EPOS H3PRO Hybrid Review: Premium Gaming Headset Ticks EVERY Box

EPOS goes from strength to strength with its gaming headsets, and the H3PRO Hybrid continues that outstanding streak.

The EPOS H3PRO Hybrid feels like the culmination of the company's gaming headset development throughout the past couple of years.

As a true flagship gaming headset, the H3PRO Hybrid delivers excellent sound quality, premium build quality, and the option to connect to any device in a single package. Better still, it includes additional features you won't find elsewhere, like adaptive noise cancellation and a handy low-latency USB dongle for extra smooth connections.

It comes with a premium price tag, that's without a doubt—but in this case, you absolutely get what you pay for.

EPOS H3PRO Hybrid Style and Comfort

Out of the box, you note the H3PRO's build quality. It feels great, and while the H3PRO design is similar to previous EPOS gaming headsets, it packs in more features than its older counterparts.

The H3PRO comes in three different colors: black, white, or green, all of which carry off the sleek design of the unit well. For my money, the gold and green combination is the tidiest design of the three, adding a little touch of British racing green flair, but it's all down to personal preference really.

What isn't completely down to personal preference is comfort. Well, perhaps it is, but most people are striving for the same thing, which is a comfortable gaming headset that you can wear for hours at a time. EPOS has gone for a multi-material design, with each earpad featuring a leatherette outer ring with a soft suede covering what is presumably a foam material. They're very comfortable.

Furthermore, the steel headband is covered in a mesh fabric, with the same suede material on the underside. On first use, the headband is a little tight, but after a short period, the steel band will adjust to your head size. Having what feels like a tight fit is ideal as it means the earcups sit snug to your head. It might not be the gaming headset fit you're accustomed to, but the earcup size and fit are vital for the H3PRO's ANC.

Finally, let's talk weight. The H3 PRO Hybrid weighs 308g (10.86oz), which is fairly lightweight in the world of gaming headsets. For example, the SteelSeries Arctis 7P weighs 421g (14.85oz), and the Corsair Virtuoso RGB Wireless XT weighs 382g (13.47oz), making the H3 PRO a good option for long gaming sessions, film watching, or even just listening to music.

On that, they're so comfortable, you might actually consider wearing them out of the house, as your regular headphones. The microphone is detachable (further reducing the weight), and the sound quality is good enough (more on this in a moment) that it's a very reasonable proposition and not one that you typically encounter with something labeled a "gaming headset."

EPOS H3PRO Hybrid Connectivity and Battery Life

Connectivity is one of the H3PRO's main strengths. You connect to effectively every device using either Bluetooth 5.2, the low-latency Bluetooth dongle, USB Type-C, or a 3.5mm input. It's an impressive array of connection options, making the H3PRO a versatile gaming headset.

In terms of outright connection quality, the Bluetooth dongle delivered the best overall performance. The USB Type-A dongle (and its extension cable) provided a much quicker connection than the onboard Bluetooth, which at times would take up to a full minute to connect to my computer or smartphone despite being the last paired device.

When switching to the dongle, the headset connects almost instantaneously after powering it on. Another small thing to note is that the headset doesn't react instantly to a new audio source at times. So, if you switch to a new browser tab with a video ready to play, you might miss the first couple of seconds. However, once connected using either Bluetooth option, the connection was solid, with no dropouts.

The connection option you choose makes a significant difference to the H3PRO battery life.

• USB Bluetooth dongle: Up to 30 hours of playback, 19 hours with ANC
• On-board Bluetooth: Up to 38 hours of playback, 22 hours with ANC
• 3.5mm input: Up to 29 hours of playback, 19 hours with ANC

Overall, the battery life of the H3PRO is really good, and I never ran out of battery at an awful moment. It charges to full in around two hours, meaning if you do run out of power, it won't take long to get going again.

One thing that irks me about the H3PRO headset, though, is that the 3.5mm input still requires battery life, and somehow uses more power than the Bluetooth versions. I'm not sure why this is, but it would be useful for the wired option not to use any battery life at all. As it is, if you do run out of battery, you can't rely on the wired connection as a backup.

