Roccat Syn Pro Air review

Our Verdict

The Roccat Syn Pro Air wireless gaming headset offers good sound and a quality mic, but it'south frustrating to utilise, and far too expensive for what it does.

For

Good sound quality
Clear, consistent mic
Compatible with consoles and mobile

Against

Imprecise fit
Irritating notifications
Software doesn't piece of work

Tom'due south Guide Verdict

The Roccat Syn Pro Air wireless gaming headset offers practiced sound and a quality mic, but it'southward frustrating to use, and far too expensive for what it does.

Pros

+
Skillful sound quality
+
Clear, consistent mic
+
Uniform with consoles and mobile

Cons

-
Imprecise fit
-
Irritating notifications
-
Software doesn't work

Roccat Syn Pro Air: Specs

Compatibility: PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, mobile
Drivers: 50 mm
Frequency Response: 20 Hz - 20 kHz
Wireless: Yep

The Roccat Syn Pro Air demonstrates that at the stop of the day, good sound quality is still the most important factor in a gaming headset. At the same time, fifty-fifty a headset that sounds cracking — which the Syn Pro Air does — is a tough recommendation when the fit, features and software functionality all autumn brusk of the mark.

At that place's no denying that the Roccat Syn Pro Air sounds keen for games, music and multimedia alike, or that it has a neat microphone, or that its USB-C functionality lets it connect easily to a PS5, handheld Switch or mobile phone without difficulty.

However, my overall experience with the Roccat Syn Pro Air was not always pleasant. The buggy software doesn't permit you customize much, which means you'll be stuck with loud, frequent, irritating notification tones. It'south tough to get a practiced fit, and even when you practice, the Syn Pro Air squeezes pretty tightly. Information technology doesn't plow off by itself, or stay connected to Windows consistently, or allow you lot utilise the volume dial on consoles. At $150, it's an expensive headset, and yet it offers much less than competing models that cost the aforementioned.

The main problem with the Syn Pro Air is that a lot of information technology only feels halfhearted, which is surprising, since Roccat has made some very decent gaming headsets in the past. Read our full Roccat Syn Pro Air review to acquire if you should take a run a risk on this inconsistent peripheral.

Roccat Syn Pro Air review: Design

The Roccat Syn Pro Air, when information technology'south turned off, is a relatively unassuming gaming headset. It has a black plastic chassis with big fabric earcups and a removable mic. When y'all turn the headset on, it has some gorgeous RGB honeycomb designs on the earcups – but you'll never see them while y'all're playing, so they may not make much of a deviation in practice.

On the right earcup, there's a ability push button, a USB-C charging port and a dial that adjusts mic sidetone. On the left earcup, in that location'southward a volume punch. That'south all. You can't connect the Syn Pro Air to 3.5 mm sound jacks, and yous tin't reprogram the dials to control other sound qualities, such as game/conversation mix. The controls seem a little sparse, but they become the job washed.

I thing that works about the Syn Pro Air is that it comes with both a USB-A wireless dongle and a USB-C adapter. This means that it fits hands into whatever laptop, desktop, PS4 or PS5. It likewise works with the Nintendo Switch in both handheld and docked modes, which is a rarity amidst wireless gaming headsets.

Roccat Syn Pro Air review: Condolement

The Roccat Syn Pro Air has a tight fit. After wearing it for simply a few minutes, I was prepare to take it off. Adjusting the peripheral doesn't do much to convalesce this issue. This is partially because your adjustment window is very limited, and partially because the adjustment procedure itself is difficult. Instead of a steel or rubberband band, the Syn Pro Air relies on rods on the headband that movement upwardly and downwardly. They don't stay in place well, and they're not numbered, so finding your place if you put them dorsum to their default setting is a tedious procedure.

The earcups themselves are costly and don't press downward likewise hard, at least. I wore the Syn Pro Air for the better part of a week at piece of work, and I never experienced any pain, fifty-fifty when wearing them on top of my glasses. But over time, I did observe myself wearing them less and less, content to go without music rather than having to deal with the pressure.

