GAMDIAS mix up some classical innovation with some gaming ‘know how’ to forge the HEPHAESTUS gaming headset. Will the Gods be pleased?
Product on review: GAMDIAS HEPHAESTUS
Manufacturer & Sponsor: GAMDIAS
Street Price: £64.99 – 69.99 inc VAT
GAMDIAS are tirelessly churning out innovative ideas inspired by Greek mythology to create a distinct and unique brand. From their audio stable we get the HEPHAESTUS gaming headset. God of forge and fire, Hephaestus made the weapons of the Gods, so would that mean the HEPHAESTUS headset is worthy of your monies? Falling right into the thick of the gaming headset arena at £65-70, there is a lot of exceptional competition. So how does this stand out? Firstly the design, while it does come in with that exaggerated ‘gamer’ aesthetic, it does it exceptionally well without being overstated, secondly, the party piece is the visible passive aluminium heatsinks that, aside from looking awesome, apparently help keep your head cool. If you thought that was enough, GAMDIAS have gone a little extra to deliver an ‘extra sensory’ headset by implementing directional vibration dubbed ‘Blast Source Indicator’. So in regards to having enough character to stand out from the crowd, this one is a mighty blacksmith at a knitting convention!
Overview by GAMDIAS
Did you ever think surround sound is getting old-school? Have you ever had a 4D experience with your headsets? How about a cooling system in them? Well…HEPHAESTUS gaming headset is here to offer you those exclusive features never seen before on the planet, and that alone epitomizes the dominance of HEPHAESTUS in this particular industry. These cutting-edge technologies are what GAMDIAS is all about, they are not there just to look cool or to be bragged about, but they are also exceptionally practical. A cooling system with built-in aluminum heat sinks would drops the temperature to hit that optimal comfort level we all desire in an all-day gaming session. Additionally, the blast source identifier triggers the ear cups to vibrate independently depending on the direction of the sound. You no longer merely have the surround sound to assist you in a frantic warzone, but an actual vibration to pinpoint where your enemies are located. Misjudgment is undeniably a thing of the past with HEPHAESTUS at your disposal.
Specifications & Features
Cable Length: 2.5m
Dimension(LxWxH): 232 x 100 x 216 mm
Frequency range: 20 ~ 20KHz
Plug type: Gold-plated USB plug
Sensitivity: 117dB + / – 4 dB at 1 kHz
Impedance: 32 Ohms
Driver diameter: 40mm
Driver magnets: NdFeB
Driver membrane: N/A
Microphone size: 6.0 * 5.0mm
Microphone Sensitivity: -46dB + / – 3 dB
Maximum input power: 100 mW
Microphone frequency range: 100 ~ 10KHz
Microphone impedance: 2.2 K Ohms
Vibration unit frequency range: 20 ~ 200Hz
Vibration unit sensitivity: 82dB + / – 4 dB
Vibration unit impedance: 8 Ohms
Vibration unit maximum input power: 1 W
Application UI: GAMDIAS EOS
Dimension(LxWxH): 232 x 100 x 216 mm
Frequency range: 20 ~ 20KHz
Plug type: Gold-plated USB plug
Sensitivity: 117dB + / – 4 dB at 1 kHz
Impedance: 32 Ohms
Driver diameter: 40mm
Driver magnets: NdFeB
Driver membrane: N/A
Microphone size: 6.0 * 5.0mm
Microphone Sensitivity: -46dB + / – 3 dB
Maximum input power: 100 mW
Microphone frequency range: 100 ~ 10KHz
Microphone impedance: 2.2 K Ohms
Vibration unit frequency range: 20 ~ 200Hz
Vibration unit sensitivity: 82dB + / – 4 dB
Vibration unit impedance: 8 Ohms
Vibration unit maximum input power: 1 W
Application UI: GAMDIAS EOS
Virtual 7.1ch effect
Delivering faithful and reverberating simulated 7.1channel sound effect.
