Gaming headsets are a dime a dozen. RGB this, Bluetooth that, FNATIC-branded Gamer Elite Claw X Streamer Edition whatever, there’s a whole mountain of absolute tat out there. It’s usually easier to pick a brand you know and trust, like Razer, Corsair, or Logitech, and just stick with it, lest you end up disappointed. With that in mind, Nacon’s RIG 600 PRO HX might feel like a gamble.

But this headset is shockingly good for its $100 budget. The microphone might only be serviceable, but the comfort of wearing it rivals even top-tier headphones, and the sound reproduction is clear enough to tackle both gaming and regular media use. Nacon, or its RIG line, might not be the most known brand out there, but this is one worth taking a punt on.

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Style-wise, the RIG 600 Pro HX manages to straddle the line between clearly being a piece of gaming equipment, and not being a source of embarrassment should you be seen wearing it in public. It does away with RGB lighting, odd angles and gaudy colours for a matte black look that feels chunky and robust without being too much.

Nacon RIG 600 HX Pro

Microphone Yes Compatibility PC, Mobile, Switch, PS4/PS5, Xbox Series X/S What's Included Headset, Brand RIG Surround Sound Yes via Dolby Atmos Noise Cancellation No

A great budget headset, the RIG 600 HX Pro combines an unpretentious design with great construction and surprisingly good sound quality. If you need a good headset on the cheap, this is definitely one to look at.

Weight 241g Battery Life 24h+18h Frequency Response 20 Hz-20kHz Ear Cushions Yes Mic Frequency Response 100 Hz-10kHz Pros & Cons
  • Incredibly comfortable.
  • Unostentatious design.
  • Impressive battery life.
  • Microphone isn't the best.
$100 at Walmart $100 at Best Buy Expand Collapse

The construction does feel slightly lighter than you may expect for something of this size, but it doesn’t come off as flimsy. I particularly like the cup adjustment – you just unclick the cup from the band entirely, then click it back into one of three slots, depending on your fit. It’s almost like building a Lego set in its practical simplicity. Instead of dealing with sliders that are prone to breaking, it’s an uncomplicated, unpretentious design.

Particularly impressive are the cushions, both on the headband and the ear. All too often, budget headphones can feel like you’re jamming plastic into your lugholes, but these are pillowy soft. Even top-price headsets can struggle to match the level of comfort the RIG 600 Pro HX provides, especially across the lengthy gaming sessions I wore it for trying to beat particularly annoying bosses in Lies of P.

The microphone’s sound quality isn’t amazing – this isn’t a headset for content creators, and will never be as good as, say, a ModMic or a dedicated external microphone. It’s good enough for just playing with friends, though – I’ve not had any complaints from my fellow Gamers when I’ve used it, at least. The design of it is incredibly slick, fitting flush into the side of the cup when not in use, and only being active once you pop it out. Again, there’s a practicality to the design that does away with the usual gamer-peripheral pretentiousness. Mic out, it works, mic in, it’s off. Simple.

The one aspect of the headset’s design that could’ve been better is its on-cup controls. These need to be intuitive enough to feel out while wearing the headset, but all too often I found myself taking the whole thing off to find the volume controls or how to flip out the microphone. It doesn’t help that the controls are recessed into a textured plastic frame that makes it tricky to feel out the location of the buttons, let alone which ones they are.

One of the biggest selling points for the RIG 600 Pro HX is its support for Dolby Atmos 3D sound. This originally made it designed with the Xbox in mind, but a surprise update earlier this month also brought it to PlayStation consoles too, making the Xbox-branded packaging for it feel delightfully out of date now. It also supports Mobile, PC, and Switch, making it a good all-rounder headset regardless of what you play on.

The sound reproduction here is impressive. It does skew slightly towards the higher tones, but there’s still a nice, chunky bass that makes combat in games like Lies of P and Payday 3, or the horrors of the Texas Chain Saw Massacre, feel extra punchy. Voice chat could be a bit hit-or-miss, with call quality feeling noticeably worse than the games themselves, even with people I know have top tier setups. But if you’re wanting to just immerse yourself in a single-player game, these do a surprisingly great job.

This is a gaming headset that costs under £100. It’ll never rival a dedicated sound setup or a studio-grade pair of headphones, but it isn’t for the people who’d rather go for them. The most audiophilic of audiophiles won’t find the next bit of their setup here, but for everyone else the trade-off in sound quality and a general lack of ‘premium’ feel is well worth it for a lower price and unmatched comfort.

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