Fractal Scape Gaming Headset Review – Exceeding Expectations

Swedish hardware shaper Fractal Design is champion known for its elegant machine cases, truthful I was fascinated to find that its debut headset – the Fractal Scape – maintains the company's refined plan language. Understated and eye-catching successful adjacent measure, the Fractal Scape whitethorn beryllium the astir visually appealing gaming headset I've ever seen frankincense far. And much importantly, it's ace comfortable, sounds great, and sports plentifulness of features that marque it good worthy adding to your gaming setup.

Fractal Scape – Design and Comfort

From a plan perspective, the Fractal Scape is simply a stunner. Without the detachable roar mic attached to the headset, this atrocious lad could walk arsenic a luxury acceptable of cans akin to Apple's AirPods Max oregon Bose's QuietComfort Ultra. This is peculiarly existent of the Light variation, which is striking with its gentle matte grey finish, cleanable metallic alloy accents, and earpad and headband cloth successful a delightful silver-ish tone. Meanwhile, the Dark enactment trades those swanky vibes for thing much traditionally sleek with its all-black aesthetic. Both are gorgeous successful their ain right, truthful it's a substance of sensation arsenic to which suits your setup better.

Tucked distant betwixt the earcups and earpads, the Fractal Scape's optional RGB accents are purposefully subtle. They consciousness conscionable exposed capable to fto you dial successful a flimsy "gamer" ambience without the excessive flashiness of headsets that often consciousness designed to beryllium you're Gaming with a superior G. These lights tin beryllium extensively customized utilizing the Adjust Pro bundle (more connected that later), oregon you tin conscionable opt to crook them disconnected wholly astatine immoderate clip with the elemental interaction of a button.

Luckily, each of these bully looks don't travel astatine the disbursal of wearability. Though I initially disquieted the reasonably snug acceptable mightiness pb to issues during prolonged use, I've recovered the brushed representation foam padding connected the earcups and headband has kept maine from experiencing immoderate fatigue oregon discomfort implicit agelong sessions. And the Fractal Scape's cozy woven cloth has been breathable capable that my ears ne'er get hot, either.

One of the coolest features of the Fractal Scape is its wireless charging dock, which holds the headset successful a lasting presumption via a magnetic connection. While you tin inactive complaint the headset separately with a USB-C cable, the dock makes it casual to show it similar a portion of decor connected an amusement halfway oregon table. The headset tin besides automatically powerfulness connected and disconnected erstwhile taking it from oregon placing it onto the charging dock, respectively. It whitethorn not dependable similar a large deal, but this benignant of convenience goes a agelong way.

Additionally, you tin plug the dongle into the dock, past tally a ligament from the dock to the USB larboard connected your PC oregon console. By doing this, you tin enactment immoderate region betwixt the dongle and different adjacent devices that whitethorn origin interference. And I'd urge doing so, arsenic my headset would sometimes randomly suffer transportation to the dongle portion plugged into a USB-A larboard connected my consoles. Updating the firmware reduced the frequence of disconnects, but lone inserting the dongle into the charging dock and placing it distant from my different devices and successful a wide way to the headset eliminated the contented entirely.

You tin swap from the 2.4GHz wireless mode to Bluetooth 5.3 utilizing a toggle connected the near earcup, letting you bounce betwixt aggregate devices with easiness – though it's worthy noting that the headset doesn't enactment the 2 simultaneously, truthful you won't beryllium capable to reply a telephone telephone portion inactive proceeding your game. Meanwhile, the omission of a 3.5mm jack means you're constricted to utilizing a USB-C cablegram for a wired transportation connected the Fractal Scape. This doesn't signifier maine arsenic idiosyncratic all-in connected the wireless world, but much options are ne'er a atrocious thing, truthful I anticipation Fractal reconsiders adding a jack connected immoderate aboriginal iterations of the headset.

Fractal Scape – Software and Battery Life

Adjust Pro, Fractal's web-only software, lets you customize and prevention up to 3 EQ presets, which you tin past rhythm done utilizing the EQ fastener connected the headset. It besides gives you an awesome magnitude of customization implicit the RGB lighting with a operation of colors, effects, speeds, and more. It's bully that these changes are flashed to the headset instantly truthful that you tin commencement utilizing your settings with nary other hassle.

The Fractal Scape promises a tenable artillery beingness of 40 hours, but I'm blessed to study I've been getting person to 50 hours retired of it from a afloat charge. Opting to usage the RGB features tin chopped that down to conscionable a small implicit 20 hours, however, which is simply a important simplification for a payoff that you can't adjacent spot portion utilizing the headset anyway. I'd urge ditching the flashy worldly and keeping things basal for the other runtime – and to beryllium fair, I'm not truly an RGB benignant of feline to statesman with. Do what makes you happy, but cognize there’s a trade-off.

Fractal Scape – Sound Quality and Microphone

I wouldn’t see myself an audio snob, but it's intolerable not to archer the quality betwixt the bass-heavy dependable illustration of galore gaming headsets and the wide, wide audio output of the Fractal Scape. It makes consciousness that its contemporaries pursuit those little frequencies for immersion successful a mean often filled with large explosions and deep, rumbling scores, but sacrificing mids and highs tin permission their soundstages a spot muddy astatine times. With its 40mm audio drivers, the Fractal Scape focuses connected providing fine-tuned equilibrium and clarity crossed each frequencies, and I emotion it for that.

Make nary mistake, the Fractal Shape inactive serves up plentifulness of bass, ensuring that combat successful a crippled similar Doom: The Dark Ages feels rightly impactful. But giving mids and highs immoderate country to respire allows you to perceive dialog and important audio cues overmuch much clearly. Most notably, erstwhile combined with the headset's top-notch spatial audio, I recovered pinpointing force footsteps and gunshots successful competitory games importantly easier than with astir headsets successful my arsenal.

The Fractal Shape's ace wideband roar mic covers frequencies betwixt 50Hz and 16kHz, with the second reaching the precocious limits of quality hearing. This means that, dissimilar mean headset mics that compress your dependable output and marque you dependable a spot muffled, the Fractal Shape's mic highlights the dynamics of your dependable acold better. As such, you travel done bully and agleam to whoever is listening connected the different end.

I'm a large babe who finds roar mics inherently irritating, though, truthful I emotion that the Fractal Scape besides has a built-in omnidirectional mic. There's a mean driblet successful wide prime erstwhile comparing it straight with the roar mic's unidirectional design, which helps trim inheritance noise, but nary of my friends minded erstwhile I swapped betwixt the 2 during our gaming sessions. That being said, my location tends to enactment precise quiet, truthful your pals whitethorn admit you utilizing the roar mic if you're gaming successful a noisier environment.

Billy Givens is simply a freelancer astatine IGN with implicit a decennary of acquisition penning gaming, film, and tech content. You'll find him blabbering connected astir video games and much connected Twitter astatine @mektige.