Lucidsound LS100X review – high-tier features at a mid-tier price

The LucidSound LS100X is a finances headset designed for PC and Xbox. What it lacks in frills, it makes up for in useful versatility.

Whereas LucidSound lacks the model recognition of Razer and Corsair, it’s nonetheless decided to compete for the gaming headset market, with an honest worth and sturdy characteristic set to its credit score. In my a number of months of utilizing the LS100X, I’ve examined its design, options, and efficiency for gaming and day-to-day use, and located a lot to advocate it.

Execs

• Glorious worth
• Sturdy characteristic set that rivals pricier headsets
• Seamlessly swap between modes and settings

Cons

• Picks up ambient noise simply
• Mediocre mic

LucidSound LS100X specs

LucidSound LS100X design

Appears to be like-wise, the LucidSound LS100X is fairly generic, following the headset blueprint of black plastic and clean contours. That’s not the worst crime, actually. In some methods, it’s preferable to the in-your-face aesthetics of some larger tier headsets, and its slender frugality means the LucidSound LS100X seems simply as at house in your head once you’re out and about on the gymnasium or on the town because it does throughout a gaming session with your pals.

Talking of slenderness, the headscarf is simply 2.86cm throughout. The LucidSound brand is emblazoned throughout the highest, and beneath sits a piece of leatherette cushioning. This cushioning, additionally showing on the ear cushions, sadly feels slightly extra plasticky than different leatherette supplies I’ve tried previously.

The headscarf top is adjustable, with seven increments on the arms to most comfortably suit your head measurement. The arms themselves lengthen all the way down to the earcups with a textured plastic recess, one of many few sparks of originality within the exterior design. The earcups themselves characteristic the identical textured plastic design with a LucidSound brand, and the center of the cups is each rotatable and pressable, performing varied capabilities in your day-to-day use of the headset.

If you put the headset on, the very first thing you’ll discover is how light-weight and unobtrusive it feels, which is an enormous plus. Nevertheless, the dearth of weight and rigidity of its elements can stop the headset from feeling molded to your head like others do. That rigidity does contribute to a way of durability, which is nice, however, alongside the shiny, black plastic the headset is product of and an irritating rattle within the earcups, contributes to a sense of cheapness.

LucidSound LS100X options

Happily, that cheapness doesn’t lengthen to another facet of the LucidSound LS100X, which boasts a characteristic set that stands shoulder-to-shoulder with excessive tier headsets, bells and whistles included.

My favourite facet of those cans is the extent of performance LucidSound has imbued the usually perfunctory buttons and dials on the headset itself with. In addition to your normal on/off button, quantity wheel, and connection-switching button, the earcups might be pressed or twisted to perform an unusually big selection of actions.

There are two modes of use: Bluetooth and ‘Gaming’ (ie 2.4GHz wi-fi), and the controls perform barely otherwise for every. This may occasionally sound complicated, and it’s, however once you get used to it, you unlock this headset’s best power: its versatility.

Take the left earcup as an illustration. For those who press it as soon as in Gaming Mode, it mutes all audio, whereas in Bluetooth mode — extra doubtless for use along with your cellphone when listening to music — it pauses or performs music, or solutions and ends calls.

And that’s only one enter. Holding the earcup in switches between Gaming and Bluetooth modes, whereas double-tapping offers you a voice immediate indicating the present battery stage. Twisting the earcup adjusts the amount, and it beeps at minimal and most ranges.

The one situation I discovered with these capabilities is that the Gaming Mode defaults to low audio, that means it’s important to manually flip it up till it beeps every time you flip it on or swap from Bluetooth. It’s a minor annoyance, however price mentioning.

Equally, the best earcup can modify the amount stability of sport audio and voice chat when twisted, which sometimes proves very helpful. The middle button might be tapped to mute the mic, which is simpler to entry than different mic-muting buttons I’ve used.

Due to this, the LucidSound LS100X makes swapping between Bluetooth and a couple of.4GHz wi-fi modes completely seamless with not one of the awkwardness another headsets engender. Each modes work like a appeal, and the added performance of the earcup buttons makes it simple to get essentially the most out of both mode. I discovered myself having to fiddle with settings on my PC or cellphone lower than ever with this headset, and that may solely be factor. If I’m being finicky, it’s a disgrace the LucidSound LS100X doesn’t permit for a wired connection, however I’m unsure I’d have used it a lot regardless.

