SENNHEISER GSP 670
A truly luxurious wireless offering that really sings
WE’VE GOT NOTHING AGAINST quality wired headphones, but the freedom promised by wireless cans has us constantly on the lookout for that particular audio nirvana. The Sennheiser GSP 670 shares many mechanical similarities with the existing GSP 600 wired model, with the same speaker technology in each earcup, but this cable-free version features a 20-hour battery life and very low latency. Bluetooth compatibility means the GSP 670 can be used with just about any device you can throw at it, too, from consoles to smartphones, and tablets.
The GSP 670 continues the family aesthetic, which could be described as “Terminator’s earmuffs.” The look is probably the aspect we’re least enamored with overall, but in fairness, Sennheiser is right to keep the color scheme muted by using black and gray, and to avoid RGB lighting or accent colors. With this many angles and surfaces, you don’t need any additional details.
Fortunately, the GSP 670 looks this way as a result of some careful technical design in the name of comfort. At 14oz, it’s on the heavy side, but this isn’t an issue, thanks to the mechanical outline of the headband and metal single-sided yoke, and an adjustable calliper pressure system at the top of the headband that brings a real USP to the GSP series. By adjusting two sliders at each side, you can precisely control how much pressure the earcups exert on your cranium.
A perennial favorite feature of ours about Sennheiser gaming headsets is the boom arm design, with a mic mute built in so that you’re automatically muted when pushing the arm up, and broadcasting when it’s down. The satisfying click you feel when doing this really tells of the construction quality—we defy you not to move it up and down aimlessly, just enjoying the sensation, when you first use the headset.
Not much has changed in the audio department compared to the wired GSP 600. The same neodymium magnet drivers articulate the sound, and the response is noticeably powerful at the bass end, more so than previous Senny models, such as the Game One. There’s always a slight trade-off when the EQ curve is styled to sound good, rather than to sound totally flat, as with studio monitors, and usually it comes in the tiny details in the upper mid-range and in the treble. The question is whether the overall sound is better for its intended purpose when it’s been sculpted in this way. The answer is, categorically, yes.
You couldn’t master an album using them, but for gaming, movies, TV, and music, these cans sound wonderful. There’s a liveliness to them—which we suspect comes down to the luxuriousness of the contact points as much as the drivers themselves—which means you can feel the music swelling and pulsing in pressure changes, as well as hear it. It’s a sensation we’ve always loved in Bose’s closed-back headphones, and we’re thrilled to find it in the gaming market. Some gamers might find it too busy at the bass end, but the GSP 670 really speaks to our personal preference. This is a surround-sound compatible headset, too, so if you want to get serious and listen out for positional audio cues in the likes of CS:GO, Sennheiser’s proprietary surround algorithm has your back.
This is the most complete and bestsounding gaming headset package Sennheiser has put together to date. It’s also very expensive. That makes us hesitant to recommend it as the next “no-brainer” pick in the market, but for those willing to pay a little extra for increased durability, replaceable parts, and a real feeling of luxury, they’ll be richly rewarded for their outlay. The sound is fantastic, but the same was true of the cheaper GSP 600—and indeed much cheaper rivals from SteelSeries and HyperX.
VERDICT 9 Sennheiser GSP 670
FREEDOM Useful control layout; boom arm mic mute system; powerful bass; optional surround.
RESTRAINT Very expensive; looks busy; rivals offer similarly great sound.
$ 349, http://en- us. sennheiser.com