RIG Spectre R8 Pro HS review

The RIG Spectre R8 Pro HS is the latest in the company’s ever-expanding lineup of gaming headsets. With 31 different headsets currently available on its site, it might not be immediately obvious where the R8 Spectre R8 Pro HS fits into the whole lineup. However, regardless of all its sibling rivalry, this is a decent wireless headset with good sound quality, a convenient charging dock, PS5 or Xbox compatibility, Bluetooth, and a competitive price.

This all combines to make it a strong contender for our best gaming headset guide, particularly if you’re looking for a single headset to use with your console and PC. However, it won’t work with both PS5 and Xbox – you have to choose one or the other – and doesn’t have fancy input switching tech, so you have to physically swap the dongle between your PC and console. Read on below to find out if it’s the right choice for you.

Specs

Features

As discussed above, the core features of the RIG Spectre R8 Pro HS are that it’s a 2.4GHz wireless headset that also includes Bluetooth 5.2, and it can be connected via its USB-C port. It’s compatible with PC but also comes in two versions, each of which is compatible with either the PS5 or Xbox Series S/X.

This compatibility comes from the USB-C dongle that includes a sliding switch on its side, so you set it to PC for plugging into your PC, or PS5/Xbox for plugging into your console. In this sense, it’s not anywhere near as convenient as an option such as the Astro A50 X, which can maintain a connection to all your devices at once and can switch between them at the touch of a button on the headset. However, it does at least give you that dual-system compatibility, plus its Bluetooth connection can be used on its own or simultaneously with the wireless connection, so you can take a call while still gaming, for instance.

What is also convenient with this headset is charging it. It comes with a charging dock that you can plug into your PC. The headset then drops into this and charges via a set of gold contacts. The dock also includes RGB lighting, with a dedicated button for switching the lights on or off. You can’t connect the headset to your PC via the dock, but instead need to plug the wireless dongle into the socket in the dock.

As to the headset itself, it’s a fairly simple design in some ways. It has a non-removable boom mic with flip-up-to-mute functionality and has just three buttons, for power, input (Bluetooth, wireless, or both), and profile switching, plus there’s a volume wheel. That’s a simple and tidy selection, but it means you miss out on the ability to remove the boom mic and use internal mics instead, so it’s not a great travel headset option.

It also doesn’t have hot-swappable batteries in the sense that you get two in the box and a charger for them, like with the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless. However, the battery can be removed without tools to replace it if it ever degrades.

What are swappable are the earcup pads. These magnetically attach, making it easy to swap them out for a fresh, clean/undamaged set if ever needed. Also magnetically attached are the outer covers of the earcups. These Mod-Plates can then be swapped for alternatives made by RIG, or you can just go to town painting and customizing these plates, safe in the knowledge that you don’t need to mask off the entire rest of the headset, and that you can just buy another pair if your efforts look awful.

Internally, the headset features 40mm graphene-coated drivers, which differ from the company’s pure graphene drivers used in the R5 Max HD. Graphene is coveted for its lightness and stiffness, which is ideal for speaker drivers, but there’s a big difference between pure graphene and a graphene coating. Nonetheless, the company still claims an impressively wide 20-40,000Hz frequency range with sub 0.5% total harmonic distortion.

Underneath the left earcup’s swappable cover is a 1,180mAh rechargeable battery that RIG says is good for 60+ hours of gaming. That’s not absolutely class-leading, with the likes of the Razer BlackShark Pro V3 Pro pushing to 70 hours, but it’s still right at the upper end. Only a year or two ago, flagship headsets lasted half as long.

Design, comfort, and build quality

Available in black, black, or more black, the only visible difference between the PS5 and Xbox versions of this headset is the color of the RGB lighting on its dock and the logo on the swappable Mod-Plates earcup covers. Otherwise, this is a plain black option that largely looks reasonably smart and unobtrusive.

Build quality is also decent, with the very weighty and substantial charging dock securely holding the headset, and the headset itself feels rock solid. The magnetic parts also stay secure, with no rattle, while remaining easy to remove when needed.

