Page 2 - A Closer Look - Hardware and Software
After opening the package, the first thing you may notice about the GAMDIAS HEBE M1 RGB is the pair of big earcups. On the official website, it is called an "oversized" earcup design. The over-ear design has two benefits. The first is related with noise cancellation. Since the earcups are much larger than your ears, the foam padding can sit around your ear for better sealing. Furthermore, the big earcups can fit big drivers. The driver of HEBE M1 RGB has a diameter of 50 mm, which is even bigger than that of the already bulky GAMDIAS Hephaestus Almighty. The shells of the earcups are made out of black plastic with a matte black finish. The design of the earcup's shell features a wedge pointing to the front, which adds to the gaming style simply and cleanly. At the top portion of the wedge, the HEBE M1 RGB is printed in tan on the earcups. On the outer side of the earcups, RGB backlighting can be found here to add a fancy illumination effect.
Comparing the headband arm with the oversized earcups, the headband may look a little bit smaller, but it is just how it looks. In fact, the headband arm is made out of solid steel. The stiffness of the headband arm is strong enough to firmly clip the headset to your head. Underneath the metal headband arm, there is a tension band with soft memory foam wrapped by PU leather. In the above picture, we can see the tension band is attached to the headband arm through a clip with the GAMDIAS' company logo on it. The tension band can hold the headset in a proper position on the user's head. As I have mentioned in the introduction, there is no mechanical mechanism on the headband arm that is adjustable. There is not even a flange between the headband arm and the earcups. The fitting is solely dependent on the tension band. Therefore, if you have a normal sized head like I do, this headset will be comfortable and easy to wear. However, if you expecting more adjustable features, then this product may let you down.
The above picture shows the leather wrapped foam padding of the inner side of the earcups. The plushy padding goes around your ear with an airtight sealing. Here, the "airtight" feature can be both good and bad. The good side is the ambient noise can be kept out, and you can just hear what is played by your computer. However, the down side is your ears will not get any cooling. Especially when you have leather padding, you really want some ventilation applied. In this case, cooling is not considered for the HEBE M1 RGB. The padding is plushy, so the headset is pretty comfortable to wear. It is impossible to swap the padding, since the pads are not detachable. Underneath the padding, the driver size is measured at 50mm in diameter, and the impedance is rated at 32 ohm. In terms of color choice, the padding have a consistent look to the rest of the earcups. They all feature a matte black finish. Personally, I prefer to have the padding and earcups in one color, which has little bit more stealth and looks a bit lower key.
Differing from the GAMDIAS Hephaestus Almighty, there are no notches on the headband arm to control the spanning. As mentioned previously, the headband arm of the HEBE M1 RGB is a solid piece of metal without any moving mechanisms on it. The headband arm on this product is just to connect the pair of earcups, and to provide enough tension so that the earcups can be firmly clipped on the user’s head. In my opinion, this is a good design, since too many moving mechanical mechanisms can result in a high probability of failure from time to time. As there is no adjusting mechanism on the headband arm, a tension band is provided to hold the headset in the right position. In the picture, you can see the lower side of the PU leather wrapped tension bar. The tension band is attached to the headset using four screws. The padding on the tension band is plushy, and it can provide the right amount of force to hold the headset in position.
As an important tool for teamwork in-game, a nice microphone is definitely required. When it is not needed, the microphone can hide inside the earcup. Once you need to use the microphone, it can be pulled out, so the voice sensor can get closer to the user’s mouth. According to the product website, the microphone is unidirectional and it features noise cancellation. To quickly mute the microphone, the user can simply push the mute button on the controller. There are also several other buttons such as the vibration switch, RGB switch, and the volume controls on the controller. It is worth noting the volume control directly changes the volume of your Windows operating system output, and is adjusted discretely. I would prefer to have a standalone volume control on the headset, and it will be better if the volume can be adjusted continuously. As you may notice from the above picture, the controller is pretty bulky as well. The USB cable of this headset is 2 m long, and it is very thick. After a careful inspection, I found there is actually a rubber coated layer outside of the braided cable. There is no doubt of the toughness of the cable thanks to the braided layer, and the cable is really smooth due to the rubber coat. However, the double-layer coating definitely adds more weight to the cable. It also kind of defeats the point of having a braided cord in my opinion. In fact, the bulky controller and the thick cable really make it hard to ignore the existence of the wired connection.
If you have used or seen other GAMDIAS products, you are no stranger to the HERA GUI. Since I have already installed the HERA software for the GAMDIAS Zeus P1 gaming mouse, once I plugged the headset into the computer and activated HERA, a dialog window just popped out to remind me to install the corresponding driver for the headset. The HERA software can only be used for the HEBE M1 RGB after installing the required driver. Modifications to the settings can be easily made through the HERA GUI. Everything is pretty self-explanatory in the interface, and most users should have no problem figuring things out.
Generally speaking, the GAMDIAS HEBE M1 RGB is a sturdily built headset that features a pair of oversized earcups. Instead of using an adjustable mechanism on the headband arm, a tension band is used to hold the headset in position. The earcup padding is plushy, thus the comfort of wearing them is guaranteed. The only two concerns about this product are the lack of ventilation on the earcups and the rather heavy cable and controller. One suggestion I can make is to provide a standalone continuous volume adjustment function on the controller.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look - Hardware and Software
3. Subjective Audio Analysis
4. Conclusion
