[ Review ] Logitech Gaming Headset G633 Artemis

Oct 11

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Presenting Logitech’s newest flagship gaming headphone: the G633 Artemis Spectrum. With its assortment of RGB LEDs, Tron-inspired styling, and a bevy of buttons, can the G633s make a place for itself in the exceedingly crowded $150 range? Let’s see how the Logis stack up.

Design

Aside from the Cortana-blue looks and faux-chrome embellishments, the Logitech design team really knocked it out of the park with the G633s. There was clearly a lot of smart thinking that went into these cans, from the double input ports to the slick peak-a-boo mic. The USB cable is removable, so any micro USB cable, be it braided or otherwise, will work. The included cable is plenty long but, alas, is a generic black plastic affair rather than the braided variety found on competing headphones and Logitech’s own G35s.

The 3.5mm headphone jack is a nice touch, giving you the ability to hook them up to your phone or other devices. If you choose USB, the volume control adjusts the overall system volume and not the internal headphone volume.

Finally, the headphones twist flat for portability, though other adjustments are missing. Aside from the basic strap adjustments, the ear cups can’t be twisted to fit your head like more expensive headphones from big players.

If you’re looking upstream, Logitech’s G933 headphones give you the option of 3.5mm jack or 2.4GHz wireless with 12 hours of charge. Cutting the cords bump the cost of the G933s up an extra $50 to $199.

Build Quality

Even though the metal bits look like they’re forged from the fires of a dying star, the fancy pieces are all matte or chromed plastic. It’s a convincing look, but once you hold the headset, you realize how light and plastic they really are. At $149 some cut corners are to be expected. Then again, other headphones in the same bracket feel just a little more put together. Even Logitech’s own G35s, despite being an older and cheaper model, are heavier and a notch above the G633s in terms of build quality, materials and execution.

Comfort

Here we get to the subjective of subjective — I didn’t like the way they fit. Or, more precisely, my lumpy head with its Neanderthal occipital bun wasn’t having the Logis. Others really like the fit of this particular headset, so go figure. I find the flat band or double band style to be a better choice for my long-term gaming, but you may love the thinner band with thicker padding design. Logitech’s G35s had a band twice as thick with replacable leatherette pads, compared to the G633s narrow fabric pad.

Also, I found the ear cups to get a little rough against my head. The material is cloth mesh, not velour, microfiber, leather, pleather, tanned goat hide or whathaveyou. It’s okay for $149, but it’s clear the G633’s designers spent their budgets in other places, like fancy buttons, not in the absolute highest-quality space-age ear cozies.

That said, Logitech’s older G35s had leatherette to nestle your ears. It’s surprising to see the more expensive G633s step back to a less impressive fabric mesh construction.

Finally, the angle of the trapezoidal cups had me making constant adjustments. Again, it could just be my head, but it could also be a function of the futuristic styling.

Sound

I’m an audiophile so, yeah, I’m one of those jerks. My home computer audio rig clocks in around $4k so…$150 headsets aren’t really my first choice in listening devices.

But we’re not comparing $150 cans to $4k worth of pro audio gear, are we? If I did, I’m sure the Logitech crew would come down here and twist my bird-like wrists until I apologized.

The real question is how the G633s stack up to the competition. Again, it’s a story of tradeoffs. If you like the features, then the Logitech sound quality will be plenty fine for you. Because of the ear cup design and mesh material, the bass wasn’t profoundly deep or isolated from the outside world. It was entirely acceptable for gaming headsets in the price range.

I did like the overall tone and voicing of the headset and found it in line with solid engineering, though, again, it’s not trying to be a music headphone. It’s trying to game, game, game.

Speaking of gaming, the speakers boast 7.1 virtual surround which, if you haven’t heard it, isn’t true 7.1. You kinda hear stuff behind you, kinda feel immersed in a game world, but I never had the experience of hearing a zombie about to get all up in my business.

For overall sound quality, the Logitechs aren’t giant killers, and competing music or mastering headphones will sound much better. And rival gaming rigs that run $200-$300 will offer another couple hundred dollars’ worth of sound quality in the form of deeper deeps, higher highs, and all that good audiophile jazz.

Features

So now we’re to the part of the review where Logitech runs the field — features aka buttons aka LEDs everywhere! Yeah, you got that illuminated alien landing strip that runs along the side and the “G” logo with full RGB LEDs that do the typical assortment of pulsing, flashing or whatever you like.

And the G933s link up with Logitech’s arsenal of RGB peripherals, so if you want only pulsing mauve for your cans, keys, and mouse, Logitech has you covered. I did find I had to restart every time I plugged the headphones in to get Logitech’s software to recognize the headphones, but that’s something that will likely be ironed out with further software updates.

The mic is slick. I love the hidy-hole mic style. If you didn’t know this was a gaming headset, you’d be hard pressed to find the mic (but, let’s be real, there’s enough alien plating on this thing to tell anyone you’re a gamer).

First, the mic flips down out of its house. Then the bendy nub end shoots out and twists in whatever direction you like, presumably towards your hate-maker. I couldn’t decide if the extendable mic reminded me of a xenomorph or something tentacled out of a Japanese school girl’s nightmare.

Finally, buttons! Yeah, the custom “G” Buttons along the back of the headset above the volume control. While the volume was useful when my hands were away from the keyboard, I couldn’t figure out a reason why I’d want to be constantly reaching behind my left ear to do anything. Order burrito drone macro? That’d be useful, but I already have that bound to my keyboard.

Maybe there’s some clever use for the three macro keys, I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Although I do worry this ushers in a new age of buttons everywhere. It happened to mice. Are headsets next? Logitech has three buttons, Razer comes out with five, Corsair a dozen, and the button wars are on. But where will it end? Buttons on your face? The future is grim.

Another oddity was the removable side covers. Logitech has clearly marked them for user removal but I’m not crystal about their intended purpose, since whipping them off doesn’t really offer any sort of style or practical benefit. The only thing I could think of was replacing the “G” with your own logo or 3D printing your own covers with team emblems or whatnot. Maybe they’ll be releasing game-specific covers in the future, who knows.

Overall

The Logitech Artemis Spectrum G633s are a mixed bag. Despite the marketing hype, the G633s seem to take a step back from the G35s in terms of build quality, materials, and comfort. They up the game with a hidden mic, copious RGB LEDs, and overall style, but I don’t feel that’s enough to absolutely crush the competition…or even the company’s own older headsets.

http://www.gamecrate.com/reviews/review-logitech-g633-artemis-spectrum-gaming-headset/11725

Posted on October 11, 2015, in Headset Gaming, Logitech and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink. Leave a comment.

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