PDP LVL50 Wired Stereo Headset Review: Good for the Price, But You Can Do Better
Our Verdict
The PDP LVL50 Wired Stereo Headset provides decent gaming sound for a fair price, simply you can go much better features from similar gadgets.
For
- Decent gaming sound
- Cheap
- Works with any system
Against
- Apparently design
- So-then fit
- Subpar mic
Tom's Guide Verdict
The PDP LVL50 Wired Stereo Headset provides decent gaming sound for a off-white toll, but yous tin go much meliorate features from similar gadgets.
Pros
- +
Decent gaming sound
- +
Cheap
- +
Works with whatsoever arrangement
Cons
- -
Obviously design
- -
So-and so fit
- -
Subpar mic
There's a fine line between "cheap" and "inexpensive" when it comes to gaming peripherals, and the PDP LVL50 Wired Stereo Headset is e'er so slightly on the wrong side of it. The peripheral costs simply $l, and the sound quality is solid for the cost. But the headset looks apparently, feels uncomfortable and has a subpar mic.
If $50 is your accented cap for a gaming headset, the LVL50 will indeed go you private listening and a dedicated mic for your late-night PS4 or Xbox One sessions. All the same, y'all can get much better features from other gadgets if you're willing to stretch your budget by even $10.
- More of the best inexpensive gaming headsets
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PDP LVL50 Wired Stereo Headset price and availability
The PDP LVL50 comes in both Xbox and PlayStation versions, with matching greenish or blueish coloring.
Walmart currently has the all-time toll for either, with the Xbox model at a few cents shy of $45, while Amazon has the PlayStation model for $48.
PDP LVL50 Wired Stereo Headset review: Design
The LVL50 sports a gray plastic chassis with either a PS4 or Xbox logo up most the headband, depending on which version you lot get. Mechanically, the two models are identical; there are just some aesthetic and color variations. There's a flexible nail mic on the left ear cup and a volume dial on the right ear loving cup. The headset connects via a single 3.5 mm audio jack. That's pretty much all there is to it.
While you arguably don't need much more for a console-centric headset, a few more features would have been helpful. Even in this price range, many headsets come with mic/sound splitters for PC play, and there's no mic-mute push button. If you want to mute the mic, yous have to rotate the blast support, which can exist pretty obnoxious if you lot demand both hands for a heated multiplayer match.
PDP LVL50 Wired Stereo Headset review: Comfort
The LVL50 could take been much more comfy. The foam ear cups accept a fair amount of give, and you tin can wear them for a few hours at a time, even with glasses. Merely the arms that hold the ear cups in identify are totally rigid, pregnant they volition never swivel to brand a snug seal over your ears. It likewise means you tin can't fold the headset flat for transportation.
Rather than sporting an elastic band or rigid notches, the LVL50 has adjustable arms that you can simply slide to fit your head. While this is a smoothen, uncomplicated process, it does mean that information technology'southward very hard to discover a perfect fit once again if the headset gets knocked askew, or if you lot hand it off to someone else. I institute that the LVL50 always exerted a little too much pressure behind my ears. While the fit wasn't exactly painful, it wasn't all that pleasant, either.
A co-worker besides spent some time with the LVL50, and he plant it comfortable overall. Withal, he would have preferred the ear cups to be plusher and the overall fit more precise.
PDP LVL50 Wired Stereo Headset review: Gaming performance
I tested the LVL50 on PS4, Xbox One and PC titles, and the operation was good — albeit not bully — across the board.
Because the LVL50 is designed specifically with one console or the other in mind, I spent most of my time running information technology through PS4 and Xbox Ane games. In Nier: Automata, the LVL50 provided a respectable balance betwixt the pumping synth soundtrack, the over-the-top dialogue and the futuristic sound effects. The headset definitely favored midrange frequencies, though, putting the dialogue front and center, sometimes to the detriment of the music.
Things were a little more balanced in Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition, since in that location's no spoken dialogue in the game. At that place, I enjoyed an first-class remainder of music and sound effects, although there's no denying that the LVL50 is simply not as rich or every bit deep as more expensive headphones.
The soundscape was elementary and flat, focused on delivering clear sound rather than nuanced audio. There was never any question that I was wearing an inexpensive pair of headphones instead of being surrounded by an first-class set up of speakers. (Every bit audiophiles can attest, a really good headset tin can accomplish this feat.)
The headset was similarly acceptable for competitive games similar Destiny 2 and Overwatch, where directional sound is vital to victory. If y'all need a headset that gets the job done across a wide variety of genres, the LVL50 is fine. If y'all need a headset that excels at delivering cinematic music, immersive audio effects and crystal-clear voices, even so, it's a tougher recommendation.
PDP LVL50 Wired Stereo Headset review: Features
As discussed above, the LVL50 is pretty blank-bones. The mic activates automatically when you pull it down and mutes automatically when you pull it up. There's a volume punch on the correct ear cup.
The mic itself is non swell. When I talked with co-workers on a video telephone call, they said my voice came through very quietly and with a ton of echo. On a PS4, I had slightly ameliorate luck with chat and vocalism commands, merely it's definitely geared toward everyday multiplayer chatter rather than tournament-grade precision.
PDP LVL50 Wired Stereo Headset review: Music performance
While y'all could theoretically utilize the LVL50 equally a music headset thanks to its dead-simple three.v mm connection, yous wouldn't really desire to. In addition to having an inflexible design and nonremovable mic, the LVL50 sounds pretty bland for music. Its reliance on midrange frequencies lets vocals shine through conspicuously but at the expense of bass line, rhythm lines and highs.
I listened to pieces from Flogging Molly, Old Crow Medicine Evidence, The Rolling Stones and G. F. Handel, and everything sounded a bit mixed and muddied. The harmonies in "Let All the Angels of God Worship Him" sounded like they were coming through a decent pair of cellphone speakers, and the thumping bass in "Behave Me Dorsum to Virginia" sounded afar and dull. All the same, the directionality of the sound in right/left recordings similar "Permit It Bleed" was pretty skillful.
PDP LVL50 Wired Stereo Headset review: Verdict
The PDP LVL50 delivers fine gaming sound for a $l console headset. But everything else about it, from its shrug-worthy appearance to its subpar mic, makes it a comparatively tough sell.
For an entry-level gaming headset, yous could do worse. Merely the $50 HyperX Deject Stinger is more comfortable, the $60 Roccat Renga Boost has much ameliorate sound and the $seventy SteelSeries Arctis 3 is still one of the best upkeep gaming headsets you lot can buy. (If you lot can spare $80, the LVL50's wireless counterpart is also a much stronger product.) Saving money is always a adept thought, but buying a superior production is commonly a better one.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/us/pdp-lvl50-wired-stereo-headset,review-6264.html
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