Rapoo VPRO VH200

Cheap but not entirely cheerful.

Your humble reviewer enjoys the simple things in life — including donning a headset with media controls. The VH200 from Rapoo has just that, plus an On/Off button to control its 16 million “breathing light” colours. Another nice addition is the decent noise-cancelling microphone that retracts into the left cup — all of which can be easily found by touch alone.

The VH200’s ‘expandable bridge’ headband design won’t be to everyone’s taste — especially those who have smaller noggins. While the headset isn’t particularly heavy, its weight still causes it to slip down over time, meaning that, if you have a small head, the pressure from the cups sitting on the tops of your ears may result in soreness and discomfort. This is not an issue for those of you with bigger breadbaskets.

The cups are wide and circular, with leatherettecovered foam; however, after an hour of listening to music with these on, your reviewer’s ears began to feel uncomfortable, due to the fact that the upper curve of our earlobes were pressed against the thin, elastic mesh covering the drivers.

Back on the positives: the sound is damned good, making these headphones pretty desirable for gaming. For music listening, they deliver warm and wellrounded bass that doesn’t drown out the mids and highs. The VH200s excel at techno and broody jazz, but suffer when playing classical, as the bass is a bit much for this genre.

The VH200s do the job well in the gaming den and they’re tantalisingly cheap; but maybe try before you buy.