MCHOSE HW-V9-2 V9 Pro Wireless Steel Black 7.1 Surround Sound Gaming Headset

Incredible value for money. I was weary of a new name in the biz, but zero complaints. PS - Insane battery life.

For around R1000 this headset is fantastic value, anything remotely close is at least double the price and often still lacks in some areas. Overall if you want a headset with a good mic then this is an extremely easy recommend as it kinda blows everything except the very high-end out of the water in that regard, the sound quality is good for the price but and feature set is another area where it sets itself apart.

Pros:
- Great Mic
- Great Software Noise Cancellation for the Mic
- Great Battery Life
- USB-A and USB-C Dongles
- Good Sound Quality
- Wired, 2.4Ghz and Bluetooth Support
- Can charge and use at the same time
- Good 2.4Ghz Range
- Lightweight Software with good features
- Dedicated Mute Button and Mic Activity Light
- Volume Wheel
- 3 Sound Modes
- Easy and quick switch between 2.4Ghz and Bluetooth
- Lightweight and Comfortable
- Metal Headband and Hinges

Cons
- Stock Sound Profiles not the greatest
- Only 1 EQ at a time
- No Parametric EQ
- No EQ for Bluetooth
- No Mic Sidetone Adjustment
- No simultaneous Bluetooth

If this headset was way more expensive than I'd rate it 4/5 but for the price I think it's one of the best available and remains that way until you reach around R2200+ where some other options become competitive in certain areas (mainly the Turtle Beach Stealth 600, SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5 and 7, Asus Rog Pelta, HyperX Cloud 3S and maybe the Corsair Void V2 if you don't care about the mic).


The first thing to note is that this comes with a Desktop App which handles all of the tuning and settings for Wired and 2.4Ghz modes (Bluetooth mode has to use the stock settings currently), MChose does have a Browser-based app but it currently does not support their headsets (this is apparently being worked on though). The app is pretty easy to use and has a solid set of features including Volume, Mic Noise Cancellation and Monitoring, 4 Sound options (Male, Female, Cartoon and Monster), Audio Brightening, Dynamic Low-End and Volume, Vocal Clarity, EQs, Virtual Surround and Hardware Overviews (Battery, Firmware, Sound Mode). It's also very lightweight when active and only uses around 60mb of Ram when open which is extremely nice to see after the Ram-hogs that are the software from bigger brands.

The Headset comes with a USB-A to USB-C charging cable that can also be used simultaneously for a wired connection, it comes with a dongle that supports both USB-A and USB-C connections (two seperate dongles that can be stored as one) and the detachable microphone. It also came double-boxed with an outer brown cardboard box protecting the actual product box which was super nice to see. The headset itself has a volume wheel for independent headset volume, a power button that toggles connections and sound profiles and a dedicated mic mute.

For comfort I've found it to be very comfortable and it has quite a lot of adjustments for both small and big heads, the leatherette pads are extremely plush which surprised me and the headset is lightweight so the headband doesn't press onto your head much. I have a small head and i wear glasses and the overall fit has been very comfy, the passive noise isolation has also been very good and it block out a good amount even when my glasses are on. I haven't found it to be too hot to wear but I do game in an air-conditioned room so I can mitigate a lot of our Summer heat. The metal headband is also a very nice touch after seeing plastic being used so much on headsets from more expensive mainstream brands.

The thing which impressed me the most with this was the Mic, it's a super clear sounding capsule for such a cheap headset and honestly sounds a bit better to me than something like the Asus Rog Pelta which is around R2600, you'd have to get something like a Sennheiser BAM, Meze Boom mic or a ModMic to be close imo. There is an app-enabled Noise Cancelling feature which works really well too, basically no impact to the sound quality but completely eliminates my keyboard and mouse clicking while also doing a very good job with silencing most of an air duster that I tested right in front of it. You can also enable mic-monitoring in the software and it works with zero-latency, I haven't found a way to adjust the volume of this though independent of overall mic volume but I might be missing something. There's also a Blue LED on the end of the capsule itself to let you know the mic is on and there's a mute button located on the back of the left ear cup.

The sound quality is a bit mixed out of the box but if you like bass then you'll be quite happy. You have 3 presets which can be switched by pressing the power button 3 times (these are active in wired, 2.4Ghz and Bluetooth modes):
Game Mode 1 - Focused around FPS with a profile to highlight footsteps and the like
Game Mode 2 - More bassy mode intended for single-player and more immersive games
Music Mode - Also a bit bassy but overall more "full" sounding across the range.

Out of the box I found the bass could be a bit boxy in Game Mode 2 and Music Mode depending on what I'm listening to (Hydrogen by M|O|O|N really pushes the limits and so do very dynamic EDM songs) but the Mchose App supports up to 20 Custom EQs so you can tailor it to your liking (no Parametric EQ though). Unfortunately though the EQs are only available in 2.4Ghz and Wired mode and it seems you can only have 1 loaded at a time when connected to PC, there's some differences in frequency responses between each mode so the same EQ settings will sound a bit different depending on what mode you've applied them to in the App. I've personally found Game Mode 2 with a reduction in the Bass to be the best all-around fit for me, if I could I'd like to set specific EQs for each mode but this isn't supported at this time.

You can also enable a virtual surround-sound mode in the App and I tested it out in Forza Horizon 5 where it worked pretty well, it isn't suited for everything though and it can make some music sound a bit weird so I leave it off mostly.

The battery life is also great and between using it on 2.4Ghz and Bluetooth for around 10 hours over 3 days I'm still on 100% so I can easily see this lasting weeks. You can also use the headset when charging (via USB-A to USB-C cable) which is also great and something some other headsets around this price area and even a lot more don't offer.

One of the other things I've really began to appreciate is the ability to quickly switch between Bluetooth and 2.4Ghz despite not being simultaneous, just pair it up on Bluetooth first and plug the 2.4Ghz Dongle in and then you can double-tap the power button to switch between them in around a second, it's very seamless and I use it to take calls on my phone while I'm gaming.

Range on 2.4Ghz is also solid and it reaches from one side of my house to the other so you can easily keep it on your head while you grab a snack or walk around your house. Bluetooth is apparently even better but I keep my phone in my pocket so I haven't tested this out at all.

Was a bit skeptical about this purchase, because i was on wired corsairs and really wanted to switch back to wireless. This was the most affordable option for me and it didnt dissapoint!
Easy to set up, just download the driver software from the website and then plug in the reciever. No issues with sound. Mic is crystal clear and my friends on Discord have also said that this Mic quality is better than my Corsairs. Battery life is insane good, 1 charge can last me a week basically. You can also use it while charging, just plug out the reciever and the headsets switch to wired mode, which is a big plus!
Overall, this is defs a 10/10 purchase and i would recommend this to people who want a budget alternative to the expensive mainstream brands.