sades had just plucked a cool-looking font off the internet, but given they have a gaming chair called “Draco” I’m beginning to wonder.
The Sades Locust Plus gaming headset is an excellent, stylish bit of kit. It’s not as noise-cancelling as some (more expensive) alternatives, but if you’re looking for a low to mid-range headset to give your gaming a boost, you’ll get more than your money’s worth.
