I was recently offered a RIG 900 MAX HX (yes, all caps) headphone to try out, and so I did. It is a somewhat high-end headset for use with an Xbox or PC. It comes with a boom mic, USB or Bluetooth connections, and a spiffy charging dock. I found the headset extremely comfortable, easy to use, and sounded great but it was a bit frustrating to use switching between sources. On comfort alone, it beats out all the other headsets I’ve had over the past few years.

When the headset is first removed from the package, one will instantly see that the earpieces are not connected to the main headband! This is because the earpieces can connect to the headset in three different locations, depending on one’s head shape. I’ve a medium to smallish head so the middle setting seemed to fit fine. 

Once the earpieces popped in, I put the thing on my head and was simply amazed at how nice it felt on my head. I blame most of this on the special expanding soft cloth band that sits on your head rather than having the sturdier plastic band touching your head. While the ear fit was comfortable, even my BOSE headphones I wear when traveling were not as comfortable sitting on top of my head. The earpieces were fine, neither uncomfortable nor extra comfortable.

The next thing to do was to connect the headset up to stuff to try it out. The headset can connect in two ways. It has a little USB adaptor that can plug into a PC or Playstation, or whatever and connect directly to the headset. It’s advertised that this is a particularly “fast” connection for those gamers who are playing high-stakes speed required games. I don’t play those much so it wasn’t a big deal to me. Instead, I almost exclusively used the headset’s native Bluetooth connectivity. It took a small bit of fiddling to get it synced up with my computer but then it ran fine. I then tried the headset out on a few other things, just to check on its audio quality.

This is where I ran into the most trouble. It was very hard to get the headset to connect to more than one thing. My favorite listening headphones connect to multiple things (via Bluetooth) easily, but this 900 MAX HX does not. Most of the time I had to “forget” the headset in one bit of electronics (like the computer or my phone), then power back up the headset and re-pair it to the new item (like my tablet.) It would have been nice for this to work better than it does. However, as a gaming headset, the majority of folks will be almost always be using it on their PC (or Xbox) so switching to new sources isn’t going to be a big deal.

The headset has a physical volume knob that works great. I’m not a fan of the “rub your finger here” style of volume changes – I never know if I’m “rubbing” the right spot or not. I’ll take a sturdy feeling wheel over any aesthetics any day. The mic also has the cool ability of turning itself off when you flip it back – another nice “physical” way to control what you’re doing rather than hitting some random button or touch-spot. Speaking of physical, one can recharge the headset with a cable, but the charging dock is quite handy. I love how the charging dock also doubles as storage for the USB connector. When it is not being used, it slots right into the top of the dock.

There’s a handy app for the headset you can put on your phone. It gives options to play with some basic (some advanced) settings but I think the primary use of the app would be to set up custom equalizers for one’s listening preferences (you can save up to three custom listening modes.) Battery life is supposed to be up to 50+ hours. I can’t confirm that but I’ve certainly not seen the battery lose much power.

One final, fancy selling point is the inclusion of Dolby Atmos as an option for Xbox and Windows 10/11. This is a special feature that does an analysis of your head and shoulders, using this to try to create a more “custom” sound experience. This supposedly makes it so you can better “hear” in more directions. It was a fun feature, and I certainly can hear things in different directions, but I’m not sure I’m getting the most out of the option. I think it would be of more benefit to the 3D action gamer. 

Verdict:

As you can tell, I’m enamored with the soft fit. It is so easy to start to binge on a videogame and one of the first things I notice when playing for a long (too long?) time is my headset getting uncomfortable. The 900 MAX HX does not have that problem. The functions (volume, mic, etc…) are all easy to access and seem to work just fine.

As I mentioned, I wish it was easier to hop between different sources. That will be less of an issue for someone who is using it almost exclusively with one source (PC or console.) It could be that I may become more proficient with it as time goes on. The app has some nice features for audiophiles but I am toying with removing it from my phone as I just don’t feel the need to play with my equalizer settings.

Now the one feature I would really have loved to see in this headset is some LED lights. Yes, that’s pretty much not the point. However, I’ve spent extra money in a few places to make my PC nice and glow-y. My first “good” headset was a Starcraft 2 brand one and I could even customize the LED colors on it. Yes, it isn’t the point of the headset but I just love glowy colors and I miss the glowy colors that I can get on some of my other headsets.

Is the 900 MAX HX for you? Well, if you have a good headset already, I’m not sure whether you need to replace it with this. However, if you’re looking for something with a better, more comfortable fit, check these out. And if you’re in that small minority where speed is everything, this headset should be fast enough for whatever game you’re playing.

Kid Factor:

It’s a headset. I think the smallest settings will make it useable by a young teen but probably unwieldy for a small kid. As always, caution should be a byword when setting sound levels so as to protect one’s hearing. Young kids (and adults really) can pretty easily turn the volume up higher than is safe for extended use.

Tags: Game Reviews, Misc