Audio Quality and Comfort
Starting off with comfort, the Ceres 500’s mimic the 300’s all plastic design and manage to feel light without coming off as cheap or shoddy. The cloth ear pads are comfortable and seem quite durable and, in truth, the headset is perhaps more comfortable in the on-ear rather than the rotated off-ear configuration. The initial fit is a bit more snug than a usual PC headset and certainly something you have to get used to but it allows for more movement without having to worry about the headset falling off mid-session which is perhaps something more catered to the console side of things. The usual word of caution is given as the adjustable portion of the headset is plastic held in place by small screws but there is more of a bend in the headband to offset this typical stress point.
Bone Thugs ‘N Harmony – The Crossroads: The bass provided the Ceres 500 is on full display in this song but unfortunately drowns out most of the more subtle elements when present and lacks to overall quality found in more media oriented headsets.
Nat King Cole – Unforgettable: Without the bass present to drown more subtle elements of the sound present in this mellow piano track the 500’s perform quite admirably and in quite the same fashion as the previously reviewed 300s did.
Eric Clapton – Tears in Heaven: This mellow rock ensemble comes across quite well, again, with a lack of bass to prevent it from being drowned out. Some of the more subtle elements are lost unfortunately.
Ludwig van Beethoven – Fur Elise: The last song up is our classical masterpiece. The 500's handle the transitions and orchestral elements well enough for a headset in its price range. I must this song was probably the best overall performance for the headset as far as our test songs are concerned.
PC Game – Warframe: The futuristic beat-em-up from Digital Extremes relies heavily on the fast paced sound elements to keep you engaged during your time as a parkour death robot. The 500's perform well here letting the sound blend with the gameplay on screen.
PS3 Game – Metro Last Light: Putting the console to mode to task, we chose a game we already know relies heavily on atmosphere and sound. Having previously reviewed the PC version we already knew what the performance should be like and I will come out and say the console sound performance might be a bit better than the PC side. I am unsure if this is because of the 3.5 mm-RCA connection versus the PC’s standard USB connection but the difference, at least for a gaming perspective was there.