Talking of not fidgeting with settings, we’d usually discuss software program on this part of the overview. However LucidSound doesn’t have a devoted platform to customise the LS100X, so we are able to’t. Whereas this might be seen as a disadvantage, I personally appreciated the truth that all performance was accessible by way of the headset itself.

LucidSound LS100X efficiency

Properly, its seems and neat options are all nicely and good, however how does the LucidSound LS100X sound? The reply is: fairly good. Whereas the 50mm drivers lack the excellence and readability of top-of-the-range cans just like the Corsair HS80 Max Wi-fi, they’re greater than competent sufficient for day-to-day gaming.

The directional sound is nice, which is helpful for normal immersion, and tactical FPS the place figuring out the route of audio cues is vital to success. Nevertheless, decrease frequencies come throughout fairly murkily and the bass response is proscribed. In brief, it is a headset higher suited to the exact gunplay of Valorant than the sweeping rating of Baldur’s Gate 3.

The mic is a distinct story, sadly. Though it’s not horrible, it fared poorly within the side-by-side testing I carried out in opposition to a equally priced headset, the HyperX Cloud 3. You come by way of wonderful in Discord or Zoom, however not in addition to different mics on this worth bracket. The mic is removable through a 3.5mm jack, which is nice, however issues come up when the mic isn’t hooked up.

The LucidSound LS100X additionally has an in-built mic, which is unsurprisingly weak, however that’s not the problem. It suffers from horrible ambient noise once you’re outdoors or have a fan or heater on. When the removable mic is faraway from the jack, the headset switches to the in-built mic, and also you’ll get a whole lot of suggestions until your surroundings is completely nonetheless. Now, that’s not an issue once you’re gaming at house with no followers close by, but it surely’s a large downside in any other case, particularly outdoors.

Though the mic is a uncommon letdown for the LucidSound LS100X, its battery is an actual spotlight. It could possibly run for as much as 130 hours in Bluetooth Mode or a creditable 70 hours in Gaming Mode. This implies you’ll be able to go weeks with out charging it, relying in your utilization. If you would like a headset that runs and runs, look no additional. Evaluating it to the Roccat Syn Max Air’s 16 hours, on a headset that prices greater than double, it seems even higher.

Total, the LucidSound LS100X performs excellently for a spread of functions. Finally, you’ll be able to’t have every little thing at this worth, so a number of drawbacks are to be anticipated. However the positives nicely outweigh the negatives.

LucidSound LS100X worth

The LucidSound LS100X worth is $99.99. For this worth, you greater than get your cash’s price. The competitors at this worth bracket is stiff, with increasingly sub-$100 headsets arriving with swathes of nice options and stable construct high quality. However the LucidSound LS100X is nicely definitely worth the $80-100 you’ll doubtless pay for it.

If the LucidSound LS100X isn’t for you

The HyperX Cloud 3 is about ten bucks greater than the LucidSound LS100X, however fulfills the same area of interest. The HyperX Cloud 3’s mic and sound efficiency is barely higher, on the expense of the LucidSound LS100X’s versatility and wi-fi performance.

For those who’re trying to preserve slightly extra of your hard-earned money, the Asus TUF Gaming H3 is a superb finances selection. It might be wired solely, however nowadays you’ll be able to snag an actual cut price on this cozy headset, and also you’ll be impressed by its efficiency.

Is the LucidSound LS100X price it?

Though it’s not fairly as polished sound-wise as some costlier cans, and the mic leaves one thing to be desired, this headset stands tall amongst its finances and mid-range brethren. Actually, its sturdy characteristic set can go toe to toe with headsets double its worth.

However it’s not excellent, as only a few headsets at this worth are. The growth mic isn’t nice, and the in-built one is worse, however its many strengths make up for this. These cans could look generic, however will go well with those that worth no-frills efficiency. And the battery life is up there with the easiest.

You can purchase the LucidSound LS100X if:

• You’ve received a strict finances of $100
• You need a headset you gained’t must cost usually
• You care extra about efficiency than aesthetics
• You want headsets with performance that doesn’t require fiddling round with an app

You shouldn’t purchase the LucidSound LS100X if:

• Mic high quality is your essential concern
• You need a headset to face out from the gang