Sandberg Derecho 7.1 Channel USB Headset

Finally it's time for the first review here on my blog. It's the Danish brand Sandberg who gets to be the first.

Im going to look at their Derecho headset, which is the newest in their eSports series. Sandberg has begun to make many different products in specific series. Their eSports series is one of them, and then they have an Excellence series, which I hope to get to make some reviews from in the furture.

Who is Sandberg.it?

Sandberg.it is a Danish company, which was started in 1985. Sandberg is making products of good quality at low costs. As far as I know Sandberg, then they make good products. Sandberg is great at following the newest technology and trends. You are never going wrong, buying a Sandberg product, as all products comes with a danish userguide and danish support as well as 5 years of warrenty.

Specifications:

The headset is received in a neat transparent box, so you can see the actual product before you pack it out. There are also specifications on the box, so you can also read all the technical details.

• Cable: 2.2 metres nylon braided
• Stik: USB A Male
• Multi-color LED light
  Speakers:
• Size: 40 mm
• Frequency: 20 Hz – 20 kHz
• Impedance: 32 Ohm
  Microphone:
• Type: 6mm condenser microphone
• Direction: Omni-directional
• Frequency: 30 Hz - 20 kHz
• Impedance: 2.2 k Ohm
• Sensitivity: -46 dB ± 3dB
• OS: MacOS, Windows XP, Windows VISTA, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10
• Warrenty: 5 years
• Pricing: 499 DKK

Inside the box you will find the headset and a driver CD. So it's not alot of accessories, but you can say that there is not a lot needed.

The driver:

The driver is easy and straightforward. You actually have many options in it. To get into the various settings, right-click either the speaker or microphone. In here you have all possibilities.

A lot of environmental (echo) settings, surround options and distortion of voices is what you have to choose from. There is also a karaoke function that attempts to remove the vocals from the music, leaving only the music. I do not know whether you can use it for anything or not, as the music is somewhat distorted by it. But it's quite fun, no doubt.

The same applies to the microphone settings, here you have also the possibility to adjust a lot of things. A fun option at the microphone is voice distortion. It means that you can get to sound like a mouse or a monster. A rather fun feature if you have to make fun with friends.

The headset:

The small gold plated USB connector is located at the end of the 2.2 m long fabric cable. The cable has the perfect length, as you can reach far with it. The headset can be connected to the back of the computer even if the computer is on the floor, and the cable goes behind the desk. It is awesome.

The headset is quite pretty in black soft touch design, with Sandberg logo on both ear cups. Behind the mesh on the earcups light will glow up when you connect the headset. The light can be turned off if you do not want it on.
The ear cushions are artificial leather, and about 7 cm at the highest place, providing a lot of space for those with big ears.

The head band is the flexible type, so the headset adapts automatically when you put it on the head. You don't have to adjust each ear, it is the absolute easiest solution. The  head band has a Sandberg logo on the outside and is perforated on the inside to ventilate your head so you do not sweat as much.
The steelbars that holds the headset together is covered with black rubber. This means that they are not noisy, which is great.

The headset fits well on the head, and there are no bad sounds to sense from it. Many times you can get a little annoyed plastic creaking or metal that resounds in the headset itself. That is not the case with this headset.

The microphone is tilted out of the left ear-cup. The tilting function also works as a mute function. So when the microphone is tilted up, then it is muted, and when it is down, it is active. It's pretty nice as you therefore do not need a remote control on the wire or pressing a button. And then the microphone is also packed away when placing the headset on the table.
Behind the left ear-cup is the operating buttons. At the bottom is a switch that controls the light effect in the headset. Then there is a small volume button and a vibrator button. Yes, the headset has built-in vibrator in the earcups so that the bass performance is enhanced. You can really feel all the explosions when playing, or the bass when listening to music.

The judgment:

The light output of the headset actually looks very cool. When you turn on the light, it begins to run through all the colors smoothly. The light is well distributed throughout the mesh, and the transition between the colors are quite smooth. You can not customize the color of the light, only turn it on and off.

Now it's time to play some games. I've played some action games to feel the vibrations from the powerful explosions and hear if the headset could play the smallest detail.
I didn't get so much out of the virtual surround. I don't seem to be able to hear it, and unfortunatly it's nothing new. It works for some people, but not for me.
This headset is is extremely suitable for gaming. After some fine tuning, I could hear the smallest details, and furthermore get the deepest bass. It was a pleasure to play games with the headset.

As I have said earlier, this headset is good for games. And I actually also think that it is good for music. I've tested it by listening to a lot of different music, and it sounds really really well.
There is a good dynamic bass both with and without the vibrator, and the fine details of the music is also included. So you can hear everything from the thumping bass drum to the gentle hihat in the background.
You also have every opportunity to fine-tune the sound. There is the equalizer, where you can adjust all frequencies according to your needs, and there are many different preset settings. So also here Sandberg has chosen a good solution.

Finally, the microphone must of course also be tested. I tried to use it in the games I have played, and the users said they could hear me loud and clearly. But to make a real test, I made a call to Skype test. Here you speak a message, which then gets played to you afterwards..
The microphone records the voice without any problems and without any static noise. It did have a bit of reverb, but nothing critical. So here the headset also performs fine.

My oppinion:

My overall opinion about this headset, after some hours of use and testing is that it is a fine headset at the price. Sandberg Derecho plays with fine detail. It has an awesome light effect, and then it has the vibrator in the earcups to support the bass.
Sandberg Derecho fits well on your head, there is plenty room for the ears in the ear cups, and they don't squeeze in any way. Not even when you consider that I wear glasses and usually has miscomfort after long use of a headset. Well that is if they don't fit properly.

I certainly can recommend this headset, and at a suggested price of 499 DKK, you get much headset for the money. I have certainly heard headsets for more money, that sounded worse than this, and that's why this headset a score of 4 stars.

Link to Sandberg Derecho