They sound better than they look.
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The Roccat Cross (See it on Amazon) looks more like something you’d find on the head of a call-center operator than on the dome of a gamer, but beneath its drab exterior is a capable and versatile budget headset. At $69.99 MSRP, the Cross headset sits in the middle of Roccat’s line of gaming headsets. One step up is the $99.99 Roccat Khan Pro, which features rotating earcups and a more gamer-centric look. One rung below the Cross is the $49.99 Roccat Renga, which features an unpadded headband.
With its 50mm drivers hiding inside its diminutive earcups, the Roccat Cross boasts stellar audio output among its budget competition, which includes the Astro A10, HyperX Cloud Stinger, Plantronics Rig 400, and Turtle Beach Recon 50. But how's the complete package? Let's find out:
Design and Features
The Roccat Cross does not look like a product built for gamers. It features an all-black design composed of plastic and imitation leather. The Roccat logo is etched on the right earcup and the Roccat name is embossed on the left earcup, but you might miss both because they are black against black. The overall look is understated, a word that is rarely used to describe a piece of gaming gear.
The padded headband is covered in a synthetic leather material as is the memory-foam padding for the earcups. The outside of the earcups and the hinges that hold them are made of plastic. The headband allows for some size adjustment, and when sized larger you can see that the internal frame of the headband is metal, which is sturdier and more preferable than plastic.
The earcups allow for a tiny fraction of tilt and swivel adjustment to create a comfortable yet flush fit against your head. The earcups cannot be rotated, however, which makes the headset more comfortable for times when you take it off of your head and have it resting around your neck. A volume dial is located on the back of the left earcup.
The earcups themselves are small. I know this because my ears are on the small side and they barely fit inside; I could feel the outside of the earcups around the edges of my ears. Gamers with generously proportioned ears should look elsewhere.
Inside the earcups, 50mm drivers power the audio output. The Cloud Stinger also has 50mm drivers, but 40mm drivers are more common at this price range. The difference in the size and power of the drivers is evident; the Roccat Cross and Cloud Stinger boast fuller sound than their competitors.
The Roccat Cross comes with not one but two audio cables. One features an inline mic and terminates in a 3.5mm jack. The other features a thin boom mic that terminates in separate 3.5mm plugs to use with PCs that have separate headphone and microphone jacks. The two cables allow the Roccat Cross to work with PCs, PS4, Xbox One, as well as phones and tablets. The problem with this setup, however, is it doesn’t let you use the boom mic with the PS4 or Xbox One, and the boom mic lets your voice come through much more clearly than the inline mic that’s stuck in a fixed spot further from your mouth. Both cables feature an inline control to mute the mic.
The Roccat Cross has a pleasing weight to it. It’s in the Goldilocks zone; it’s neither too heavy nor too light. With its boom-mic cable included, it weighs 226 grams. By comparison, the HyperX Cloud Stinger weighs 276 grams while the Plantronics Rig 400HX and the Turtle Beach Recon 50 each weigh a feathery 209 grams. With its inline mic cable, the Roccat Cross weighs only 205 grams, providing a lightweight and compact headset for mobile use.
Performance
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To test the Roccat Cross, I played some games on a PC and an Xbox One, and then connected it to an iPhone to test how it handled music playback. I fired up Battlefield on PC and was immediately transported to the, well, Battlefield. The headset has a strong bass response, so explosions had a satisfying thunder and tanks rumbled by convincingly. The crunch of boots showed evidence of good mid tones but rifle fire lacked the crisp punch you get with pricier headsets that can better separate high frequencies from the lows and mids.
On an Xbox One, I played Star Wars Battlefront and NBA 2K17 and, again, was impressed with the bass response and also with the highs and mids in NBA 2K17, where good separation of the arena sounds was evident, from the roar of the crowd to the squeak of sneakers on the hardwood floor.
Lastly, I connected the Roccat Cross to an iPhone 7 Plus, fired up Spotify, and use Steely Dan’s “Dirty Work” to test the high and mid-frequencies and DMX’s “X Gon’ Give It To Ya” to get a sense of the headset’s bass response. With “Dirty Work,” the vocals sounded crystal clear and the organ had a lovely texture. On “X Gon’ Give It To Ya,” the bass boomed but DMX’s voice tracks stood apart, showing good separation between mid and low frequencies.
I also tested the mic by making a voice recording. The Roccat Cross was merely average with its boom mic; the Plantronics Rig 400HX and the Turtle Beach Recon 50 each sounded clearer. With its inline mic, the Roccat Cross made it sound like I was talking in a cave.
Purchasing Guide
The Roccat Cross lists for $69.99 and is usually sold for that price, but it ocassionally dips to $50 online:
The Verdict
The Roccat Cross offers great bang for the buck if you are a PC gamer. It boasts respectable audio performance for the price and a comfortable fit as long as your ears aren’t larger than average. If you are going to ping pong between PC and a console, however, you’re better off considering a model like the HyperX Cloud Stinger, which doesn’t force you to use an inline mic when gaming on a PS4 or Xbox One.
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