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0 First released in 2022, the Edifier HECATE G5BT wireless gaming headset are still some of the best selling Edifier gaming headsets available. The Thumb Culture team are no strangers to reviewing Edifier products, just check out this list, and so when Edifier once again landed in our inbox offering another headset to check out, of course the answer was yes. With a price point of £120 I was most intrigued to find if this gaming headset stood the test of time.
Edifier HECATE G5BT – Gotta Get Yourself Connected!
And what better way to get connected than with a headset so you can chat to your friends and game?
Design and Control
Opening up the box the Edifier HECATE G5BT are made up of a matte black band connected to two leather-effect plush-padded ear cups. To break up the matte look are two shiny gun-metal coloured bands sporting “Hecate” where the headset band can be adjusted. The same colour and style is used on the outside of the earcups, giving them a premium, if not fingerprint-attracting look. The headset is foldable, helping save space, however, there is no carry case included. Which as a predominantly gaming headset this isn’t a huge issue, as they just fold to to save desk space rather than to be transported around.
When it comes to buttons, the more commonly used ones are found on the left earcup. There are 4 in total with 3 being multi-action and the 4th a mic mute. Here you can perform normal expected functions of powering the headset on and off, pairing, volume control and skip track. The right earcup features one button to control lighting effects and select either music or game mode EQ.
The 800mAh built-in battery provides the headset with around 40 hours of use with the lights off. However RGB fans will only get around 17 hours with the lights on.
Delving Deeper
The Edifier HECATE G5BT has a retractable microphone and features a dual mic array to help with the elimination of background noise. While the microphone being retractable is a clever idea, it did feel a bit flimsy. In fact it looks like a bendy black straw with a chrome tip on the end! Due to its retractable design, there is no pop filter either.
The headset speakers are 40mm titanium drivers with a frequency of 20Hz to 40KHz, promising to give you more dynamic bass and clarity across a wide range. They are also certified Hi-Res with 24bits/96KHZ high resolution. However, this is only guaranteed as lossless if you use the audio lead.
Onboard is a 45ms latency chip to offer great reactivity to what you see in the game and the audio that you experience through your ears. Coupling up with the tech is also PixArt who have helped develop “H+”. This allegedly helps give an enhanced experience to the gamer with regard to sound effect clarity.
Connection
The connection, if not given away already by the headset name, is Bluetooth. V5.2 to be exact, running protocols A2DP, AVRCP, HFP & HSP. Incidentally, unlike other gaming headsets that I have reviewed, there is no dongle included with the headset. There is however a 3.5mm audio jack cable for your backwards combability needs!
Sound and Performance
Of course the first port of call when testing sound quality is to load up Spotify. Unfortunately rather than being able to enjoy my usual John Williams soundtrack playlist, I was struck with the tinniness of the sound. As though the EQ was all set mid to high. There is bass present however it is as if my ears are pressed against the tweeters, there is no depth. Pressing the button on the right earcup, the headset tells me that I am now in “Music Mode”. Hoping this will make the difference I preserved. The EQ clearly changes into a thicker mix of bass and less of the high-end. Alas now Duel of the Fates now sounds very muddy and stuffy. Not at all what the music deserves.
Upon track pause, I was met with around 10 seconds of static hiss in my ears. When resuming a track there was around a second of hiss before the song recommenced. Thinking that perhaps it was my Bluetooth dongle, I decided to try connecting to my phone instead. Once more I was met with the same hiss. I tried different apps such as YouTube and Amazon Music but to no avail.
Gaming Time
Eager to try the Game Mode when playing games, I booted up Call of Duty. Sadly I still struggled with the overall sound. While having the Edifier HECATE G5BT in game mode aided the sound of footsteps, it took too much away from the blast of explosions. In fact it sounded more like I was playing within a tin can. In game chat, the mic worked well, although the headset lacks any ability to adjust mic gain. I hate to think what the headset was like before the new “H+” tech was made to improve the headset if this is them featuring it.
As for the RGB lighting options are fairly limited. Colour wise you have red, green, blue or purple to choose from. And effects comes down to either solid or fading in and out. As far as RGB goes, it isn’t massively exciting. There again, is there much point in lighting a headset when you can’t see it when you are wearing them?
Final Thoughts
The Edifier HECATE G5BT looks stylish however falls short of the bar that has been set by gaming headsets of a similar price. With two terrible preset EQ’s to choose from, the sound quality of what you are listening to is not conveyed well. There are features that are missing such as mic gain and sidetone. Other items such as a rotating dial for the volume control would help with day-to-day functionality too. An app to allow the configuration of the EQ would have made the headset easier to achieve the sound that you wanted. Sadly the hissing of static when connected via Bluetooth is distracting and unwanted. It is not something that I have had with any other Bluetooth headsets.
Overall I do not believe these have stood the test of time and would recommend a multitude of other headsets before these.
The Edifier HECATE G5BT Gaming Headset receives a Thumb Culture Bronze Award.
Disclaimer: A product was received in order to write this review.
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