Nacon RIG R5 Spear Max HD GBAtemp review
Hardware
Product Information:
- Official Store: https://www.nacongaming.com/en-GB/accessories/rig
Nacon RIG headsets represent lightweight, modular designed piece of equipment that focus on high-performance audio and user comfort. The RIG R5 Spear Max HD is the latest and greatest when it comes to Nacon's offerings, with a March 15th release date on Amazon, I got to give a pair a spin a week ahead of the embargo!
The RIG R5 Spear MAX HD comes boxed with a modular microphone, replaceable and customisable Mod-Plates AKA outer cups, and an audio-to-digital (DAC) converter in the box, for those who have streaming set ups or those without 3.5 mm sockets. Incidentally I discovered that I could can also use the DAC to plug any this or any headset into my iPhone 17 Pro Max, or indeed any USB-C enabled phone without a 3.5 mm socket too, such as the Poco F8 Pro, for example.
Nacon have stated that separate Snap+Lock Mod-Plates will be available on the RIG site for around $19.99 per set, so you can pick and choose how your headset will look, as well as how it functions. I'm immediately a big fan of the magnetic approach, as the ease of use and speed of modifying this device is exceptional.
Technical Specifications:
Headphones:
- Driver: 40mm GrapheneQ
- Freq Response: 20 Hz - 40 kHz
- Sensitivity: 119.0 dB +3 dB @ 1kHz
- Impedance: 32 Ohms
- Harmonic Distortion: <0.3% THD
- Connector: 3.5 mm TRRS and USB-C
- Features: swappable snap+lock "Mod-Plates" & ear cushions
Microphone:
- Polar Pattern Uni-directional
- Freq Response: 50 Hz - 15 kHz
- Sensitivity: -44 dBV, 0 dB=1V/Pa @ 1 kHz
- Impedance: 2.2k Ohms
- Diaphragm: 6mm
- Cable Length: 1.5m
- Features: Snap+lock microphone/studio cable
USB-C DAC:
- Audio Resolution: 32-bit / 384 kHz
- Mic Input Resolution: 24-bit / 192 kHz
- Freq Response: 20 Hz - 40 kHz
- Passthrough: Up to 18W
Sleek and Expertly Crafted
The headphones themselves are built to last. Extendable metal arms are encased in memory foam across the entirety of the headband making for one of the most light weight and comfortable headsets I've worn for prolonged periods of time. The fold flat cups are also made from memory foam and enclose your ears entirely, so much so that quite a decent level of noise cancellation is provided by default. The noise cancellation was an unexpected bonus, and definitely increases the inherent value of these as headphones.
There are no buttons, toggles, sliders or anything on the headset, giving it a clean crisp aesthetic with an utterly uncluttered appeal. The only time you have a toggle is if you attach the gaming cable; there is a volume slider and flip to mute with the mic itself. The microphone is fully posable, unidirectional, and easy to stow away when not in use.
You also have an optional 6.35 mm adapter included to allow you to use these on decks and mixers, as well as laptops and PCs, if you so wish, and the 1.5m cable included is plenty long enough for use in gaming controllers or hooked directly into an amp or mixer, for example.
Easy to Alter, Simple to Customise
The RIG R5 SPEAR MAX HD is a magnet, literally. Every aspect of it's design, barring its connectivity, features rock-solid magnet-snapping tech. The outer earcups, the microphone module and even the ear cushions themselves are swappable by simply pulling them apart at their magnets. This means that out the box, you can have either a microphone or a studio cable, Mod Plates on or off, and in future, you can change or replace the cushions at will, without nearly to destroy the headset in doing so.
I am a big fan of this modular approach, it makes it so easy for anyone of any ability or technical expertise to alter and change at their will. The magnets are exceptionally strong, and at no time did I even consider that they might lose attraction or accidentally come apart. they're absolutely brilliant.
Nacon supplied me with an additional set of Mod-Plates to really show the versatility and ease of use. I have to say that while it's pretty cool to have options, and I love the idea of personalisation and customisation; who is readily going to spend an additional $20 on these plates when they do nothing other than look different. Without the plates on they headset looks great anyway, so worst case for me, I would leave them off, exposing the rather nice turquoise technical graphic on each cup.
