Cooler Master looks to fill-out their audio range their latest offering, the MH752. The MH752 offers 7.1 audio, an in-line controller and a clean design, all for under £100 ($100).
Product on Review: Cooler Master MH752
Manufacturer: Cooler Master
Street Price: £ 94.99 GBP / $99.99 US / $119.00 AUS
At present Cooler Master offers eight sets of headphones for gaming, but we haven’t seen a new pair from them since the arrival of their MH750. Well, that is about to change thanks to their newest edition the MH752. Pricing for the MH752 is set to $99.99 in the US and £94.99 in the UK, but will it be a worthy contender at this tough price point?
In terms of raw specs, it looks like it’s right in line with what you’d expect from a headset costing this much. Some of the notable specifications include 7.1 audio support as well as a pretty standard 20 to 20,000Hz frequency response and a pair of 40mm Neodymium drivers. Other features include a controller box and a detachable microphone. The controller box allows you to control quite a few various aspects of the headset such as the volume, mic volume and more. The MH752 also has broad support for different platforms thanks to its use of a 3.5mm connection rather than a USB one. Bear in mind that to get the 7.1 audio experience you’ll need to connect the headset to a PC as it won’t work on a console or the other compatible platforms.
Cooler Master on the MH752:
The MH752 Gaming Headset features premium quality sound with unprecedented comfort, ideal for those long battle royales. 40mm Neodymium drivers with virtual 7.1 surround sound offer the situational awareness needed to hear footsteps and chests, while plush, lightweight ear cups provide a fit so comfortable, your pillow feels like bricks in comparison.
Technical Specifications
Headphones
Driver – 40mm Neodymium
Impedance – 26ohm
Frequency response – 20 – 20,000Hz
Sensitivity – 97dB
Ear coupling – Over-ear
Cable length – 1.5m 3.5mm connector, 1.5m USB cable
Connector – 3.5mm 4-pole, USB Type-A
Control box – Volume control, Microphone volume control & mute, Virtual surround button
Dimensions – 149mm (L) x 215mm (H) x 85mm (W) / 5.87” x 8.46” x 3.35”
Weight (Without cable) – 340g / 0.75lbs
Weight (With cable) – 250g / 0.55lbs
Microphone
Pickup pattern – Omni-directional
Frequency response – 100 – 10,000Hz
Sensitivity – -42dB
Signal to noise ratio – 55dB
Microphone type – Detachable
Compatibility
Computer – PC, MAC
Console – PS4, Xbox One (Requires stereo headset adapter), Nintendo Switch
Smartphones and tablets with a 3.5mm connection
Driver – 40mm Neodymium
Impedance – 26ohm
Frequency response – 20 – 20,000Hz
Sensitivity – 97dB
Ear coupling – Over-ear
Cable length – 1.5m 3.5mm connector, 1.5m USB cable
Connector – 3.5mm 4-pole, USB Type-A
Control box – Volume control, Microphone volume control & mute, Virtual surround button
Dimensions – 149mm (L) x 215mm (H) x 85mm (W) / 5.87” x 8.46” x 3.35”
Weight (Without cable) – 340g / 0.75lbs
Weight (With cable) – 250g / 0.55lbs
Microphone
Pickup pattern – Omni-directional
Frequency response – 100 – 10,000Hz
Sensitivity – -42dB
Signal to noise ratio – 55dB
Microphone type – Detachable
Compatibility
Computer – PC, MAC
Console – PS4, Xbox One (Requires stereo headset adapter), Nintendo Switch
Smartphones and tablets with a 3.5mm connection
Packaging & First Look
In typical Cooler Master fashion, the MH752 comes in a dark grey box with the royal purple that Cooler Master is known for. The front showcases the headset as well as displaying some features of the MH752. Image shows the outer box and the more rigid internal one.
The rear of the box has another image of the MH752, but this time it has more information in the form of labels and text.