Environment sound effect simulation
Carefully tuned professional gaming acoustic simulator, letting user choose their favorite acoustic environment through simple settings by EOS.
Microphone sound change
Exclusive EOS controlled microphone sound changer, allowing easy high/low pitch tuning.
Blast Source Identifier
Shock waves vary by ear to help pinpoint blast source
Ergonomic comfort
Leather headband & ear pads for comfort during prolonged gameplay
Cooler system
Built-in aluminum heat sink for optimum temperature
Noise cancelling mic
Active noise cancellation microphone filters out unwanted noise signal for clear messages to team
Flexible Mic arm
Microphone arm can bent in any direction for personalized usage
Packaging & Accessories
Packing front
The packaging isn’t too far different in design to what we have seen from Corsair, this gives a nice feeling of assured quality.
Rear side of packaging
At the back we get the specifications listed while on the side the features get listed.
Some nice stickers
The accessories are a little thin, but this would be due to this model being non modular. You do however get an installation guide and some neat little GAMDIAS stickers which is the triangular logo containing the letters ZEUS.
The inline remote
The inline remote is attractive and features a volume up/down, mic mute button with LED indicator, as well as a vibration switch that allows for OFF, and 2x power settings.
Quality braided cabling
The cable is 2.5m long and is quality braided with a gold plated USB connector at the end, annoyingly, the USB connector is one of those slightly oversized types which means it will be a tight squeeze if you try to plug it in adjacent to an occupied USB port.
Closer Look
The GAMDIAS HEPHAESTUS
On first inspection, glossy plastic is recipe for the day here, mirrored with the quality grey leather padding the aesthetics work surprisingly well. The heatsinks at the sides add an almost jet engine appeal without looking overstated.
Open mic
The HEPHAESTUS unfortunately is non modular, which means the boom microphone and cables are not removable/replaceable. Though the construction seems fairly robust and should make for a decent show piece at your gaming station.
Folded flat
This headset can fold flat, if that helps you in anyway, but at least shows that it has the movement needed to fit your head. Around the inside of the headband is some thick soft padding to help keep things comfortable.
Thick padding and aluminium cooling
Plenty of padding on the earcups and the aluminium meat grinder peaks out at the sides. Just behind the earpad you can spy little vibration pads that encircle the ear pad from behind. These are what powers the Blast Source Indicator.
Extra vents for cooling are found on each side over the heatsinks.
On each side we find the GAMDIAS logo that lights up when powered up.
The embossed headband with some box art.
The adjustable strap.
The boom microphone.
Plenty of room for your ears to fit in, Blues Man has no problem.
Software and Customisation
The software package to control the HEPHAESTUS headset is similar to many USB headsets, easy to use and provides a broad range of controls. However, something worth noting is that in the windows audio options, you can select a bit depth and sample rate of 24/96, usually USB gaming headsets are limited as this change is unlikely to make an impact on game audio, though it is good to see this option enabled.
Performance Testing
Setup, Design & Observations
Once you have plugged the USB connection into your PC, standard drivers kicked in and worked fine. If you want to use the software, you will need to download it, extract, install, then restart, this shouldn’t be too timely on most modern systems.
Picking up the headset it was clear that the construction is good quality and robust. The HEPHAESTUS is lighter than expected for something that has chunks of metal in each earcup too. The design is striking and wouldn’t look out of place on a Storm Trooper although some may wince at the overtly ‘gamer’ design in all its glossy plastic glory, it does look attractive and the quality backs it up. The grey leather headband and earcups certainly add a sleek finish that makes it stand out in a classy manner. Once there is power flowing through, the red and yellow LEDs on the earcup clearly mean business.
Upon wearing, the large earcups easily fully covered my ears and was very comfortable with a head clamp strength that is good but a touch weak. You could shake it off with a sharp shake should you wish. When wearing glasses it remained comfortable for a few hours but the side of my head did start feeling a little fatigued. This could be due to the thick frames of my glasses and maybe thinner frames would suffer less. In regards to the cooling heatsinks in the earcups, they felt like they did a good job on some notably hot days, especially if you have a fan blowing at you, so it would appear that they function as intended.