Still, between 19 and 29 hours of playback is perfectly acceptable and will keep you gaming way until the small hours of the morning.

Finally, the H3PRO Hybrid offers multipoint support, meaning you can connect it to two devices simultaneously, handy for managing gameplay and phone calls without switching devices.

EPOS H3PRO Hybrid Sound Quality and ANC

I've used all of EPOS' gaming headsets throughout the past two years, including open and closed back designs. The H3PRO is definitely the best sounding EPOS headset I've had the pleasure of using, with a sound profile that has been tweaked minimally towards the bass and upper midrange. With a frequency response of 20-20,000Hz and 40mm dynamic drivers, the H3PRO delivers a clean and overall accurate audio experience. Although the slight tuning is evident, it really is slight, and we're not talking Beats levels of bounce here.

The real proof is in the punch, as they say, and the H3PRO headset does sound great when in-game, not least because the addition of active noise canceling tech boosts your immersion that little bit more. You'll definitely hear footsteps when creeping around, notice some extra rumble when launching off the grid, or the location a gunshot came from, all delivered without issue.

You might note some differences in sound between the onboard Bluetooth and the low-latency Bluetooth dongle, although both use the same SBC codec.

It works well with music, too. The H3PRO's hardware and EPOS's balanced tuning means that, as alluded to previously, you could actually consider these as a replacement for your regular headphones. Testing them against all manner of genres, there were no problems. Indeed, even against complex arrangements like Nils Frahm's Spaces, the full scale of overlapping and intertwining melodies were evident and presented without issue.

EPOS H3PRO Hyrbid ANC

Now, this is a feature that sets the H3PRO apart from the rest of the traditional gaming headset market. Including ANC on the H3PRO illustrates the premium quality of this headset, and it's not a feature you will find on heaps of other options.

It's all good including it as a feature. But, does the H3PRO ANC actually work?

Thankfully, it does. It's not the best ANC I've ever used, but it blocks out a decent proportion of background noise when you're attempting to game. By extension, the inclusion of ANC also makes the H3PRO great for a heap of other uses, too, like when you're working in a busy place, watching a movie, or just walking through town, listening to your favorite music.

EPOS H3PRO Hybrid Microphone Quality

If you're chatting in-game, you want to make sure your voice comes through crisp. Interestingly, the H3PRO's detachable boom arm delivers decent clarity—but so do the onboard microphones, which means your voice will sound good no matter where you are (assuming you remove the boom mic to take the H3PRO out of the house, of course. We're not here to judge).

The onboard microphone is embedded in the earcup, meaning it's out of sight when you remove the boom arm mic. Also, there is a handy circular cover that you can use to cover the magnetic microphone arm holder. It fits in easily and makes the H3PRO appear as a set of regular headphones, rather than a converted gaming headset.

EPOS Gaming Suite Desktop App

The EPOS H3PRO works with the EPOS Gaming Suite, a desktop app you can use to customize EQ settings, switch between the 2.1 and 7.1 virtual surround sound options, adjust microphone input and EQ, and update the firmware of the H3PRO headset itself.

Previous iterations of the EPOS Gaming Suite have been slightly tricky to use, sometimes failing to recognize a headset, update when required, or apply EQ options. However, the latest version appears to have fixed many of these small issues, making the Gaming Suite a useful addition.

If you do buy the H3PRO Hybrid, the desktop app is definitely worth downloading and using, if only for the options to switch between virtual surround sound modes. The default H3PRO sound profile is pretty good regardless, but you always have the option to tweak using the app, which is a welcome touch.

The EPOS H3PRO Is an Excellent ANC-Equipped Gaming Headset

It's the big moment. You know what's coming. The EPOS H3PRO Hybrid retails for $279, making it very much a premium headset.

Sure, that's a fair whack to spend on a gaming headset, but the H3PRO absolutely packs in the features and smashes them home with aplomb.

The H3PRO Hybrid sounds great, whether in-game or just listening to music, to the point you'd use them as your daily driver for all things audio. Then there's the ANC, which is a really handy addition for a gaming headset. Add in the heaps of connection options, the battery life, and the overall comfort, and it's clear that EPOS has prioritized and delivered on the H3PRO's flagship tag.

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