Func HS-260 Review

Func HS-260 Review

Manufacturer: Func
UK Price: (as reviewed): £69.98
US Price: (as reviewed): $79.99

Func is steadily making a name for itself with a stream of decent quality peripherals including the Func MS-3 mouse and of course its mousemats – the products the Func name was known for before the brand was bought. The latest addition to this lineup is the Func HS-260 headset. It retails for around £60 and includes a surprising number of potentially useful features that mark it out at its price point.


First things first, this is a large, circumaural headset which isn’t designed to fold flat so is more of a stay at home model than one to take on your travels to LAN parties. That said, like the QPad 90 and Sennhesier G4ME Zero it uses a closed-back headphone design so does block out a bit of background noise.

Build quality of the HS-260 is okay with the headset certainly looking the part; the combination of matt black and silver with a few chrome highlights works very well. It also stood up to a fair amount of tortuous twisting during our testing. However it is all plastic and there is a slightly rattlely and squeaky quality to the headband and earcup joints. It’s minor stuff but does again highlight the quality of the two aforementioned headsets, which are notably more expensive it must be said.


The first real standout feature of this headset is its inclusion of a clever detachable microphone and cable system. We say system because the two are interchangeable. On each earcup there is a hole into which either the microphone or main cable can be inserted. Both use standard 3.5mm jack plugs (4-pole rather than stereo) but via the use of magic the headset knows which is which.


It’s a brilliant system that allows you to choose which side the cable and microphone go and, like any removable cable system, means that you can replace the cable. We don’t suppose it will be all that easy to get official replacements for but at least with the headphone cable you can easily replace it with any standard cable that has a narrow enough plastic surround to the plug.

Incorporated into the microphone is a mute switch. This is very convenient and falls perfectly to hand, though the little slider switch is a bit stiff. The microphone itself is also mounted on a fully flexible arm, which we found was perfect for easily positioning the microphone exactly where we wanted.

The cable itself is a plentiful 3 metres long and comes out of the box impressively free of kinks. It’s braided along its full length and terminates in two standard 3.5mm jacks for the microphone and headphone portions of the headset. As we’d expect in this day and age the ring spacers between the poles are colour coded so it’s easy to tell which is which.


Just to the rear of the cable socket on the left earcup there is also an integrated volume control. This is not as easy to find in the heat of battle as we’d like, with its slim profile and small diameter meaning you have to rummage around for it a little. It’s also quite sensitive, making fine adjustment a little difficult. All told it’s definitely more convenient than none at all or an inline control but isn’t quite up there with the best on-headset or desktop controls. As this is a passive headset the control simply attenuates the signal it is fed.


As well as offering a choice in cable setup the HS-260 also has a choice of earcup pads. Out of the box they have a plush velvet finish but included in the box is a set of pleather pads. Replacing them is a very simple affair, with the whole pad twisting off and the new pad sliding on.

Specifications:

• Colour Black with orange highlights
  
• Wearing style Headband
  
• Ear coupling Closed back, supra-aural
  
• Frequency response (headphones) 20 – 20,000Hz
  
• Impedance Headphones: 32 Ω
  
• Drivers 50mm
  
• Connector 2 x 3.5 mm
  
• Cable length 3m
  
• Dimensions 180x105x194
  
• Weight 370g