FEBRUARY 2020 PCWorld 67to Corsair’s headsets, and I find Sennheiser’s
default sound listenable across music,
games, and movies.
And the GSP 370 is the first Sennheiser
headset we’ve reviewed in a while that
connects through USB. That means it’s easy to
rectify one of the more obvious issues, which
is the lack of bass presence. Sennheiser’s bass
implementation is very clean and precise, but
lacks the oomph some might want when
gaming. Luckily Sennheiser added a five-band
EQ to its software since last time we tested it,
making it easy to add a bit more low-end
without damaging the overall clarity. It’s a
welcome addition, and I eventually settled on
a 3dB increase in the 80Hz band and a 2dB
increase in the 300Hz band.
I’d stay away from Sennheiser’s EQ presets
though. Both the “Music” and “Movie” presets
significantly increase the treble (or “scooping
the mids” in guitarist parlance), which ends up
sounding like a telephone to my ears.
Sennheiser’s 7.1 functionality leaves a lot
to be desired as well, crushing the GSP 370’s
wide 2.0 soundstage in service of a crummy-
sounding faux-surround. Sennheiser is
unrivaled when it comes to crafting a beautiful
stereo environment, especially as far as
gaming headsets are concerned, so I’d stick
to that and consider the 7.1 forgotten.
There’s also a software tab for the
microphone. Reviewing the GSP 600, I
commended Sennheiser for making a
microphone that was “crisp, clean, and
flattering even without the software tricks
most USB-powered headsets lean on.”
Turns out, those software tricks can make a
great mic even better. I didn’t notice much
difference between the default recordings
and the “Warm” or “Clear” voice
enhancers, but the addition of a noise gate
can be extremely helpful in even
moderately noisy environments. I was able
to dial in the GSP 370 to cut any and all
keyboard noise, something I’m sure my
teammates appreciate.LIVE LONG AND
PROSPER
Lastly, the vaunted 100-hour battery life.
What can I say? It’s almost impossible to test
that number with any real degree of
certainty. Hell, I have trouble verifying claims
of 20-to-30 hour batteries. Anything longer
than a day strikes me as “Pretty solid,”
especially given that use rarely lasts for an
entire day straight. People usually take the
headset off occasionally, or sit with it on but
silent, and so forth.
The best I can say for the GSP 370 is
that it lasts a long time. Like, a really long
time. Theoretically the battery indicator in
Sennheiser’s software should drop one
percent per hour, but even that isn’t
consistent. I’ve gone upwards of a week
without charging it, or even getting to that
“Hmm, I should think about charging
this” stage.