Within the box, there is the headset, a carry pouch, a detachable microphone, the documents, one 3.5mm cable and one USB cable with a built-in control box. We would have liked to have seen a silicone plug included to block the open mic port and prevent dust and other debris getting in.
Cooler Master has gone all classy on us with a pitch-black colour scheme that uses some subtle grey accents. We like this approach as it’s so easy to blend this headset into your existing setup.
Closer Look
The right side is predominately black with a little splash of grey; this takes shape of the Cooler Master logo on the outer housing and a small accent piece above the earcup support arm. The side of the earcup also has a unique textured finish that feels slightly rough, yet it shimmers when it catches the light. It’s unusual but nice.
The left side is identical to the right and shares all the same styling cues.
Looking at the headband adjustment, it’s nice to see that Cooler Master hasn’t cut corners here and used stainless steel to reinforce it.
The headband is nicely padded and coated with a leatherette, this is very soft and feels great.
The padding inside the headband is nice as it feels plush and it’s also quite plentiful.
Closer Look (Continued)
The earcup padding is finished in a similar leatherette to the headband and has some of the softest padding we’ve ever come across.
On the left side earcup, there are two ports, one is for the 3.5mm connector, and the other is for the microphone. Both are proprietary which means Cooler Master is likely the only place you can source replacements. The 3.5mm port also features a locking mechanism to help keep it very secure when in-use.
Finally to the control box which doubles as a USB sound card. On the control box, you can adjust the volume of the headset, adjust the microphone’s volume, mute the microphone as well as toggle the 7.1 audio on or off. At the rear of the box, there is a handy clip so that you can attach it to your top when gaming.
Software
The Cooler Master Portal software has been designed to work with the MH752 as well as their MP860 dual-sided mouse pad. Future peripheral releases from Cooler Master will also likely use this version of Portal as its essentially a newer variant of their older Portal suite.
Design wise the UI is very Cooler Master, and it’s really nice to see their colour scheme carry over to the software. Within the software, you can adjust the volume of the headset and the microphone. That isn’t all though as you can tweak the bass, treble and the 5-band equaliser. A 10-band would have been preferred, but as is, it does give you some scope to tune the audio to your preference. There are also options to turn the surround sound on and off. Finally, there is an option to select from the preset profiles as well as create your own. The presets are a bit sparse at the moment, but we can see Cooler Master adding some more in the near future.
Below is a quick demo of the software.
Performance Testing
Setup & Observations
Setting up the Cooler Master MH752 requires you to connect the 3.5mm to the control box and then plug the USB in a spare USB port. Once done you can then download the software if you wish to further tailor the audio experience to your preference. For console, mobile and tablet you’ll essentially only be utilising the 3.5mm connection as that’s all that is needed.
Design wise Cooler Master has kept things simple, and clean with their approach and it works very well. The styling of the MH752 is very minimal thanks to an almost all-black colour scheme and colour neutral accents. In terms of flourishes, there aren’t any, and the only nod you get towards it being a Cooler Master headset are the logos on each earcup. The only other bit of branding can be found on the controller, and this is done in the same fashion as with the earcups, but this time they’ve added their Cooler Master purple to the mix. In terms of build quality, the MH752 is well made. The materials used are predominately plastic with a bit of metal on the headband adjustment, this not only helps keep the cost of the headset low but also the weight down. The headband has some flex, though it didn’t feel like it was going to break even when stretched a fair amount.
Onto the comfort and the MH752 really excel offering one of, if not the most comfortable wearing experiences we’ve ever encountered. The headband padding is nicely supplied, well distributed and extremely soft making them feel so nice on the top of your head. The material used is also very smooth which reduces any fatigue, the downside to this though could be that these could slide around on your head if you are bald. The earcup padding is easily the softest we’ve ever used, and when combined with the lax clamping force they just are so nice to wear. The internal opening isn’t the most generous, but as the padding is so plush, they don’t pinch the tops of your ears and cause fatigue in that manner. The material finish is again super smooth yet as it’s a synthetic leather it doesn’t breathe as well as some fabric finishes do which leads to the one negative. This one downside is a slight build up of heat, it’s not as bad as some other headsets, but they do get a bit warm after a few hours.
