// PC GAMER — GAMING
Edifier G5 Max wireless gaming headset review
The G5 Max is a lightweight, comfortable gaming headset with truly stellar battery life, and for that it should be commended. Unfortunately, the dull microphone and boxy default sound profile let it down. While it can be tweaked, it's still a fiddly, slightly cheap-feeling beast that doesn't justify its $150 price tag.
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In the world of wireless gaming headsets, there's one spec that draws me in like a moth to a flame: battery life. Particularly 100-hour+ battery life. Wireless cans have come a long way in the last decade, but plugging them in all the time is an annoyance. If I can get away with multiple days without messing around with a cable, I usually will.
Which brings me to the Edifier G5 Max. Or the Edifier Hecate G5 Max, if you believe the writing on the box. It's got an astonishing "are you really sure" battery life spec of 305-hours, which meant I had to give it a look.
And now I've got one in my hands, I can confirm the battery life is impressive. Only the original HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless comes close. But the G5 Max, for its $150/$160 price tag, isn't quite the full ticket in other departments.
For one, it comes with a remarkably boxy default sound profile, so you'll want to do some EQ tweaking in the software to sweeten it up. That's usually no big deal—except the EQ presets are as blunt as a hammer, so you'll need to play around with the sliders yourself if you want to get the most out of it. The 53 mm composite drivers are actually fairly decent once they've been fiddled with, but this is a set that massively benefits from some user assistance.
And for two, it doesn't have "$150 gaming headset" characteristics. This is a very light set of cans, coming in at just 305 grams. Light is good, but shiny, tippy-tappy ear cup plastics are not. It also looks a bit like a Power Ranger's codpiece, which will probably split the room.
The clamping force is also very light, to the point where it wants to slip around on my head, and the earpads feel a touch baggy. It's comfy, sure—but I do have reservations as to how long it will last.
$150 is premium pricing. Does this look, feel, and sound like a premium gaming headset? No, not really. Oh, and the multiple microphones are below par, too. The G5 Max has some good things going for it, but for this sort of cash? I think it lands a little wide of the mark.
The G5 Max is a lightweight, comfortable gaming headset with truly stellar battery life, and for that it should be commended. Unfortunately, the dull microphone and boxy sound characteristics let it down. While it can be tweaked, it's still a fiddly, slightly cheap-feeling beast that doesn't justify its $150 price tag.