The Roccat Elo 7.1 Air is the brand’s first wireless gaming headset. Offered under the 100 € bar, it allows you to enjoy the comfort of wireless without breaking the bank and has a rather neat design for its price.
The sound performance is decent, as is the battery life exceeding 20 hours. Too bad the Swarm software still lags behind the competition.
ROCCAT ELO 7.1 AIR Review
Roccat unveils its new range of gaming headsets with the Elo models. On the program, three models meeting the needs and budgets of most players:
- Roccat Elo x Stereo : The most affordable, with a price of 49.99 € and a 3.5 mm connection allowing it to work with all current platforms.
- Roccat Elo 7.1 USB : A little more expensive with a price of 69.99 € , it connects via USB and benefits from virtual 7.1 compatibility and RGB lighting thanks to the Roccat Swarm software.
- Roccat Elo 7.1 Air : The Air version takes over the functionality of the USB models but goes wireless with a 2.4 Ghz connection. Count 99.99 €.
It is this wireless version that we present to you today. This is Roccat’s first foray into the wireless world and the headset will compete with the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 , the Corsair HS70 Wireless Pro or even the SteelSeries Arctis 1 Wireless .
See Also : Cyber Acoustics Stereo PC Headset Perfect Choice for VOIP
Design & Ergonomics
The design of this new Elo range has been completely revised compared to the brand’s previous helmets. The manufacturer opts here for a system with a suspended arch, like what we had already discovered on the SteelSeries models or more recently on the Logitech G733 Lightspeed .
The three models have a fairly similar design, with the only difference being the absence of RGB lighting on the Elo X Stereo model, the most affordable in the range. For the rest, the whole is strictly identical, with a rather imposing look and dark tones.
Helmet Design Detail
In the details, we first focus on the new headband of these Elo helmets. Two metal bands come here to support the structure of the helmet and give it a certain strength.
Lower down, a padded headband adjusts to the shape of your head. The upper part is badged with the brand logo while the section in contact with the skull is equipped with a breathable fabric to limit perspiration.
Design Ear Cup Free for Degree
The ear cups can be rotated 90 °, so as to adapt more easily to the morphology of each player but also to facilitate the wearing around the neck or the transport of the helmet. They are then mounted on hinges again offering a few degrees of freedom so as to fit perfectly against the ears.
The outer shell is accompanied by Roccat AIMO compatible RGB lighting. They can be configured from the Roccat Swarm software, which is discussed a little below.
The inner part of the ear cups has removable pads with memory foam. They come with an imitation leather covering and benefit from ProSpec s technology . The latter facilitates the wearing of glasses by limiting the density of foams at the level of the passage of the branches. A little extra that we already found on Turtle Beach helmets , now Roccat’s parent company.
Comfortable Roccat Elo 7.1 Air
Once on the head, the Roccat Elo 7.1 Air is comfortable, especially at the level of the hoop. The weight of the helmet is well distributed over the head and you quickly forget its almost 350 g on the scale. As for the atria, it’s a little worse and the foams would have deserved a little more generous and soft padding in our opinion.
Place the controls of the headset and here everything happens on the rear edge of the left atrium. There is a first wheel to manage the sound volume (synchronized with Windows) then a second to adjust the monitoring level, to more or less hear your own voice when using the microphone.
Below, a first button allows you to mute or activate the microphone capture and a second to turn the headset on or off. A dedicated USB-C connector for charging completes this highly charged headset.
Button Position for Roccat Elo 7.1 Air
In use, these different commands are not necessarily very intuitive to learn. This is particularly the case with the volume wheel, which is poorly positioned and difficult to reach on the first try.
Also, rather than an adjustment of the monitoring, we would have liked to be able to manage the mix between the sound of the game and that of the voice chat, as is often the case on Turtle Beach headsets.
At the front of the headset, there is finally a last connector for the removable microphone of the Roccat Elo 7.1 Air. No windshield protects the capsule and we will come back to the end of the article on the capture performance.
Connectivity
The Elo 7.1 Air works wirelessly, via a 2.4 Ghz connection. This is the one and only method of connecting the headset and it is not possible to use it in Bluetooth, or even in wired.
To connect the headset wirelessly, you will need to connect the USB dongle to your PC and then hold the Power button on the headset for 2 seconds.