Studio Quality Brilliance, Not Gaming Essential
Having received the headset and plugged them into the controller ready to play some Arc Raiders on my PS5 Pro, I was almost immediately informed by my online cohorts that the microphone "sounded funny". This was not what I expected to hear within the first 3 minutes of use, and when I asked as to what exactly they meant by "funny", they clarified that the quality was considerably lower than that of my previous headset, the Sony Pulse 3D and it sounded a little muffled and tinny in comparison.
I swapped between the two a couple of time for comparison and the overall consensus was that the Pulse 3D voice quality sounded superior to my team. Not a great start for the RIGs career as the newest addition to my gaming set up. I would have to rethink this for use on my PS5 sessions at very least.
Additionally, with my presets that worked great for the Pulse 3D, the R5 sounded extremely different.I swapped profiles on the console to Dolby Atmos, the industry standard for sound, and ran both headsets as a apples to apples comparison; to my ears, the Pulse headset sounded slightly duller but had more warmth about its audio mix, and people voices for in-game chat sounded nicely balanced, Whereas the RIG sounded sharper, with less warmth and more tinny sounding voices in chat.
Spatially, the two performed relatively similarly, with no notable advantage over each other in confirming directional sounds during intense battles. I would say that gameplay sound depth was definitely a tad more cinematic on the RIG, but I can't have my team complaining about the voice quality in a socially-driven game that requires vocalising strategies and play constantly.
(The AAA SNAP+LOCK Mod-Plates will be sold separately at $19.99)
Having tested these with a variety of face-melting genres, I can definitively say that music quality through these is warm, rich and enveloping. I absolutely love these for listening and creating music on because the bass response is absolutely spot on with zero distortion, and a wide enough gamut of sound that they all punctuate each other without muddying or overlapping, at all.
Basses boom down low, with a spacial depth that needs to be heard to be believed. Vocals stand out and high notes effervesce at the very top of their bands in such a way that I was deeply impressed with the audio separation and overall quality. Perhaps this is the GrapheneQ driver in effect, but they sound fantastic overall for music playback.
Why though, does this not translate to my PS5 gaming? The Sony Pulse 3D is not the best available, it's not even that competitive with the RIG R5 on paper, due to its 20 Hz - 20 kHz vs the RIGs 20 Hz- 40 kHz, and the Pulse's 106 dB sensitivity, VS the RIG's 119 dB, though they both share the same impedance and driver size.
My only thoughts on this are that you need to dial in Atmos on the PS5, which I tried, and honestly, while the sound effects and general gameplay sounds sublime, the in-game chat quality sounded somewhat less clear. I cannot put my finger on it, and I tested with the Pulse 3D wired and via USB dongle, I tested Tempest Audio vs Dolby Atmos, and in my opinion, for a perfectly suitable gameplay/chat mix, the Pulse 3D won the day, regardless of the mode it was in.
Conversely, using my Pulse 3D on my laptop to listen to music, it was plainly second-rate to the RIG R5. So my verdict is, that the RIG R5 Max HD is unequivocally banging for music and studio production, and listening to music, the microphone and profile settings don't quite cut it when used for gaming, namely on the PlayStation 5 for cooperative gaming at very least.
On consoles and game that didn't require voice chat, the sound quality is brilliant. On Switch 2 Hyrule Warriors Age of Imprisonment and Donkey Kong Bananza sounded fantastic, and equally on PS4 and PS5, games like Gran Turismo 7, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, Sniper Elite: Resistance, and Astro Bot all sounded great and I couldn't really argue with the quality.
Ultimately, for $149.99 you cannot go wrong with these if you want to use them for single player gaming, music listening, or even music production, but if you rely on crystal clear microphone quality for your games you might find this an ever so slight but noticeable downgrade.
Verdict
- Easily customisable modular design
- 32-bit/384kHz DAC included
- Dolby Atmos 3D compatible
- Exceptional comfort
- Incidental noise cancelling
- Excellent music reproduction
- Microphone quality isn't top-notch
- No physical audio controls
- Stiff in-line volume slider
