Scoria Enhance Gaming Headset: Accessibility Review

Disclaimer

The unit tested here was sent at no cost to the reviewer by the company.

Introduction

Though I've played PC games for longer than I can really remember, I've never really looked into the trend of PC-centric gaming accessories like headsets, keyboards and mice.

The first of these products has now been sent to me by EnhanceGaming so at least I can review something a little out of the ordinary compared to my previous reviews.

Let's see how the Scoria gaming headset stacks up to its console counterparts.

Unboxing

The box for this product is interesting, specifically because it has a magnetic flap on one of the long edges to allow access to a viewing window.

Flip the box over so the viewing flap is facing directly towards the floor, then remove the adhesive circle that's above the shop hanger, as well as the two perpendicularly to its right and left on the sides of the box.

The cardboard piece that holds the box closed can then be pulled up and the section being held in place lifted away to grant access to the inside of the box.

Being careful not to come into contact with any sharp edges pull the two joining flaps away and, holding the outer box in one hand, put your other hand underneath the inner packaging and tilt the outer box so that the inner packaging is facing towards the floor. Pull one away from the other and the inner packaging should now come away from the outer box.

The contents of the box itself

The first things you'll notice on top of the box once it's free are a long cable that snakes down into the rest of the packaging and some printed information.

If this is the case, you can flip the box over so that the plastic shell is on top and lift the transparent casing away to reveal the product underneath (as it turns out, what you saw at first was the bottom of the assembly).

Instead of pulling the headset free, hold the plastic packaging it's contained in and gently look around the edges to see where the cable is intertwined with the rest of the packaging, removing the wire from the slots holding it in place. If successful, the cardboard slots should drop free leaving just the plastic shell.

The final step to removing the headset from the packaging is to extract the in-line controller, housed within the plastic shell. Simply find where it is, place one hand underneath and gently but firmly push the plastic shell, the controller should pop free without issue given there's nothing holding it in place.

Description

The Scoria is a solidly built combination of metallic and plastic pieces. The metallic elements mostly comprise the very top part of the band that fits over the wearer's head, with a padded section underneath that's separated by a small gap. The padded section will adjust to the wearer's head and seems pretty flexible.

The plastic mostly comes in the form of the external shell of the padded ear cups, which themselves are large and fit well over the ears. The retractable microphone on the headset is stored away inside the left earcup, only protruding slightly and it can be gently moved into place when needed with little issue.

The only other feature of this headset is the in-line controller, part of the USB cable that you plug into your PC. This oblong-shaped plastic controller contains a lighting button to adjust colour, a microphone mute button and at the top in a triangle play/pause, previous and next buttons for compatible websites and software.

As a side note, the USb cable is not able to be disconnected from the headset itself; it is wired directly into the unit.

Testing

When I first used the product, I had nothing in terms of accessible instructions to work with. With certain elements of this product, that wasn't really an issue though, as plugging in the USB cord set the headset as the default device. If you start tweaking application outputs though, be prepared for audio sources to not necessarily always output through the headset.

The sound quality though, whichever way you slice it, is solid. Given that this is a big, well-built pair of speakers attached to the side of your head, it's hardly surprising. Pumping Killer Instinct's detailed fight audio, or Mick Gordon's wall of noise that is the Doom 2016 soundtrack through these is well worth it to say the least.

The Vibration Engine

On the in-line controller, as well as a volume control, there is a second similar looking wheel on the other side and higher up than its counterpart. This is the wheel to activate what is known as the "Vibration Engine". The technical details of how this works, I'm not sure of. However, it's certainly an interesting feature in that when your headset's volume is high enough, part of the headset will resonate with additional frequencies. If you turn this on, you might notice a greater range of bass frequencies, but don't necessarily expect it to be as drastic a difference as its name might imply. It certainly might be useful for cinematic gameplay experiences though.

The Scoria Software

After looking through the PDF manual that I found ont he website (which was relatively readable with a screen reader), I discovered that there was a piece of software that, ostensibly, could be used to alter the unit's settings. However, this was extremely tricky to find given that, it turns out, an account is needed to download it.

On attempting to install the software, I had a pop-up asking for a digitally signed driver being required and that I needed to go to the website to find said driver.

Running the software as administrator during set up was more successfull and did get things running. However, on restarting after setup, I had to plug the headset into a different USB port to get it to re-route as it would previously, which was, to say the least, frustrating.

Moreover, once I got into the software, it turns out that, as might be expected from headset adjustment utilities from other companies, the software unfortunately doesn't appear to use standard Windows controls for its interface. That being said, it seems like it isn't completely necessary as the headset will work out of the box, though some tweaking of applications might be required if not everything transmits through the headset instantaneously.

I haven't tested the microphone with parties or multiplayer as of yet, but will update this review when I do so.

Summary

Pros

Cons

Conclusions

The Scoria Gaming Headset certainly sounds good, even without using the software the company suggests. The ability to change the lighting might not be useful for everyone but it's an interesting feature for those who can utilise it. If you want a headset that is easy to connect without the absolute necessity of software, this might be what you're looking for.

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