For some time now MSI it is not only active in the hardware sector with the production of video cards, motherboards and notebooks, but also in the peripheral sector such as monitors, mice, keyboards and headphones. The Taiwanese company is creating its own ecosystem of peripherals able to meet all the needs of the gamer.
In this review we will talk about the MSI Immerse GH50, an entry level USB gaming headset with 7.1 virtual surround and RGB lighting compatible with MSI Mistic Light.
The packaging that encloses the headset is white and on the front we find an image of the product with its name and the iconic dragon that has been distinguishing MSI for years.
In the back we find what we saw a little while ago, with the addition of the most important features of the headphones, including support for virtual 7.1 Surround technology.
The bundle, despite being sparse, has a small gem: in addition to the instruction manual there is also a practical one black case, with depicted the MSI dragon useful for storing and keeping our GH50s safe.
The MSI Immerse GH50 despite being entirely made of plastic, although of excellent workmanship (except the headband where we will rest the head which is in aluminum), they are extremely robust and light at the same time, making us forget we are wearing them even after hours of use. In both pavilions of the headset we find the dragon once again, surrounded by an ellipse that traces the profile of the pavilion. Both details are equipped with RGB lighting, compatible with MSI Mistic Light, very beautiful and elegant to see, without resulting in the tacky, as often happens in other gaming products. The pads are made of padded synthetic leather, very soft and delicate to the touch.
Despite this, on the hottest days, the pavilions will cause us a lot of sweating.
Even in the presence of MSI Immerse GH50 glasses they are very comfortable and do not exert too much pressure on the temples of the glasses thus avoiding causing pain in the ears. Additionally, the MSI Immerse GH50 features the over-ear design to offer a wide soundstage and add comfort while leaving the ears free from any pressure. The part of the arch that will rest on our head is also covered with padded synthetic leather, in order to reduce the pressure exerted and allow long gaming sessions.
On the left pavilion we find a hole allowing a 3,5 mm audio jack, where we will connect the supplied microphone if we want to use it. This feature, now implemented by many manufacturers, is extremely useful, because if we have a table microphone or simply don't want to use it, we can safely remove it and put it back inside the package. The microphone shaft is fully articulated and therefore we can adjust it to our liking.
The headphones are wired and with USB 2.o interface. The cable is just over two meters long and is covered with braided nylon to make it resistant and prevent it from accidentally breaking. Along the cable we find a handy controller where we can control the vibration, adjust the volume, disable the microphone and enable or not the virtual 7.1 surround.
The MSI Immerse GH50 are extremely beautiful to see, especially in the dark and in operation thanks to the RGB LEDs placed on the pavilions. But do they also sound good? The well-made drivers have a diameter of 40 mm and are formed from Neodymium. The speakers have a sensitivity of about 109 dB and have an impedance of 32 ohms. The drivers are also equipped with a vibration system, able to make the immersion even more total. The microphone is unidirectional and has a diameter of 6 mm with a sensitivity of -39 dB and an impedance of 2.2 Kohm.
We tested the MSI Immerse GH50 headphones with both PC, Mac and PlayStation 4. In all cases the audio quality has always been excellent. The voices of our teammates, during our online games, were crystal clear and they could hear us just as well. Game audio plays great and the headphones are able to offer us one good sound directionality, in order to make us understand almost instantly which side the enemies are coming from. The bass is very full-bodied and decisive, making our experience even more enjoyable. Thanks to the virtualization of 7.1 Surround, the headphones are able to make our experience even more immersive, giving us the feeling of being in the middle of the scene. Even in the use of movies and TV series, the virtualization of Surround makes it very well, giving us an excellent experience. However, MSI Immerse GH50 sin when we listen to music of any kind: the overly decisive bass often overwhelms the other frequencies. However, this problem is easily solved by acting on the equalizer.
On PC it will be possible to control every aspect of MSI Immerse GH50 via MSI Dragon Center, a powerful utility that will allow us to control any compatible MSI device. Here we can go to select different audio profiles, create new ones by modifying the equalizer and finally we can modify the RGB lighting by selecting already set effects, creating new ones, setting a fixed color or turning them off completely.
MSI wants to establish itself not only as a hardware manufacturer but also as a manufacturer of all those peripherals necessary for every player. With MSI Immerse GH50 the Taiwanese house has managed to create an excellent headset able to meet the needs of all players. The virtual 7.1 surround manages to give even greater involvement both during the game sections and when watching movies. The microphone is well made and our fellow soldiers will hear us in a crystal clear way and without background noise. Thanks to the padded synthetic leather earpads, the headphones are very comfortable even if you wear eyeglasses. Thanks to the low weight, after several hours of use, we will hardly feel fatigued in the head. The only drawback to the MSI headphones is excessive sweating on hot days, due to the presence of synthetic leather. The bundle, albeit sparse, has reserved a nice surprise for us, that is the practical bag in order to carry our headset always with us.
If you are looking for a good headset, without spending a lot of money, equipped with 7.1 virtual surround, MSI Immerse GH50 could be for you. You can buy them for about 50 €.
