EPOS H3PRO Hybrid review

Connecting to multiple devices at the same time seems to be the new must-have feature for high-end wireless headsets. This is especially useful for voice chats with people on other platforms or for hearing notifications or music on your phone while gaming. A key feature of Corsair’s Virtuoso RGB Wireless XT was that it could connect to and play audio from both a PC and a smartphone (or other Bluetooth device) at the same time.

It’s also true of Epos’s newest headset, the $279 H3Pro Hybrid. The EPOS H3PRO Hybrid has a lot of features besides being able to connect to two devices at once. In keeping with its name, the Hybrid can work wirelessly over RF (using the USB-A dongle that comes with it) and Bluetooth (version 5.2), as well as wired over a 3.5 mm cable or USB.

The 40 mm drivers make good sound, but not amazing sound for this price. It also has virtual 7.1 surround sound. But the most unique thing about this high-end wireless gaming headset is that it has active noise cancellation. This is a nice feature if you play games on the go or at home where there is a lot of background noise that can be distracting.

But the H3Pro Hybrid’s high price, plastic build, and questionable long-term comfort mean that you really have to need noise cancellation to choose it over other headsets that feel more premium and are more comfortable.

EPOS H3PRO Hybrid review: Design

The Epos H3Pro Hybrid looks good and doesn’t feel like it was made cheaply. But it doesn’t feel like a premium product for a headset that costs close to $300. Where the band meets the hinges of the earcups, there are metal panels on both sides, and the internal band is also made of metal. The rest of the shell, though, is made of both matte and shiny plastic.

Again, it feels solid, but it doesn’t look or feel as nice as Corsair’s Virtuoso RGB Wireless XT, which uses a lot more metal and costs $10 less. While some of Epos’s other headsets come in different colors, the H3Pro Hybrid only comes in this one color scheme of black and dark blue. At least with Corsair, you can choose between the silver-and-black model and the blue-and-silver T-Pain Edition.

Of course, a mostly plastic build could be better if it makes the chair lighter and more comfortable. At least one of those is met by the H3Pro Hybrid. At 0.68 pounds, it’s a bit lighter than the Corsair cans, which weigh 0.8 pounds. But, at least for me, the Corsair headset is much more comfortable. It has round cups and less pressure on the ears.

After a couple hours of use, the oval, angled cups of the Epos H3Pro Hybrid and the single-sided, backward-facing hinges made my ears hurt and my head feel a little funny. This means that they stay on my head better than the Corsair cans even when we move around. You can buy this headphone from its official website.

EPOS H3PRO Hybrid review: Comfort

The EPOS H3PRO Hybrid comes in black, green, and white with accents of the same color. It is mostly made of plastic and seems to be very well made. The headband has an integrated steel band that can be used to change the size. It can be adjusted in ten steps to fit the shape of your head, and once the size is set, it stays that way because of ratcheting.

The headband is padded with leatherette and has a hole in it to relieve pressure on the head. The top is made of fabric. The headset has a two-piece hinge system that lets you adjust it vertically and horizontally to your head’s shape. However, the EPOS H3PRO Hybrid does not fold flat.

The ear pads are made of synthetic leather and memory foam covered with a material that looks like suede. The mix of materials feels nice and soft on the ears, and the padding is just right. The removable ear pads are not always the biggest (about 7cm x 3.5cm), so they don’t completely cover large ears.

EPOS H3PRO Hybrid review: Connectivity

Connectivity is one of the best things about the H3PRO. You can connect to almost any device with Bluetooth 5.2, the low-latency Bluetooth dongle, USB Type-C, or a 3.5mm input. The H3PRO is a versatile gaming headset because it has so many ways to connect.

The Bluetooth dongle had the best overall performance when it came to the quality of the connection. The USB Type-A dongle and its extension cable made the connection much faster than the built-in Bluetooth, which sometimes took up to a minute to connect to my computer or phone, even though it was the last device that had been paired.

