Review: The EPOS H3PRO Hybrid Headset is a Nice Headset that Can Connect to Just About Anything

At the end of April, EPOS launched two new colors for their H3PRO Hybrid headset. It touts connectivity with gaming consoles, PC, and mobile devices; Active Noise Cancellation (ANC); and more. EPOS kindly offered me a pair of the new Racing Green-colored headset and I’ve been trying them out for the last month or so. While they did send it to me, all the thoughts below are my own.

First, let’s talk about the things that I have not been impressed with. For starters, when used wirelessly (and sometimes when wired via USB), there is often a delay when a sound source starts meaning you miss the first couple of seconds of audio. I had this while using various apps, while on Zoom calls, etc. In most day to day life, it’s not necessarily a dealbreaker, but it was frustrating and in some instances I needed to switch my headphone setup for specific tasks. Also, the EPOS Gaming Suite is very unimpressive and I didn’t find it the most user-friendly experience. Another thing that bothered me was that I would hold down the power button, here the high pitch sound of the ANC, but unless it said “Power On” it would shut down after about a second and then I have to hold it down and make sure I waited until I heard it say “Power On.” That’s a smile gripe, but a gripe. The final complaint I’ll mention is that the Bluetooth button also serves as a Smart Button, but you can only set it to either toggle their Surround Sound or cycle through presets. I would’ve loved it if I could have it serve as a play/pause button for when I’m listening to music or watching videos.

Something that I was excited about was the ANC. I’ve never had headphones with that feature before. My experience was that putting the EPOS on blocked a lot of noise. However, it created what I call a tunnel background sound. The ANC switch essentially just adjusted things to remove that tunnel sound. This does add some clarity to whatever you’re listening to and it’s one of those features that once you’re used to it, you notice it, but if you haven’t used it before you wouldn’t notice a huge difference for a while. Overall, it’s still a positive point for the EPOS.

The sound quality of the headphones is really good too, and if you get the software to work right, the EQ abilities are basic but nice. That being said, I’m not terribly impressed with the 7.1 surround sound aspect. It’s decent, but I felt like it was on par with G Hub from Logitech with my G430 headset which cost significantly less. As for the microphone, I asked people how I sounded at some weekly game sessions I have and they said I sounded roughly the same as when I used the Samson Q9U. I’ve gone ahead and recorded some samples from my Logitech C270 webcam, Logitech G430 headset, Samson Q9U, and EPOS H3PRO Hybrid so you can be the judge. I used Audacity to set the peak amplitude to 0dB for each recording with the following adjustments: C270 +3.577dB, G430 +4.802dB, Q9U +26.561dB, H3PRO (no voice enhancement) +13.098dB, H3PRO (warm voice enhancement) +11.505dB, H3PRO (clear voice enhancement) +9.963dB. (Please note that for some reason there’s a lot of hiss from the Samson Q9U).

An aspect I loved about the EPOS is the experience out of the box. It came with everything I needed: the headset, a USB dongle, a USB-C cable, an aux cable, a quickstart guide that I think could’ve been a little clearer, and a little cap that you can put in place of the microphone for a nice headphone-only look. The microphone attaches via magnets in a very slick manner and when you don’t want to use it, you can pop it off and put this cap on for a sleek look.

The battery life is pretty good and they charge pretty quick. When you turn the headphones on they’ll give you an approximation of what percentage of a charge is left. This is nice although it and the voice that talks when you plug them in can be pretty loud.

Here’s a quick roundup of other features. On the right side, you can adjust volume with a nice dial. It easily connected to my Xbox Series S, Nintendo Switch, PC, phone, and tablet. The Xbox connection worked great plugging into the controller via the included aux cable. The others were via Bluetooth or the USB dongle (only for my PC). I did have problems with my laptop connecting via Bluetooth, but I’m not sure if it’s because it’s Windows 11 or if there was something else causing some problems with the connection.

Overall, the EPOS H3PRO Hybrid is a very solid headset. It looks and feels fantastic. The sound is good and I’m even willing to take a bet that some of my problems with the software were user error. I use this headset for most things now and if I didn’t like using Immerse Gaming (the H3PRO is not supported at the moment) for my PC gaming surround sound needs I’d probably use them for PC gaming too. They are currently available for $279 in black, green, or white and this is where I’m a little less sure. It’s a solid headset, but I’m not fully convinced it’s worth the price tag. Granted, I’ve not used any similarly priced headsets before, so I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. If you have the money, this is a solid headset regardless and I can confidently give it a thumbs up.