Product Manufacturer: EPOS
Price: $259
Estimated Time With Gear: 30+ hours

What Is It?: Hybrid wired or wireless gaming headset for PC and consoles
Compatible With: PC, PS4/PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, Mac, iOS, Android, Oculus + more

In May of this year, I reviewed the EPOS H3 gaming headset. It was the first solo release from EPOS after separating themselves from being a part of the Sennheiser Gaming brand, and they provided excellent sound quality and comfort. EPOS has now followed that headset up with the H3 Hybrid, which adds some notable features, including Bluetooth.

I’ve been using the H3 Hybrid for a couple of weeks, and I can say straight out the gate that it’s just as good as the H3 headset and certainly better in select areas. Although if you just bought a headset, particularly if you jumped on the H3’s, you may not need to upgrade straight away. The Bluetooth functionality is the selling point here, and it’s where I’ve spent most of my time using the headset, but audio quality-wise, they sound just as good as the H3‘s. Technically the specs are slightly below that headset, but I certainly couldn’t notice any differences, and I doubt you could either. 

Design-wise, the H3 Hybrid looks more or less the same as the H3 headset, especially when comparing two white headsets. However, one key difference is the ability to detach the microphone from the H3 Hybrid, allowing you to take the headset into public without looking like a complete dork. The box includes a plastic magnetic piece that slots into the microphone slot to hide the communication arm perfectly. Disconnecting the microphone arm takes literal seconds, so there’s no reason to complain about the process.

Having just picked up the Nintendo Switch (OLED), I love the all-white look as these now sit as part of my on-the-go Switch loadout.

I’ve been using this headset primarily with the Nintendo Switch — which I’ll get to in a moment — and haven’t been bringing the microphone with me in my bag. But you could ask what I do if I wanted to answer a call on my phone while out-and-about without the mic arm? EPOS has been smart enough to include a backup microphone within the earcup itself. It’s nowhere near as good as the mic arm, but it’ll do the job. So if you need to take a call while out with the headset, or you want to play Pokemon Unite on a bus with your friends on Discord, you can do that without looking and sounding quite as silly as you would with the full mic arm. 

Nintendo recently unlocked the ability to use Bluetooth with the Nintendo Switch, and it timed up nicely with me reviewing this headset. EPOS claims that you’ll get 37 hours of audio via Bluetooth, and although I haven’t timed it, that claim seems to be true. It also only takes a couple of hours to get a full charge, proving a perfect companion for the Switch in my travels.

Nothing has changed with the H3 Hybrid on PC unless you want to take advantage of the Bluetooth features by connecting to your phone while playing games connected via USB or a 3.5mm jack. The latter’s benefit on consoles like the PS5 is that you can be connected to Discord and play something like Back 4 Blood, which has crossplay and be on a shared chat room with your friends.  

However, a quick word of warning is that you’ll need to charge the headset to use it on consoles connected via 3.5mm, and EPOS advertise you’ll get 19 hours of use this way. It’s not a deal-breaker considering it is a hefty chunk of time, and it does charge quickly, but it is worth mentioning nonetheless.