Prif Freedom 1 Headset (PS4) - Review

This was already posted on Honest Games Reviews. Click the link to see the score! (http://honestgamesreviews.com/reviews/prif-freedom-1-headset-review/).            

I have never used a headset like the Freedom 1 from Prif before. It's a single ear-piece bluetooth headset, much like the ones that used to be used for hands-free phonecalls in your car. At least I don't think anyone uses them for that anymore. It clips onto your ear and attaches to your PS4 via dongle. Easy-peasy.

It really is very simple to set up and use, but it took me ages to get it attached to my ear everytime I wanted to use it. This didn't get better with experience, I must just have odd-shaped ears or something, because even trying the different sized ear piece didn't help me. I just couldn't get it on comfortably, so much so that I couldn't bear using the headset for more than an hour - I had to keep reattaching it to my ear and when I did get it attached it dug in horribly. As well as the different sized ear-pieces, you also get another faceplate in the box so that you can customise the look of your headset. I prefer the look of the black one that it comes with, but I'm sure there are people out there that would appreciate the look of the camo one. 

I'd expect a headset like this to really struggle with sound quality, but I have to say that's not true. Obviously the sound isn't as good as the traditional stereo headsets but it's plenty good enough to hear your friends easily. There is also a really good feature that allows you to press a button and hear your own voice so you know you're not deafening your friends and that they can hear you clearly. This is actually a real worry because the microphone isn't on a long wire as is the usual, you do find yourself talking quite loudly to make sure your party can hear you. Use the Voice Monitor to check you're not going a little over the top. 

This headset is below £25 which would usually make it a pretty cheap headset. I do think that there are better headsets on the market for only £5 more though with more bells and whistles. If it wasn't for how uncomfortable I found the Freedom 1 I'd have given it a much higher score but I found it very uncomfortable to use, despite how well it worked. It did work well and the Voice Monitor is a great addition to any streamers out there who want to make sure they're being heard clearly, but I'd say make sure you are able to wear a bluetooth headset comfortably before making the purchase. 

Prif Playsonic 3 Headset - Review

This review has also been posted at honestgamesreviews.com, head over there to see the full score. (http://honestgamesreviews.com/reviews/prif-playsonic-3-headset-review/).

 I was one of the silly saps who bought the official Microsoft Xbox One Stereo Headset, before they discontinued them because apparently nobody else in the world likes them. In all fairness I quite like mine, but it's damn uncomfy to wear for any extended game-time and considering I do most of my gaming after my kids are in bed, being able to wear the headset for more than an hour without crushing my skull is quite important to me. So the awesome guys here at HGR sent me this shiny new Playsonic 3 to review.

First up let's talk about how it looks coming out of the box. This thing is pretty, with some really nice metallic red detail around the cups and some red material on the band. The cups aren't static, in the slightest bit, which at first I was happy about because my previous headset is just SO rigid. But I soon got annoyed with how much these cups swivel - they can swivel around so they're facing AWAY from your ear...could someone please tell me why?! Once on this obviously isn't a problem, but if you find yourself having to take them off every five minutes to check that one of your kids isn't crying it gets a bit annoying (and tangle-y).

This headset is damn comfortable though. I put this on after already playing for an hour using my MS one so my head was feeling kinda sore. This felt like a big cuddle for the dent on the top of my head. It HAS to be the most cushioned headset out there (i don't know for sure, but honestly this has like 2 inches of cuddle!). The mic can go pretty much anywhere you desire as it is on a completely bendy wire. But that's enough of all this, you wanna hear how it sounds, right?

This headset is damn comfortable though. I put this on after already playing for an hour using my MS one so my head was feeling kinda sore. This felt like a big cuddle for the dent on the top of my head. It HAS to be the most cushioned headset out there (i don't know for sure, but honestly this has like 2 inches of cuddle!). The mic can go pretty much anywhere you desire as it is on a completely bendy wire. But that's enough of all this, you wanna hear how it sounds, right?

I'm gonna start with the mic first, as this is where I encountered the most issues. The first night I played Ark with the HGR boys they all moaned at me for the hissy sound I was apparently making. At first I thought it was the headset, but a couple of days later it transpired that my 3rd party controller I was using had a broken headset port. Again. So I plugged it into my proper XB1 pad and the hissy sound disappeared - for the most part. There was still a little hiss evident, but not enough that everyone wanted to mute me anymore. The next day I played with some friends who told me I was far too quiet and they had levelled out their volume as much as they could - if they put the game volume any lower there wouldn't actually be any. I had to move the mic closer, so close in fact it was basically in my mouth - not ideal - but usually when you have a mic too close there's some horrible noises attributed to it and with the Playsonic 3 there were none. Everyone could hear me clear as day and we played for a good few hours with no more complaints. At one point I moved the headset so that one ear was out of the cups. These cups are seriously so thick you can hear nothing from the outside world. I felt like I was talking underwater so in a bid to counteract that I lifted one cup able my ear. This led to my friends all complaining that they could now hear themselves repeating, so I had to go back to not being able to hear myself properly and hoping I wasn't shouting too loud (we have very sensitive neighbours).

This last point really doesn't need many words. The sound from this headset is amazing, crystal clear and deep. You can plug it into any of the devices you may have lying around your home as any cable you need comes with it. If you don't have the newer XB1 pads you will need a headset adapter, but I had one of these already so was good to go. I used it mostly for gaming and to listen to Spotify whilst working on my computer and it sounded brilliant for each task. To be honest this headset seems ridiculously cheap for what you're getting, so I did expect to encounter many more problems than I did, but for less than £40 I have no qualms recommending this headset.