We love Edifier here at FULLSYNC. Their commitment to quality audio products with unique design makes them a very appealing alternative to mainstream brands, and that’s certainly helped by the premium feel that usually comes with their kit. I’ve covered a huge amount of Edifier speaker sets in my time, but never before have I checked out one of their headsets.

Build Quality and Design

The G2 II is robust and lightweight, sporting two slow-pulsing LEDs on each cup. The uniform look of the band is not entirely dissimilar to high-end music headsets, well-padded and with none of that ‘creaky’ feeling they usually have. Usually, solid-banded headsets don’t sit well on my head at all, but this one is flexible enough to accomodate those of us with wider skulls. The mic is easily detachable, clipping into place securely with a single turn, and there’s inline volume controll/mute functionality included along the cable.

It’s well made, and I’m sure it’ll hold together over time, but this is probably the area where I had the most minor complaints – I reviewed the white model, which would look fine if the finish on the plastic matched. The band is a lovely matte, whereas the cups are glossy, which is undoubtedly going to make them a magnet for scratches and damage over time. The G2 II would have looked fantastic even in white with a uniform finish. From the looks of it, the black model has the same mismatch, but this is really a very minor complaint.

The headset is light and comfortable for long gaming sessions, the cushions dense enough to stay on your head without pinching. My main headset is a Steelseries Arctis, which is probably my favourite headset I’ve ever used, and even that seems to press my glasses into the sides of my head after hours of play.

Performance

The G2 II holds its own against pricier competition. The bass isn’t quite as prominent, but the clarity of the audio is undeniably impressive for its price, and the same goes for the microphone. It sounds basically as clear as my usual Arctis 5, which is twice the price! This easily makes it good enough for usage in streaming, casual audio recording, voice calls and intense gaming.

The software is easily the headset’s weakest point. You can change a few sliders which don’t seem to impact much at all – the headset already sounds fine out of the box – and the in-line mute/volume control will basically handle anything else. As weirdly gimmicky as it is to include a bunch of audio filter effects, it just feels like extra fluff in a program that already looks quite outdated. For most players, this software could just not exist, and it’d have the same amount of impact on your experience.

Value for money

The G2 II is currently available on Amazon for £59.99. This puts it in a price bracket that unfortunately shows off a horde of suggested cheaper alternatives from mass-manufacturers, packing enough RGB to induce seizures, and Edifier products should definitely not be lumped in with that lot. It’s £30 cheaper than its big brother – the G4 TE – which is a tidy saving, and puts it in a very tempting price range.

Around the same price, you can buy decent offerings from HyperX and Turtle Beach, but in my opinion the G2 II is nearly unbeatable on the price vs performance matrix.

Edifier G2 II overall thoughts

This is a great headset for the money. There’s a few design missteps that stop it from looking quite as sleek as I’ve come to expect from Edifier, but nothing that detracts from its surprisingly excellent performance at a relatively low price. The bass isn’t as deep as some of its rivals, but the audio clarity is absolutely fantastic on both ends. I’d go so far as to say my voice came through every bit as clear as it does with the far pricier Arctis 5 I usually use, with one friend even saying it sounded better.

It is slightly disappointing that the extent of the RGB control is just “off or on”, as the logo looks particularly cool shining through the metal mesh plates, and it’d be nice to match them up to my rig’s red theme. But when you sweep all these minor gripes out of the way, you’re left with something that works very well without breaking the bank, and that makes the G2 II my easiest recommendation of the year.

The G2 II is available on Amazon here. Check out more of our Edifier news and reviews here!