Plantronics RIG 500E Gaming Headset Review

1. Introduction2. Unboxing and First Look3. Testing4. Conclusion5. View All Pages

There is no software included with the Plantronics RIG 500E headset for adjusting the EQ or setting up any form of virtual surround sound so instead, I will kick off the testing by talking about comfort.

As noted in the unboxing portion of the review, this is a modular headset, which means you can switch out the ear cups. While a lot of people will appreciate the leather ear cups for their noise cancelling properties, I tend to gear towards the fabric ear cups, which have a slightly more open-back and breathable design. However, in either case, the ear cups are not uncomfortable to wear, though they are a little on the small side.

The headband for the headset is plastic and due to the ‘clip on' design used for the ear cups, there isn't a whole lot of room for adjustability, which may cause issues for some. However, in my experience, the Rig 500 was fine to wear.

So now that we have established that comfort isn’t a major issue, lets dive in to the sound quality. Like with almost every other budget headset we have tested, the Rig 500 does not come with any custom software so there is no additional tinkering to do beyond plugging it in but as far as technical specifications are concerned, the RIG 500E is reasonably impressive.

For game testing, I decided to play some rounds of Counter Strike: Global Offensive as well as The Division, two titles that feature quality sound design. Overall, the headset performed well and I was impressed with stereo panning performance as well as the Dolby virtual surround sound, which really helps in competitive shooters where listening out for footsteps and directional noise can be key. Given that this is an eSports-backed ESL headset, decent in-game performance shouldn't come as much of a surprise.

I would say that the 40mm drivers used here are well balanced but they do lack the punch that 50mm drivers would provide. They also start to struggle to maintain detail at higher volumes, which is worth taking into account.

As always, when talking about headsets, sound quality is just part of the battle. We also need to assess microphone quality. In order to test the microphone I hopped on a few Skype and Team Speak servers. Overall, the microphone performed surprisingly well. I found the noise cancellation to be effective even with a ceiling fan switched on in my room, which is normally picked up by most headsets.

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