The next aspect to cover is the in-use experience, and it’s mixed. Starting with the cable and it is good quality though it’s oddly designed. The cable is fabric coated which feels great, but the way the controller is implemented is not the best. Like we experienced when reviewing the GSP 550 from Sennheiser, the control box is located very far down the cable meaning you have to manage it in a way that makes it accessible to you. In reality, Cooler Master should have placed the control box higher up the cable to make it easier to adjust on-the-fly. Cooler Master has somewhat addressed this by adding a clip to the rear side of the controller that enables it to be attached to your t-shirt or jumper, this does bring it closer to you, but in-turn leaves a long cable dangling in the way. What Cooler Master should have done is bundled a shorter 3.5mm cable to bring the control box closer to where your hands are. As for the control box it’s well made, the buttons feel very nice and it’s very versatile as you can adjust the main volume, toggle the 7.1 audio on or off, adjust the mics volume and finally mute the microphone. All this is great as you rarely need to use the software to adjust the aspects of the headset you’d want to.
Multimedia
As we use headsets for more than just gaming, we like to make sure we cover all the bases. Starting with some music and the MH752 are fairly impressive for the price point. The overall sound has somewhat of a treble bias, making this area come through more prominently, this also makes the vocal forward too. Bass is solid, although it’s not the most impactful we’ve ever heard. The lower extension is decent, but they seem to hit a cut-off point and go no further, unfortunately, this happens quite early on so you don’t get that deep, low bass. The mid-bass is handled much better though and is reasonably punchy and potent. The bass isn’t the clearest we’ve ever encountered and is a touch cloudy at times. On the plus side, the bass isn’t unwieldy and is well-controlled meaning it doesn’t have a negative impact on the rest of the sound. The treble is good, and the clarity is strong meaning that an ample amount of detail is delivered to you. Finer detail delivery isn’t as strong, but for casual listening all the right bits of the treble are present. The treble is also not the most open and can at times feel a bit closed in. Also, we noted that on occasion there can be a harshness to the treble, this is more noticeable when approaching the highs and it can be grating. This doesn’t happen all the time, but in some tracks, we found it quite prominent. The vocal production is again admirable, though the tonal reproduction isn’t the truest we’ve ever encountered, it does somewhat make up for that with the punch that they have. If you aren’t a fan of strong vocals, you may want to tweak the eq to bring them down.
When relaxing and catching some movies the experience was good, though not great. The sound as a whole is a touch closed in still so you don’t get that massive sense of space, but the experience is quite encompassing which could be more important to you. Bass was again strong in the mid-region but as before suffered when the bass extends really low. On the plus side, the mid-bass was willing and ready to go and hit whenever it was needed. The treble again was quite prominent which brought a lot of obvious sound design to the forefront, but in doing so, it did leave some more subtle details behind. Dialogue is very clear, even when present alongside action and a strong score, this means that you shouldn’t miss any important bits of information when watching your favourite films.
For gaming, the MH752 are again good, although not great. Bass has some impact as it did for movies and music, but it has the same traits with the lack of real depth. This attribute in some games is important though as it allows more detail to be heard in the treble as you aren’t as heavily focused on the bass. The mid-bass is again strong and provides plenty of interest to the sound, so that isn’t too flat. The treble is again where the MH752 is best as it’s clear and has good levels of detail, this helps when identifying an enemies position. Things like footsteps can be heard clearly as long as there isn’t too much in terms of other noise (like loud gunfire), that can be overwhelming. In terms of spatial awareness, the MH752 aren’t very strong as the sound is closed in, this can make the sound quite constrictive which is worse for games that are set in an open world environment. Vocals again though come through very well meaning that game dialogue won’t be that easily missed.