In use, no negative point to underline concerning the 2.4 Ghz connection (or Stellar Wireless to use the terms of the brand). The range is quite good, with about fifteen meters before suffering the slightest cut.
As for autonomy, Roccat announces up to 24 hours wirelessly. This seems to correspond to our results. Even if we can obviously have some differences depending on the intensity of the lighting and the listening volume.
Roccat Swarm software
The helmet is compatible with the brand’s in-house software, Roccat Swarm. It is available for free from the manufacturer’s website and we obviously recommend that you install it if you want to take advantage of all the options of the Roccat Elo 7.1 Air.
From Swarm, you can create up to 5 configuration profiles and load them automatically according to your games or applications.
Parameter setting
From the “Parameters” tab, there are various inserts allowing you to adjust the sound options of the headphones.
It is possible to manually adjust the equalizer of the headphones, or to select one of the presets already offered by Roccat. There are also some additional options with the settings “Clarity of voices”, “Clarity of sounds” or “Bass equalizer”.
Also from this same window, you can also adjust the volume of the headphones and the monitoring level, activate or deactivate the virtual 7.1 surround mode or even opt for the Superhuman Hearing mode.
Microphone option
There are also some options for the microphone, with the ability to select the sampling rate. Activate noise cancellation or adjust the sensitivity of the capture. Finally, a “Magic voice” option allows you to modify the rendering of your voice. It’s a bit difficult to understand what these options do to be honest.
A final section allows you to view the remaining battery life of the headset. It is also possible to display an indicator directly in its icon bar. However, there is no option to modify the headset’s automatic standby time.
Lighting Effect
The second “Lighting” tab takes care of the adjustments of the RGB effects. We can opt between static, breathable or flashing lighting or opt for the AIMO effect and synchronize all this with the brand’s other peripherals.
Note in passing that the software does not allow you to directly deactivate the RGB lighting. It will be necessary to select a lighting then to select an “empty” block in the choice of the color. When you know how RGB effects can tend to reduce battery life, that’s a shame.
Overall of Setting
Overall, Roccat’s software deserves a facelift. The multiplication of options available is more likely to lose the user than anything else. Hundreds lack an explanation as to their real usefulness, while others just have no place here. Also, it is necessary to wait a second or two to apply each change and this quickly discourages us from setting up the headset in great detail.
Sound performance
The Roccat Elo 7.1 Air has 50mm neodymium transducers. As explained a little above, the sound reproduction can be adjusted according to your preferences via the Roccat Swarm software. And you will have the choice between a stereo or virtual 7.1 mode.
To get a better idea of the sound performance of the headset. It has been tested with the default settings on several games such as The Witcher 3, Call of Duty Warzone, Battlefield V or even Hades.
Quality for price?
Overall and for its price, the headset does a decent job. We enjoy a relatively well balanced sound and the various details stand out. On The Witcher 3, the soundtrack and the sound effects stand out as well as the numerous dialogues and the excellent VO dubbing of the game.
We obviously remain a good notch below the big names in the sector. like the Astro A50 Gen 4, but the Roccat model is also 3 times cheaper.
Sound Rendering
Same fight on the different FPS, where the Elo 7.1 Air allows you to enjoy a convincing rendering in terms of shots or explosions. Without covering the small details allowing you to spot your opponents.
The Superhuman Hearing option can tend to distort the sound rendering. But by emphasizing certain specific sounds, we can hear much better the noise of an opponent hidden in the next room for example.
To see if you are ready to ignore the immersion and the sound quality to possibly better distinguish your enemies.
Microphone quality
We end with a point concerning the microphone of the Elo 7.1 Air. If you are used to online gaming, this is obviously an important point when choosing a gaming headset.
Here, Roccat’s helmet is once again doing a decent job. The capture is convincing, with a voice that is natural enough and powerful enough to be heard without raising the tone.
We obviously remain below a real USB microphone like the Blue Yeti X , but for the price it’s all good.
Conclusion
With a manufacturer price of € 99.99 , the Roccat Elo 7.1 Air has one of the best value for money. In the sector if you want to equip yourself with a wireless gaming headset without breaking the bank.
With a solid design, decent sound performance and plenty of features via the Swarm software. Roccat offers here a complete and affordable gaming headset.
However, all is not perfect and despite this aggressive price, some reservations emerge after ten days of use. We may in particular regret the somewhat thin padding of the pads. Not very intuitive controls or even Roccat Swarm software which would benefit from being simplified.