Roccat Syn Pro Air review: Performance

There's ane area where the Roccat Syn Pro Air really delivers, and that's in its audio quality. I ran the gadget through Age of Empires Three: Definitive Edition, Doom Eternal, Baldur's Gate Iii and Last Fantasy Fourteen, and was impressed with the audio across the board. The headset is equally skillful at rendering gunshots, dialogue and music. I felt fully immersed, whether I was listening to New Earth villagers acknowledge my commands to build more houses, or gunning downward demons on a post-apocalyptic Earth.

Movies, TV and music sounded similarly good. Whether I was listening to Onetime Crow Medicine Show or Bach, the Syn Pro Air provided rich, nuanced sound that balanced bass and treble, as well as voices and instruments. The over-the-acme dialogue in an episode of Dragon Ball Z came through crisp and clear, as did the more subtle performances in a clip from O Brother, Where Art Yard?

The Syn Pro Air also functions with consoles and mobile devices, which I put to the examination with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on Switch, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Autonomously on PS5 and Tales of Crestoria on Android. The sound sounded robust across the lath — although the Syn Pro Air'due south volume dial did non function with either the Switch or the PS5. This meant that I had to root through a series of tedious menus each time I wanted to adjust console volume. Near other wireless headsets don't make you jump through this hoop, and I'm non certain why the Syn Pro Air does.

Roccat Syn Pro Air review: Features

While I have no complaints about the Roccat Syn Pro Air'due south sound quality or versatility, the Roccat Neon software leaves a lot to be desired. Unlike other Roccat gadgets, which run on the passable Roccat Swarm software, the Syn Pro Air uses a plan called Neon, which is even so in beta. It's a shame that there'due south no way to run the Syn Pro Air through Swarm, because in that location'due south still a lot that Neon can't practice.

First and foremost, Neon is very confusing to install. After I downloaded it, information technology told me that I had to download an update for the Syn Pro Air, shortly before insisting that the headset was already up to date. Later on restarting the program, it told me that I had to download yet another update, at which indicate it froze upward. After I restarted the program, I never heard some other word about updating either the software or the firmware, leaving me pretty confused about the whole procedure.

The bigger issue, however, is that Neon simply doesn't practise that much. While you can plow 3D audio on and off and adjust some equalization settings, you tin't set upwards private profiles for games and other apps. You can't adapt the incredibly loud, obnoxious notification tones, which play multiple times whenever you lot start up and shut down the device. You tin can't adjust the mic sidetone, which is at the mercy of the physical dial. You can't even fix a timer to turn the device off after a catamenia of inactivity, which means the Syn Pro Air will stay on until you turn it off, or until it runs out of batteries. (Roccat claims the device can last up to 24 hours on a unmarried charge, although I got much less than that with the lights turned on.)

Leaving the Syn Pro Air on leads to its own set of problems, however. Later a while, the Neon software simply stops recognizing the headset. That means y'all can no longer adjust book, use the microphone or change whatsoever of the software settings. Even after yous restart the headset, the Neon software will claim that in that location are no devices connected. You'll merely have to turn the Syn Pro Air off manually every time you step abroad from your PC for a few minutes, which tin can be a pain.

I spoke with a representative from Roccat, who told me that the company is aware of these problems, and working to address them.

The Syn Pro Air's microphone is adept, at to the lowest degree. When speaking with my coworkers over video chat, they claimed the quality was "splendid," optimizing my vox and minimizing groundwork noise.

Roccat Syn Pro Air review: Verdict

The Roccat Syn Pro Air sounds very skillful, and that's of paramount importance for a gaming headset. However, it'southward also hard to wear, difficult to employ and hard to justify, considering that you tin get some truly excellent headsets for $150. The SteelSeries Arctis 7P/7X, for case, is compatible with many more systems, and has excellent software. The $120 Astro A20 Gaming Headset V2 besides has excellent wireless functionality, and no cumbersome software to drag downwardly the experience.

Since many of the Syn Pro Air'due south issues stem from the Neon Software, it's possible that the headset will improve over time. I hope it does, since the audio quality speaks for itself. If non, though, we'll have to wait for the side by side Roccat headset, and a stable software release.

Marshall Honorof is a senior editor for Tom'due south Guide, overseeing the site's coverage of gaming hardware and software. He comes from a science writing background, having studied paleomammalogy, biological anthropology, and the history of science and technology. Afterward hours, you can find him practicing taekwondo or doing deep dives on classic sci-fi.