The 7.1 audio was not overly convincing as it’s not technically true 7.1 sound. For music it expanded the range of the treble and made it artificially enhanced, this was not done well as a lot of detail cast an echo and gave the sense of being in a massive open area which is not pleasant. For movies the effect was a touch better, as again it heightened treble and made it more expansive, this time though it was more convincing. The detail wasn’t necessarily improved in terms of quality, but it helped make give the sound more space. It also had an impact on the volume making it distinctly louder than with the effect off. The 7.1 for gaming was also better than it was for music. Activating it in-game did help pinpoint some detail as again the treble saw a slight increase in how open it was. Of course, it’s all artificial, but it was done well. With music, we noted a slight echo in the sound, here though this wasn’t the case and treble remained untarnished. Bass throughout didn’t see much of a change and was almost the same as with the effect off.
Overall the sound is pretty good, and it’s more than acceptable for casual music listening, watching movies and for gaming. Though as a whole it’s nothing really special, it’s performance is admirable and it just gets the job done.
Microphone
The microphone on the MH752 is user-removable which means you can store it out of the way when not in use. The mic is also very flexible which is great as you can position it just right. The mic has a pickup frequency response of 100 – 10,000Hz with a sensitivity of -42dB.
For our mic test, we had the volume set to 85% via the software.
The first thing we noted with the mic is that there were quite a few plosives and sibilance present in the audio. Vocals also sound unnatural and nasally but are clear enough to hear without issue. In terms of detail, the mic isn’t the best, though the body of the sound is decent so that it doesn’t sound too thin. We also noticed that this mic doesn’t have any form of a windshield as exhales of air caused the mic to pick that up prominently. As a whole the mic is okay for in-game voice chat and Skype, but nothing more.
Conclusion
There is a lot to like about Cooler Master’s MH752, though we were left feeling unfulfilled by some aspects of the experience. The main area where the headset does shine is with comfort as these are some of the most comfortable we have ever tested, they are light, have ample plush padding and are well designed in terms of ergonomics. Other areas where they do well are with the design and build. Cooler Master has taken a different approach with the MH752 and we like it, the aesthetic is clean and doesn’t make a fuss about being a gaming headset. The build is also strong too as the materials used are good quality and it’s put together in a manner that makes them feel solid.
The control box is another strong addition as it works very well and offers a variety of different controls you’d usually have to use software to adjust. The software is also very good and provides extra scope to tune the audio to your preference, plus it’s easy to use and nice to look at.
Now to the area of the headset where we felt like we needed more from and that is the sound. Fundamentally there is nothing wrong with the sound, and in fact, it’s good we just felt like it could have had more flavour as it’s a touch bland. Again the sound is good and is great for music, movies and gaming, it just left us wanting more. The mic is also an area where it’s again good, but not great. It’s a touch nasally which makes you sound as if you’ve got a cold. It does, however, score back some points as it is clear and not too thin sounding.
As a whole for the price of £ 94.99 GBP ($99.99 US / $119 AUS) there is nothing majorly wrong with the headset, it’s just we felt a touch uninspired by the sound. Although the sound is good, it’s just lacking character, and we understand that we shouldn’t expect too much given the rest of the feature set and the price, but there are other headsets out there that simply outperform these in the same class. Given everything though, we still highly recommend this headset, especially if you desire top-notch comfort.
Cooler Master’s latest headset offers a solid audio performance as well as one of the best wearing experiences we’ve ever come across.
Pros
+ Extremely comfortable
+ In-line control box works a treat
+ Nice clean design
+ Well made
+ Admirable sound quality
+ Pricing
+ Good software
Neutral
+- Mic isn’t the strongest
+- Control box location is too far down the cable but does have a clip
Cons
– None to note
+ Extremely comfortable
+ In-line control box works a treat
+ Nice clean design
+ Well made
+ Admirable sound quality
+ Pricing
+ Good software
Neutral
+- Mic isn’t the strongest
+- Control box location is too far down the cable but does have a clip
Cons
– None to note
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