Although you may not know the name Edifier, they’re actually the parent company of Stax, an ultra-premium headphone brand (think $3000+ for something like the STAX SR-009), and the second largest consumer audio manufacturer. The Edifier name is being used for consumer products with more mass market pricing, like the $39.99 Edifier Gammatera G2 Hi-fi Professional Gaming Headset, which I’m now reviewing.

Considering its sub-$40 price, even as a wired headset, you’d expect some compromises in build quality. However, it’s actually a lot nicer than you might think. It features a rather attractive black design with red accents (aka, Stealth Black), adjustable band sizing, and pivoting microphone extension. The only areas that might betray its low cost are in how light the headset is – which is probably not a bad thing considering it’s meant to rest on your head for hours at a time – and in the felt ear cushions. While the felt ear cushions do indeed provide the intended padding for your ears, the padding itself is not quite as cushy as I might otherwise like. Although I didn’t experience any issues with the felt, I also have some concerns about how breathable that particular material will be long term.

In terms of the most important part of the equation, the sound quality, I had zero issues with it. All sounds were nice and clear with good bass response, plus I was able to get it really loud with no noticeable distortion. While this headset is primarily meant to be plugged into the 3.5mm audio jack of a PC, it worked just fine in my other tests with a PlayStation 4 controller and on my iPhone 6 Plus. Next to the audio plug is a microphone plug, which of course is meant for a PC’s 3.5mm microphone input, and which also sounded nice and clear in my testing.

One of the more helpful features of this headset is that there’s a dedicated volume slider and microphone on/off switch right on the main part of the cable. The cable itself is a nice tube-style, with good length.

If you’re looking for an inexpensive pair of headphones that delivers excellent sound quality for gaming or any other type of audio, you could do far worse than the Edifier Gammatera G2 Hi-fi Professional Gaming Headset. It’s a definite recommendation.

Thanks to Ventmere for the review unit.