Page 2 - Physical Look - Hardware and Software
Taking a look at the general appearance, the ROCCAT Syn Max Air has a very muted design like its predecessor, the Syn Pro Air. There is nothing really special about this headset while turned off, which is a great departure from some over-the-top gaming headsets. The whole headset uses a black color scheme, making the overall appearance quite flat in my opinion. This is appealing to people who want something more mature looking. Before you ask, yes, there is RGB LED lighting on both sides, so do not worry -- you can shake things up by turning them on. This aluminum material is a bit of a fingerprint magnet. Upon taking it out of the box, I had already placed some fingerprints on the sides. With the Syn Max Air, you should expect to be cleaning it a decent amount, unless you enjoy the appeal of fingerprints on your device or simply do not care. On each side of the headset, ROCCAT tastefully displays some branding. I appreciate the minimalism as I prefer to have a smaller amount of branding on the products I own.
This headset feels like it is built out of primarily plastic despite the aluminum construction. However, it is made out of a lightweight aluminum for both durability and reduced weight. The weight of this headset is 341g without the microphone, which is about average for a regular gaming headset. This was achieved partially by what the company calls the Bionic Shell. The Bionic Shell is a honeycomb structure underneath a thin layer of plastic, also found in the Kone Pro Air, Kone Pro, and of course, the Syn Pro Air. The cushioning on this headset is made from a black PU leather that is filled with cooling gel-infused memory foam. Despite the use of plastic, there is very little creaking when moving or adjusting the Syn Max Air.
Starting at the ears, the cups use an PU leather as previously stated. The cups are filled with a cooling gel-infused memory foam for the cushioning. The amount of cushioning provided is adequate in terms of thickness, as it is not too much and not too little. I found the cushioning and PU leather to be quite comfortable, providing a good fit for my ears, while also not causing my ears to overheat. As these cups are only made from PU leather, they will look quite premium and the cooling gel technology allows you to stay comfortable after long periods of usage.
This is a good time to mention a feature that Turtle Beach, ROCCAT’s parent company, calls ProSpecs. Keeping this explanation brief, inside the earcups, there is a tab used to loosen up the tension around where your glasses would rest while wearing this headset. I personally find wearing my glasses to be much more comfortable while using the Syn Max Air in comparison to other headsets I have used.
Taking a peek at the drivers underneath, you can see Turtle Beach’s 50mm Nanoclear drivers. These drivers have a frequency response of 20Hz to 20kHz according to ROCCAT’s website, which is on par with the typical hearing frequency range of a human being. This is very interesting, as the original Syn Pro Air boasted a frequency response of 12Hz to 20kHz. Ultimately, this will not affect much as this difference is beyond the scope of human hearing, but it is still an interesting observation. Looking away from the numbers, these ear cups can be pivoted to sit flat to rest your headphones more comfortably on your neck. Something to note is that the ear cups can only be twisted towards the user’s chest and not in the reverse direction.
At the top of the ROCCAT Syn Max Air, you can see how this headset has a traditional headband design rather than a suspended design. With this, you will be able to manually adjust the headset to fit your own preference. I personally prefer this method as I have more control. A complaint I had would be the adjustment point, as it does not look very appealing. It is incredibly noticeable and does not sit flush with the rest of the headset. I also find myself having to readjust it as the adjustment does not stay in place due to the lack of a locking mechanism.
When considering comfort, I was quite satisfied with the ROCCAT Syn Max Air. There was a sufficient amount of foam on the ears and headband. The headset’s clamping pressure is good as it keeps the headset secure while not being too tight. The cooling gel memory foam allows for a more pleasant wearing experience, while maintaining a premium appearance. In my personal use, I noticed the weight distribution was fairly even between the clamping pressure and headband. I found I did not have to take this headset off very often and was able to wear it for several hours on end.
At the bottom of the headset is where the controls reside for the ROCCAT Syn Max Air. There are not too many inputs and outputs here, so let us begin with the left ear where the microphone will reside. This side has the USB Type-C port used for charging. Beside this port, you will find the power button. The power button needs to be held for about 5 seconds and will take a short while to fully connect. The volume wheel adjusts the master audio for your system. The wheel itself rolls quite smoothly, but my main issue with the wheel is the precision. When adjusting the levels, it changes by increments of six units. I personally would rather use my keyboard shortcuts for more granular control. ROCCAT opted to not have a mute button on the headset, as the microphone automatically mutes when it rotates to the upward position. On the right ear, we have variable mic monitoring. Like many people, I do not like the sound of my own voice, so I generally keep it off.
With the ROCCAT Syn Max Air comes the inclusion of their Rapid Charge charging stand. I find this stand quite interesting as the bottom allows for two different USB Type-C plugs that serve two different purposes. The first is to connect the headset to your computer without the use of Bluetooth. The next port is actually used for faster charging speeds while using the dock. In my experience with the dock, I found it to be quite good, charging at a good rate while also being interesting a unique method of connecting the headset. I will say, the dock is a little bit large, so finding a place on my desk for it was a slightly difficult task. Nonetheless, this is a very good method of storage for the Syn Max Air.
The ROCCAT Syn Max Air has returned to Swarm from Neon. This is interesting as Neon was intended to be used for all future AIMO products, but here we are using Swarm once again. The utility is available from ROCCAT’s support page, and it is a 118MB ZIP file. The setup process is pretty easy, and my Syn Max Air was automatically found. I did receive some updates during my review and they all worked as intended.
After selecting the ROCCAT Syn Max Air on the top menu, I was greeted with some settings. I will go over the most important functions starting with Superhuman Hearing, which boosts in-game sounds such as footsteps and reloads. This is a great setting for many FPS titles, but on the max setting, I often found myself getting baited by thinking the opponent was closer compared to where they really were, so getting attuned to these settings will be necessary. With my personal use with it, it did not help very much as I find those audio cues to be loud enough in most games. The reason being many shooters like VALORANT have what they call Head-Related Transfer Function or HRTF, allowing for better simulated surround sound audio space. The Game Spatializer takes stereo sound and adjusts it to mimic multi-channel audio. Channel Mix allows you to control the balance between your game and voice chat services. Game Audio Output allows you to control the master volume, and minutely adjust the game treble, bass, dialog levels, and channel mix between game and chat. Mic Settings allows you to adjust the mic volume and monitoring levels alongside a noise gate feature.
There are two other tabs, being Illumination and Audio. Illumination is the tab used to control RGB LED lighting. There are four effects to select from aside from Intelligent Lighting System. These lighting settings are the generic wave, fully lit, heartbeat, and breathing effects. Depending on the specified effect, you can choose the speed, brightness, theme, and colors. The Audio tab is where you can customize the sound signature of the headphones as expected. Oddly enough, the default setting for the headset is not actually flat, rather tuned towards gaming. I will say Neon was a much more appealing software, but it was quite dysfunctional in my use, so the swap back to Swarm is understandable, although Swarm feels many years out of date.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Hardware and Software
3. Subjective Audio Analysis
4. Conclusion
