A high-quality headset that doesn’t break the bank, we give you a review of the Surefire Harrier 360 gaming headphones, along with the Surefire Vinson N2 headphone stand.
STANDOUT SPECS
Audio
- Frequency Response: 20 Hz – 20kHz
- Sensitivity: 102 ± 3dB
- Impedance: 24 Ohms ± 15% at 1 kHz
- Headset Drivers: 50mm
Microphone
- Microphone Type: Removable, Bendable, Omnidirectional
- Impedance: ≤2.2 Kohms
- Frequency Response: 100-10k Hz
- Sensitivity: 42 ± 3dB
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Before opening the box, I knew the headphones were at a relatively inexpensive price around £30-50, so I was surprised by the extensive premium look to the headphones. The Surefire Harrier’s themselves are completely black, other than a nice red stitching along the edge of the headband that pops on the black backdrop.
The Harrier uses predominantly plastics and synthetic leather for materials, with a metal feeling material in a mesh style on the outside of the earcups. This whole makeup of the headset is slightly disappointing given the premium look, however for the price point of £30-50, I think it’s satisfactory.
The headset was accompanied by a less common USB headphone cable equipped with a chunky control dial and a detachable microphone that easily slots into place.
DESIGN AND FIT
As I mentioned previously, the headphones are draped in black, which is always a safe bet for making headphones look sleek, but also practical as marks and blemishes are harder to notice on black headphones.
They are only available in this black colourway, which personally is fine as I am a big fan of less loud colours, however, if bright and bold colours are your preference, then this may be a problem for you.
The dark black is contrasted with the very cool and now common rainbow gradient RGB LED’s on the outer of the earmuffs. They are bright and bold, being very noticeable once they are turned on. They also have 3 different modes for the pattern of the headset – fixed colour, colour circle and off.
As for fit and comfortability, these headphones are quite sturdy, with rigid earmuffs meaning they aren’t the most flexible. The cushion on the actual earmuffs is pretty balanced, with the synthetic leather padding not being too firm nor too soft, giving a good level of comfortability.
They do have a slight studio headphone feel to them when they are on your ears, as they engulf your ear fully, making it really feel like you are locked into the audio of whatever you are playing. Also, the rigidity is actually quite nice, as you don’t have to worry about any annoying headphone movement that will throw you off your game.
AUDIO QUALITY
My instant thoughts on the sound quality of these headphones were that they were strong in conveying a wide range of sound levels, with strong bass fuelled 360-degree noises and giving a cinematic-like experience. It does lack noise cancelling which is a big downside, however, it’s cool features like the 360 surround sound feature make up for this.
For example, in FPS games or battle royales, you could hear when someone was approaching from the right or left, or if bullets were being shot from a specific direction, you could distinguish where they were exactly coming from in relation to your character’s position.
The most impressive aspect of the audio was the range of sound. The Surefire Harrier performs very well in both the treble and bass, not struggling in any area for audio.
Don’t get me wrong, the audio doesn’t exactly blow me away, with definitely better-sounding headphones out there, such as the Razer Kraken range, which is still my top headset despite its expense. However, when you filter in the price point of around £50, the Surefire Harrier really is worth it when it comes to the sound quality.
VOICE CHAT AND COMPATIBILITY
Voice chat is quite hard to judge, as it depends on whoever you are playing with and whether their headphones are better or worse than yours, however, when in a group voice chat on both PlayStation and PC, the general response I got was that I sounded very clear and was easy to hear.
The microphone being detachable wasn’t an issue, although you do need to make sure it is pushed all the way in to avoid any dodgy noises that your friends will no doubt give you stick for.
The Surefire Harrier’s are compatible with PS4, PS5 and PC, which is okay as they are the two most popular platforms for gaming. The use of USB for the connectivity did slightly catch me by surprise, with most headphones using 3.5mm headphone jacks instead of USB, however, it didn’t really change my experience.
Conclusion
To conclude, the Surefire Harrier 360 is a very solid pair of headphones and when you filter in the price of £30-50, it’s very hard to not see the Harrier as a great budget option for a pair of gaming headphones.
The lack of noise cancelling is a downside, however again for the price, the sound quality is very good and I would say that if you don’t have the money to get something like a Razer Kraken, then the Surefire Harrier 360 is the way to go for a budget pair of headphones.
Product Rating:
Design: 3.5 out of 5.0 stars
Audio Quality: 4.5 out of 5.0 stars
Video Chat & Compatibility: 4.5 out of 5.0 stars
Value for Money: 4.5 out of 5.0 stars
Overall Rating: 4.2 out of 5.0 stars – 4.25 Stars
Surefire Vinson N2 Headset Stand
The perfect partner in crime to the Surefire Harrier headphones, the Surefire Vinson N2 headset stand is able to hold up to two headsets simultaneously, which is handy for example if you have a pair of everyday headphones, you can rest them on here next to your gaming ones.
This stand also has some fancy added extras, such as an adjustable arm to hold your headsets or headset, and a straight-line RGB strip integrated down the middle of the base support stalk. On the base, there is a designated smartphone holder space, keeping your phone safe and sound whilst you game.
The N2 is also equipped with two USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports and then a USB-C for charging up any of the devices you have that require USB-C. It is able to either clip onto a surface or be free-standing, giving you options for how you set up. All this tech is backed up by a generally good-looking headphone stand.
The black and red colour scheme is clean and sleek, and when combined with the RGB lights, the Vinson N2 really becomes a very good-looking headphone stand that has a bit more flavour to it compared to some of the other headphone stands out there.
Conclusion
Overall, this is one of the better headset stands I’ve seen available on the market right now. For around £30, I think the Surefire Vinson N2 is worth the money and then some. With a clean but practical design that’ll look good on almost any desktop and its extensive range of handy features, I would definitely recommend this, especially with Christmas coming up.
Product Rating:
Overall Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0
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