The microphone is flexible and easy to position, though sadly isn’t removable, nor do we find any modular cabling. Still the braided cable is good quality and the attractive inline remote feels solid, not to mention correctly orientated to fall into your left hand! Though it could be moved a little further down the line so it wouldn’t be floating in space.
Multimedia
Listening through various music from rock to electronic the HEPHAESTUS was nicely balanced and charming across the board. It did feel like the bass lacked some impact and overall it did seem fairly bland, but this isn’t a bad thing and there were no real slips. Increasing the bass using the software seemed to dirty the other frequencies, so leaving it flat seemed like the best choice. At maximum volume the audio remained distortion free and clear, however the max volume wasn’t overly loud. Some may definitely prefer a higher volume, but for me it was a reasonable and sensible max volume level and rarely would I be wanting more.
In gaming and movies the virtual 7.1 rendering was fair and when paired with the ‘Blast Source Indicator’ a vibration feature built into the earcups, the experience was enjoyable and at times could really make you jump. We have experienced various vibrational units before, however the HEPHAESTUS felt like one of the best implemented to date but it isn’t without its flaws. There was faint distortion introduced into the audio output and sometimes rattling noises could be heard. The strength of the vibration was good without being overbearing as others can be powerful to the extent as to potentially cause an MSD or shake your brain loose. Overall there is a lot of potential here but still room for improvement.
Microphone
The microphone picked up voices loud and clear in Skype and was said to sound quite natural. The downside was that the microphone did pick up every other noise in the room too which can be quite disruptive to others in the conversation. Reducing the microphone sensitivity helped a little but wasn’t enough. Best used in a quiet room.
Conclusion
The HEPHAESTUS has some strong positives and stands out while doing it. The design may seem large and bulky but it remains classy and lightweight with good quality construction shining through. They are comfortable and take an original approach to cooling your ears for those long hours of gaming. USB headsets certainly have their perks for those who do not use a discrete soundcard or DAC, allowing for improved sound quality over the majority of integrated audio processors, this provides decent music and media playback that will add value to this product. Also, due to the USB power, the lighting does make this headset look fairly badass.
The vibration function was certainly interesting and at times felt well implemented, though at the cost of interfering with the audio. It would become understandable if gamers start desiring technology such as the Blast Source Indicator to improve their spatial awareness beyond just virtual surround sound. This again is another display of originality within the GAMDIAS HEPHAESTUS, though as it stands, the vibration seems to introduce just as many flaws as it does benefits which may indicate the need for a little more refining. In consideration to the competition, one could criticise that is falls behind the pack at this price point, with many gaming headsets now opting to use 50mm drivers which usually (not always) allows for a more dynamic sound and improved bass. We are also stuck with a hard lined cable, so no modularity or removable microphone which is a shame.
Overall the HEPHAESTUS certainly has its appeal, allowing it to stand proud with its interesting design, comfort, and performance. For these given reasons we happily present our Vortez Silver award alongside our Creative award in recognition to the innovative and original design.
The GAMDIAS HEPHAESTUS brings some highly creative innovations to gaming headset design that is worth recognising, even by the Gods.
Pros.
+ Balanced audio
+ USB, Easy setup and virtual 7.1 surround
+ Attractive aesthetic
+ Comfortable
+ Unique cooling heatsinks
Mediocre
+- Vibration/ Blast Source Indicator
Cons.
– Non modular
– Microphone picks up a lot of Background noise
– Tough competition
+ Balanced audio
+ USB, Easy setup and virtual 7.1 surround
+ Attractive aesthetic
+ Comfortable
+ Unique cooling heatsinks
Mediocre
+- Vibration/ Blast Source Indicator
Cons.
– Non modular
– Microphone picks up a lot of Background noise
– Tough competition
Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net. Thanks to GAMDIAS for providing today’s review sample.
