Like all of Alienware’s recent products, such as the gaming brand’s Aurora PCs and most recent laptops, the $230 Alienware Pro Wireless Headset says no to UFO, bearing a more modern aesthetic you see on practically any other pair of cans. They’re a joy to wear, and games rarely sound as good as they do under these cups. And yet, I wonder if Alienware has taken too many cues from the past with this release, and not just because it looks like every other headset you can buy today.
Alienware Pro Wireless Headset
It's a solid headset for gamers with the kind of sound you expect at this price, but it's nowhere near the most transportable.
Pros
- Excellent comfort that will make you forget you're wearing headphones
- Overall sound quality is what you want for this price
- Build quality is great and sturdy
Cons
- Headphones aren't that transportable without twistable cups
- Mic quality is just okay, and the unpluggable boom mic tends to get lost
Cast your eyes back to Alienwares’s Tri-Mode A2930H gaming headsets with earmuffs that look like miniature engines on some “NASA punk” ship from Starfield, and you’ll get a clear idea of how much Alienware’s design language has changed. How much you’ll miss the weirdness depends on how long you’ve been with Alienware and whether you crave something truly unique.
The redesign looks sleek, and more importantly, it feels great clamped around my head. Still, there was a kind of anarchy to the old mothership design language that I miss, if nothing else than in the abstract.
The more you use the Alienware Pro headset, the more you realize this device is designed never to leave your gaming den. Its non-removable cups do not fold in, so there’s no slim packaging solution. The mic doesn’t fold or slide into the headphones. You unplug it and stuff it somewhere safe for fear of damaging it. It reminds me of older headsets from days of yore where gaming was done at home, alone, and for hours at a time. That’s not how I play games anymore.
Beyond all these design choices, a good gaming headset boils down to three things: Can I wear it for hours without my head feeling like a boiled potato? Is the audio quality good for all types of games and music? Can my friends hear my yelps of horror and (increasingly rare) cries of joy? Alienware’s latest offering does all three without compromise. It will be a comforting sight besides my gaming computer, but it certainly wouldn’t be my first choice for gaming on the go.
Alienware Pro Wireless Headset Review: Design and Comfort
The best thing I could say about the Alienware Pro Wireless Headset is that I forgot I had them on after a while. Deep into a game with ANC on, I could disappear into the sights and sounds for better immersion. The faux-leather memory foam cups and headpiece cradle the head, and the design didn’t add much weight to my noggin, at just 315 grams, or .7 pounds.
If I were only using Alienware’s headphones for listening to music or podcasts on my daily commute, I would be happy. The thing is, I wouldn’t take the Alienware Pro Wireless out of the house. As I mentioned, the cuffs don’t fold back. The pads aren’t removable. While the device feels sturdy with a normal push, pull, and prod stress test, I wouldn’t feel safe knowing they’re sitting at the bottom of a backpack without a case. It would need to be a big case, at that. Alienware said it kept this design to make them more sturdy. At the very least, the combination of aluminum and plastic feels durable.
Alienware’s over-ear headphones don’t include a telescoping or pullout mic. You plug the boom mic into the left-hand earcup’s 3.5mm socket. Yes, it’s nice to have a pure headset if you’re not playing with friends, but keeping track of a separate mic is a raw deal for somebody like me, whose desk is constantly swamped with gear. I once ended up with the headphones in my bag, but the mic was left in my office. Lucky for Alienware, my RPG night got canceled over the weekend, or I would be far more cross.
If you don’t expect to be talking on-mic much in your gaming, then keep it in a safe place where you won’t forget it. The problem is if you don’t want the mic in your field of view, you need to remove the headset and unplug it. A pair of Steelseries Arctis Nova 5 headphones feel far more fragile than Alienware’s headset, but at $130, they’re also far more transportable with a telescoping microphone. That’s the tradeoff.
You can choose Bluetooth, 2.4 GHz, and wired connectivity through USB-C. There’s an additional button for the ANC, which chimes in with an audio cue when you switch it. It was easy to connect via both the USB-C dongle and Bluetooth. Just know that the dongle will automatically install Alienware Command Center on your PC, whether you want it or not.
Alienware claims the headset has a 75-hour battery life with ANC off, though 35 hours with ANC on. Talking, you’re supposed to get 35 hours with ANC off and 25 hours with it on. I used the headset constantly and exclusively on my computer at home and at work for a week. I didn’t have to charge it once. If it does ever run low, Alienware says you should get eight hours of listening time from 15 minutes of fast charging.
As a last note, the Alienware Pro headset is compatible with PC, alongside PlayStation 4 and 5, and Nintendo Switch. Just remember you’ll need to look elsewhere for an Xbox headset.
Alienware Pro Wireless Headset Review: Sound Quality
The graphene-coating drivers and the 50 mm speakers (bigger than the 40 mm drivers on the A2930H) offered a listening experience that could get the most out of almost any game I played or video I thought to watch. The score of a game like Frostpunk 2 felt extra grandiose coming through these headphones. The opening prologue for Metaphor: Refantazio was made all the more epic than it was playing on a Steam Deck without the headphones.
The only point that disappointed me was the bass. It wasn’t as punchy as a game like Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 might ultimately demand. I was more happy with the highs and treble. That’s not to say you won’t get the eardrum-thrumming sound you want from bass-heavy music; it just won’t shake you to your core.
It does make it a little more difficult to tune to the right volume. The speakers on the Alienware Pro can get rather loud, but if I didn’t want the high-pitched characters in Metaphor drilling into my eardrum, I needed to sacrifice a little of the deeper tones of the game’s music.
None of that is a dealbreaker. If it sounds nitpicky, that’s because those were the only real critiques of the sound I could note. As for the microphone, it’s good, though nothing special. I sounded fine to my friends on Discord and coworkers on Google Meet, but of course, it’s not going to replace a podcast setup.
The active ANC on the mic didn’t cause any distortion when I recorded my own voice, either. The Alienware Command Center App doesn’t have many controls or audio presets other than configuring the level of Transparency Mode.
The ANC is exactly where you need it for tuning out the sounds of a busy office, a busy street (including a protracted honking match) outside both home and work windows, or when my brother is desperately trying to get my attention. With transparency mode on, I didn’t get much blockage from the cuffs, and I could hear only the smallest muffling of people speaking nearby. Relying on passive noise cancellation offered a solid middle ground that does better to cut out voices than other nearby sounds like footfalls of creaking floors. I didn’t feel the need to switch off from ANC during gaming.
Alienware Pro Wireless Headset Review: Verdict
The Alienware Pro Wireless Headset is a super solid pair of headphones you can get at this price point. It’s so comfortable it makes up for its build limitations and lack of customizable pads and mic. The sound quality is just about where you want it to be, and perhaps with small software updates it could be even more fine-tuned.
At the same time, it feels a little too mundane. Because of that design and the limited software, you won’t find much use for it outside the home. It’s very on-brand for Alienware to restrict users to its design, as the company knows what works. It’s the kind of headset I know I would jump for first when I’m home and ready to play a game on the couch by myself. Unfortunately for you, Alienware, and me, that’s a rarity nowadays.