When you switch to the dongle, the headset connects almost as soon as you turn it on. A small thing to remember is that the headset doesn’t always respond immediately when a new sound source comes in. So, if you switch to a new tab in your browser while a video is loading, you might miss the first few seconds. But once either Bluetooth option was used to connect, the connection was solid and didn’t drop.

EPOS H3PRO Hybrid review: Noise Cancelling

The battery life of the H3Pro Hybrid should be longer than that of Corsair’s competing XT headset. Epos says that you should be able to use the wireless dongle for up to 30 hours. When noise cancellation is turned on, that time drops to 19 hours. Without noise canceling, Bluetooth can be used for up to 38 hours. With noise canceling, it can be used for 22 hours.

The problem, though, is that every time we tested it, the battery life was much shorter than what Epos said it would be. Sometimes we had to charge it every day. That’s because, as we’ve already talked about, even though the headset has a small indicator light, it doesn’t flash or blink to let you know it’s on, and you have to hold down the small power button for a few seconds to turn it off.

Also, after we first connected the headset to my phone, it was very eager to get back in touch with it. Several times a day, after we manually unplugged the headset from my S21 Ultra, I would find that my phone was back connected to the headset hours later. A few times, the headset would randomly reconnect in the middle of a song or podcast when I was using earbuds or a Bluetooth speaker.

EPOS H3PRO Hybrid review: Audio Performance

What’s missing is a simple way to change the volume of each connected device separately. The volume wheel on a PC works by default. After a few seconds, the wheel eventually moved to adjusting the sound on my phone when there was no sound coming from your PC.

But it can be frustrating to try to get the right volume for both devices with the single volume wheel on the headset. Corsair’s Virtuoso RGB Wireless XT headset gets around this by having a volume wheel for PC connections and a separate volume rocker for Bluetooth devices, which also has a center button for pausing audio on your second device. This looks busier, but it’s much easier to use and more convenient than what Epos is offering here.

EPOS H3PRO Hybrid review: Battery Life

The H3Pro Hybrid has a closed-back, over-ear design that blocks a good amount of ambient noise even before you turn them on. In fact, Epos says that the ambient noise level can be reduced by around 30 decibels just by wearing them without power. The company says that ANC cuts noise by another 16 decibels when it is turned on. We thought that just having the soft ear cups on my head was enough to block out noise.

So much so that most of the time we didn’t need to use ANC to get the level of quiet we wanted (your experience may be different), which helped save some battery. In terms of how long it will last, the battery life is great, even when using multiple wireless connections simultaneously. When you’re connected to two wireless sources, the H3Pro Hybrid can last almost as long as when you’re only connected to one (30 hours with just the dongle, or 28 hours with the dongle and Bluetooth).

When ANC is turned on, the battery life drops to about 19 hours, whether you’re only connected to the dongle or to multiple wireless networks at the same time. If you only use Bluetooth, it can last up to 38 hours on a single charge, but we didn’t get a chance to test this claim. In any case, it’s easy to charge with the USB-C port, and it only takes two hours to fully charge.

When we plugged the USB-A wireless dongle that came with the Epos H3Pro Hybrid into my PC, a PlayStation 5, or the dock for the Nintendo Switch, it worked fine. Using my own USB-C adapter, it also worked with my MacBook Pro and the Oculus Quest 2.

EPOS H3PRO Hybrid review: Final words

When we were testing the EPOS H3PRO Hybrid headset, we fell in love with it. With features like Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and dual-wireless connectivity, it’s easy to get high-quality sound on almost any platform. The headset is also great for music and media, which is why the EPOS H3PRO Hybrid has become my favorite all-around headset at home.

Price is, of course, the biggest problem here. You don’t have to spend more than £200 to get immersive and high-quality gaming audio, but if you’re willing to pay for the best experience, this headset is the one to get. It’s the most comfortable and has the best battery life.