Cougar Phontum

Silly name, amazing value

AUDIO

PRICE $ 69 www.cougargaming.com

We were really impressed with Cougar’s first PC headset, the Immersa. There isn’t really anything in the market that can match that headset for build, comfort and sound quality at such a low price point. Lightning has apparently struck twice, as we are as impressed with the Phontum headset as we were with the Immersa headset. It’s a beautifully built, comfortable and great sounding set of cans for a startlingly low price.

The design of the headset is beautifully simple – a sprung metal headband connects to two large, well-cushioned earcups. The headband is lightly but comfortably cushioned to sit comfortably on the crown of your head but still gives a good clamp. The clamp, combined with the thick cushioned earcups make for some good passive noise cancelling as well as minimise sound leakage. The box also comes with a second set of thinner cushions, supposedly for outdoor use. If there’s any complaint with the design it’s that the headset is a little finicky to fit as the earcups slide up and down the arms rather than the arms lengthening. Getting everything to sit optimally can take a bit of work.

The stars of the show are the 53mm graphene drivers in the dual-chambered earcups. The result is that the headset can deliver some excellent, clear and loud sound without any kind of volume distortion. There isn’t much in the way of flattening or distortion across the frequency range and the bass sounds rich for a set of stereo headphones without an EQ. If the Phontum and Cloud Alpha headsets are anything to go by then dual-chambered headsets might be the way of the future. DANIEL WILKS