Nacon RIG PRO 800 HD Wireless Headset – Review

In this review, I’m going to look at the RIG PRO 800 HD wireless headset by Nacon. While I’ve always been a skeptic when it comes to headsets and audio quality, I jumped at the chance to spend some time with HD-quality audio, wire-free. 

Big Rigs

First off I’ll put a list of all the specs for you audiophiles out there straight from the Nacon product page. 

Frequency response: 20 Hz–20 kHz

Impedance: 32 ohms

Max SPL: 111 dBSPL/V

Surround Sound: Dolby Atmos for Headphones

Sounds good. Feels better

Right now all the technical jargon is out of the way. It’s now my time to shine and talk about the headset and gauge if it’s worth the asking price which clocks in at around £199.99.

My first physical impressions of the headset are very positive. From removing it from the sturdy packaging you can tell just from the feel that it’s a strong product. This is not something put out on the cheap. 

The microphone wire is covered in flexible hard plastic making it less prone to damage and fraying from use. It can be flipped up to mute or down to activate and for some reason has a glossy finish unlike the other parts of the headset.

The headset is fully adjustable. It’s cushioned enough that it feels snug without it clamping down on your skull. It’s easily the comfiest pair of headphones I’ve worn in my years of gaming.

Multipurpose Dock

The headset also comes with a dock. Unlike most docks, this is multipurpose. It’s not only a charger but also a wireless booster! This increases both the strength of the connection and reduces audio lag.

The dock is just slightly longer than the headset and is connected to consoles/computers via a micro USB cable. It’s extremely portable but has a gloss finish on the top which is prone to small scratches, especially when you’re docking the headset to charge. The connection for this is magnetized, so as long as it’s inserted the right way, the headset just glides in.

The Game Test

So it feels physically great, but how’s the quality and functionality of the product? I used several different titles to try and see if there were any weak spots.

I used this headset with Resident Evil 8: Village, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Hunt Showdown, and Marauders to see how it handled the more intense aural spectrum of gaming.

The audio quality which is powered by Dolby Atmos provides you with some of the cleanest audio I have heard. The ambient sound while creeping around in Resident Evil was only trumped by the creaking and radio bleeps while sitting behind the gun on an aircraft in Call Of Duty. I replayed that very section without the headset and I wasn’t half as immersed without the small audio details that can get washed out with television speakers.

Hunt Showdown and Marauders are known for situational audio. You can tell someone’s direction from sound alone, and these games really put the RIG PRO 800 HD to the test.

I’m more than happy to say that they took that challenge personally and my performance improved quite a bit. Not only was I totally immersed, but I could now hear with near-perfect clarity which direction footsteps were coming from, and where the bullets flying over my head were shot from.

Get up, Set Up

The setup of the RIG PRO 800 HD was a mostly painless experience once I’d allowed the initial 7 hours of charging. This rewarded the user with 24 hours of audio goodness.

It takes around 5 seconds of holding the on-button which sits on the earpiece to turn on. This sits alongside the master volume slider and a microphone monitoring slider in case you want to check your microphone quality and just how loud you’re screaming when Flag B has been taken again!

The quality of the microphone was clear as day with no reported breaks on any of the multiplayer games I’d played. I also did a couple of test records on Audacity, with no issues. It isn’t likely to replace anyone’s designated microphone for content creation, but it would be a great choice to fall back on if your hardware fails.

The woman who lives in the earpiece will tell you when the Headset is on, if it’s connected or not, and how well-charged it is. It’s a brilliant feature that helps you keep track.

While this is primarily a PC headset, I tried it on the PlayStation 5 too. Initially, I felt the volume was a little too low for my liking while scrolling the dashboard there, but when the action kicked off it felt like it was loud enough for me to take everything in, yet not completely burst my ear drums for the benefit.

Jack of all trades, Master of some

The RIG 800 HD PRO does promote on the box that it is compatible with PlayStation 4/5 as well as PC and Mac. I found that while it works well on the PlayStation 5, using it on the PC allowed me further the experience due to the use of the Dolby Atmos app which allows you to fully customize your audio settings depending on what you’re using the headset for, horror or action, game or film.

Interestingly, the PlayStation-specific version (800 PRO HS) does not have this feature, while the PC (800 PRO HD) and XBox (800 PRO HX) ones do. That said, I still felt that the quality was high enough on the 800 PRO HD with just its basic setup that it trumped any other headset I’ve used thus far on consoles.

The wireless connection comes from a Wireless USB dongle which can be plugged into your console or the dock which turns it into a signal booster as previously mentioned. 

I found without the signal booster I could only go as far as the other side of the house before it would start to break up whereas with the signal boosting dock in play I could wander around upstairs and still be connected flawlessly.

This may be an issue for some as the dongle alone doesn’t provide too much distance without cutting out, and some may find the Dock system a little cumbersome. The pay-off is clearer audio and no lag compared to the issues Bluetooth can present.

Verdict

All in all, the RIG PRO 800 HD is a high-end headset that feels and performs like one. While the price tag may be a little tough to stomach in these cost-crunching times, I can wholeheartedly say that it’s worth every penny and then some.

The crystal-clear quality and wireless functionality really have opened a whole world of game immersion for me. I couldn’t be happier with the headset — well maybe if it improved my kill/death ratio on Call of Duty!

RIG PRO 800 HD IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

If you would like to see more hardware and accessories, you may be interested in our review of the EPOS H3PRO Hybrid. Or if you’re looking for a headset to fit in a lower budget, the EPOS H3 Hybrid or Gioteck TX70 Wireless Headset may interest you.

Many thanks go to Nacon for a review unit.