The headband is a basic design, with no secondary elasticated bands or clever geometry to its adjustment. It’s just a curved plastic piece with padding on the underside and stiff telescoping arms for adjustment.

This simplicity means comfort is middling. It clamps very firmly to the sides of your head, making the headset feel reassuringly secure. This also reduces pressure on the top of your head, as the earcup pads take the weight instead of the headband. However, even though the padding is deep enough that the drivers don’t squash into your ears, you fairly immediately feel that pressure around your ears, especially if you wear glasses.

What’s strange, though, is that, when wearing it for longer periods, the sense of pressure doesn’t necessarily build to being any more uncomfortable. Some headsets can feel great initially, but then the pressure builds over time, suddenly making you feel a more acute pain in one spot or another. Here, though, the sense of pressure is there immediately, but then it doesn’t seem to get worse.

One oddity I found was having all the controls and the mic on the right earcup. I’m just so used to boom mics being on the left earcup and controls on the right. It’s a very minor point, though.

Otherwise, the controls feel intuitive and easy to reach and tell apart by feel alone, though I did find I had a tendency to hit one or the other of the top two buttons when removing or donning the headset.

Sound quality

The RIG Spectre R8 Pro HS has an immediately impactful and impressive sound. It packs a serious bass punch, but without any of the muddiness you get from some cheaper headsets that try to overemphasize bass, such as is somewhat the case with the Logitech G325. It doesn’t quite compete with the RIG R5 Max HD for truly sub-bass power, but it’s still no featherweight.

Not only that, but there really is a decent amount of detail resolved by this headset. Again, compared to a top-end headset like the R5 Max HD, it’s not bringing newfound levels of detail to songs, movies, and games that I’ve heard many times before, but there’s a clarity right throughout the sonic range. It also works well for a wide range of musical genres, with enough mid-range warmth to make rock, country, and vocals sound, well, warming.

The “full-bandwidth” mic doesn’t quite live up to that description, but is clear and much fuller-sounding than many cheaper mics. There’s no electronic/AI noise cancelling going on, though. It isolates your voice just through pure directional isolation, so boom position will matter.

The headset also supports Dolby Atmos 3D Audio, with an included lifetime subscription via the headset’s app.

Battery life

As per RIG’s claims, the Spectre R8 Pro HS lasts a long time, making it possible to get a week of daily use out of this headset without topping it up. But the fact that it has its charging station so readily available means you quickly get in the habit of docking it and having it fully charged each time you use it.

How this regular full charging affects long-term battery life is not something I can test, but there is a chance it degrades the battery quicker than other headsets, where you mostly drain the battery and only charge it once a week. However, that’s where the easy replacement of the battery comes to the rescue.

Price

The RIG Spectre R8 Pro HS price is $179.99, making it a premium headset, but one that competes strongly with rival offerings. It’s comfortably cheaper than the Razer BlackShark V3 Pro while including its charging dock and console compatibility, even if it does lack the internal mics and ANC of that option.

Similarly, while the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless brings hotswappable batteries, a desktop control, and ANC, it’s $100 more. if you don’t need the travel-oriented features like ANC and removable boom mics, and you don’t need the many-console connectivity of the Astro A50 lineup, the R8 Pro HS is a great option.

Verdict

In some ways, the Spectre R8 Pro HS is a bit of an odd headset, when compared to modern trends for gaming headsets. It isn’t trying to be the everything headset for all occasions or a hyper-focused competitive gaming option. However, for its specific niche, it’s a great option.

What is that niche? Well, if you have a console – just one – and want a single headset for it and your PC, but you don’t mind having to manually plug in the wireless dongle to each when you come to use it, the R8 Pro HS delivers. If you want wireless and Bluetooth convenience, but only really need it for at-home use, with no desire for your gaming headset to also be a travel headset, it delivers.

If you want a headset that stays on your head securely and offers decent long-term comfort, but that isn’t necessarily the most soft, cushioned, effortlessly comfortable option when you first don it, it delivers. Oh, and it does sound very good, too.

This combination at this price makes this headset good value, and definitely worth considering. At the very least, its charging dock ensures you have somewhere neat and tidy to store your headset.