When I reviewed the Sennheiser GSP 370 Wireless Gaming Headset back in February, I was perfectly comfortable declaring it “the best headset I’ve ever worn”. The GSP 370 has graduated in my estimation; it is no longer a gaming headset. I edit video and audio all day in my day job, and the Sennheiser 370 is now my primary “work from home” headset, as it has the depth and precision that I need while working.
This left a gap in my headset collection. Sure, I have other headsets that I could use to play games online, but I’ve been spoiled by the light-weight comfort and high sound quality of the GSP 370. After using it exclusively for a few months, I had a very hard time going back to some of my older headsets.
Sennheiser GSP 300 Gaming Headset Review
How Does The GSP 300 Stand Up Compared To “The Best Headset I’ve Ever Worn”?
So, when the opportunity came to review the Sennheiser GSP 300 Gaming Headset, I jumped at the chance. Sure, this headset is wired, but it is comparable enough to my favorite headset to be considered the GSP 370’s “little brother”. And frankly, as a PSVR owner, I don’t mind wired headsets all that much. The PSVR takes up one of the USB ports on the front of my PS4, so a wireless headset shares the leftover slot with the cord I use to charge and sync my controllers. There’s a lot of shuffling of plugs involved.
The GSP 300 arrived, and I immediately unboxed it and jumped into Watch Dogs 2, which is my current “just for fun” game (as a game journalist, I usually have a game to play to relax from the games I’m playing, if that makes sense). I was amazed at how similar the GSP 300 feels to the GSP 370. Without the GSP 370’s amazing battery to at weight, the GSP 300 feels just a scootch lighter on my head, which makes it even more comfortable to wear than the already “its not there” GSP 370.
The GSP 300 functioned perfectly during some three- or four-hour gaming sessions with my two grown sons, allowing me to sound much better and clearer than either of them. I was often encouraged to be silent unless something I was saying was super-important, as the clarity of my audio would drown my sons out when they attempted to speak. As it should be.
But it was the sound quality delivered by the GSP 300 that was the real revelation. I put Run the Jewels’ Blockbuster Night Part 1 onto my in-game music player while I ran around Watch Dogs 2’s amazing version of San Francisco hacking chumps and causing mayhem, and before long I found myself wondering if the sound quality on the GSP 300 is even better than the already stellar GSP 370.
I further tested the headset on a variety of media. I watched a few episodes of TV – everything from Hulu’s The Great to an episode of Picard. I listened to a couple of hours of music, ranging from the new Rolling Stones single (superb) to the new Indigo Girls album (always reliably great). The GSP 300 provided remarkable clarity, and rich, deep bass. Listening to Beastie Boys’ ultra-bass festival Hello Brooklyn about knocked my teeth out of my head.
Is the GSP 300 Better Than Its More Expensive Brother?
It is tough to believe that players could get better sound out of a $99 dollar headset that is achieved by the $200 version, but a quick trop to versus.com revealed that I was not crazy. The wired GSP 300 does indeed deliver a higher range of sound than the GSP 370 – significantly so. I suppose that is the price one pays for wireless functionality (and don’t get me wrong, the GSP 370 is still stellar sounding).
The wired GSP 300 delivers 26000Hz on the high end (vs 20000Hz from the GSP 370), and 15Hz on the low end (vs 20Hz; in the case of low-frequency sound, the lower the Hz, the deeper the bass tones). So here I was, faced with a much less expensive headset that sounded even better than the “best headset I’ve ever worn”.
Surely, the GSP 370 would win out when I compared the design of the two headsets. The $200 version would surely be more lux than its less-expensive companion. And at first glance, yes, the GSP 370 does seem to be made of higher quality materials. The suede material on the earcups is conspicuously absent on the GSP 300, and the fabrics in general seem to be a step down from the super plushy GSP 370.
But the overall construction of the two headsets is similar enough that – aside from the generous 2.5m cord attached to the GSP 300 and the color scheme – much of the plastic framework that holds the sets together appears to be identical. And the GSP 300 has the same ultra-comfortable split headband as its more expensive counterpart.
But – and this part is huge – the GSP 300’s memory foam earcups grip tightly around your ears, forming a seal that blocks outside sound more effectively than the GSP 370’s. I tested this by taking both headsets out onto my front porch and – without pumping any sound through them – tried both headsets out while listening to traffic. Sure enough, the GSP 300s block outside sound more effectively.
Of course, there are some features that the wireless GSP 370 has that the less-expensive GSP 300 is missing. The devastatingly good battery, for one, is obviously absent. GSP 300 users will also not have access to Sennheiser’s basic (but effective) Gaming Suite app, which allows you to manually adjust bass, treble, and mid-range.
However, the GSP 300 sounds so good right out of the box that it is likely that users will not miss the ability to adjust the settings. (Come to think of it, why the heck doesn’t Sony have a feature built into the PlayStation that allows you to do this for any headset? Seems like a huge miss.)
The GSP 300 also offers a great deal more versatility. As the headset has separate plugs for mic and headphones (which can be married via an included adaptor), the GSP 300 can work on any console or PC. I used the GSP 300 during a Dauntless session on my Nintendo Switch, and it sounded fantastic.
Maybe Not Better, But Surely Just As Good
Is the Sennheiser GSP 300 Gaming Headset better than the best headset I’ve ever worn? Well, it isn’t really a fair comparison, considering the price difference between the two. While the Sennheiser GSP 300 and GSP 370 are obviously different products aiming for different audiences, the quality of both headsets is so high that I would be hard pressed to say that one was better than the other.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HktBnCRFQAg
The GSP 370 has more features and is more technologically advanced, but the GSP 300 sounds a little bit better. I can confidently say that the GSP 300 is the best wired headset I’ve ever worn, and it makes up for its lack of features with ridiculously good sound and solid construction.
The headset in this article was provided by the manufacturer for review consideration.
The Sennheiser GSP 300 Gaming Headset is available through the manufacturer for the reduced price of $69.00 through May 29, 2020.