Gaming Peripherals Round Up

Everglide s-500 Professional Gaming Headphones

If there was an award for 'Largest Headphones' then the s-500 would certainly be in with a shout. These audio aids are beefy - quite possibly the largest we've seen at the bit-tech offices. Does all that size equate to top notch performance? Let's find out...

The first thing that strikes you about these headphones, after the bulky size, is the lack of a microphone. Advertising yourself as a gaming headset and not including a microphone seems like a bit of an oxymoron. Standard practice for gaming headsets these days is to include a retractable microphone for comfort and ease of use. Where is the mic Everglide? Where?

The lack of a mic is only emphasised by one of the features Everglide is shouting about. The s-500 headphones have been designed to block as much outside sound as possible, whilst attempting to maintain a high level of comfort and audio quality. As an offshoot of this when at a LAN how do Everglide propose that I hear the guys sitting around me who I am playing with? It seems like such a large oversight that I had to assume I was missing the point slightly.


Perhaps the headphones are designed for gamers to use when at home; playing single player games and not wanting to be disturbed by nagging parents. These headphones would certainly support that function, whilst using them most of the exterior sound was blocked out and I had to take them off to be able to talk to anyone. The audio quality is pretty good too, with there being a noticeable difference between the sound quality in this headset and, say, a £40 set from SteelSeries.

The knock on effect of having headphones that mute exterior noise is that they aren't hugely comfortable. The inside padding on each speaker is very thick and gets warm quite quickly whilst wearing them. The inside of the headphone has a cut out intended to engulf your ear. For me the cut out was slightly too small and my ears never felt as though they fit snug. Wearing the headphones with glasses wasn't too uncomfortable, a blessing for those of us whose vision is dependent on spectacles.

In terms of value for money for a gamer you're probably going to want to avoid these headphones. They cost £60, which is no small amount of money for a headset that is so big that it would be bulky and awkward to use whilst travelling (or indeed to take with you anywhere). On top of this you will need to find a way of getting a mic (assuming you have friends to speak to) and it doesn't end there. The headphones are not as comfortable as others on the market and aren't suited to marathon gaming sessions in the same way others are.

The s-500 headphones are probably most suitable for those who do audio creation work, as well as a bit of gaming on the side, as the fairly high quality sound output, combined with the noise cancelling mufflers would make them useful for people in that industry. But if you're into that sort of thing, wouldn't you just buy some Sennheisers?