ROCCAT Khan Pro review: A lightweight gaming headset with excellent sound

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TA-ratings-95It’s definitely a great time to be a gamer with plenty of companies offering up peripheral options to enhance your gaming experience. Our ROCCAT Khan Pro review takes a look at a Hi-Res Audio gaming headset that works across different platforms including Windows, Mac, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and mobile devices.

Specifications

The ROCCAT Khan Pro Gaming Headset has the following features and specifications:

  • High-resolution sound: sound drivers that deliver richer highs mids lows
  • Ultra comfortable: memory foam earpads suitable for extended play
  • Real-voice mic: lets your teammates hear you clearly and naturally
  • Passive noise cancellation: works great even in the noisiest of environments
  • Multi-platform: works with PC, Mac, PS4,  Xbox One,  and mobile
  • Easy controls: earcup volume control + mic auto-mute
  • Feather-light: lightest amongst esports headsets at only 230g
  • 95° rotatable hinges: ensures a perfect fit for all head sizes
  • Robust design: stainless steel sliders and reliable build quality
  • Cable length: 2.45m
  • Jack plug: dual plug 3.5mm (3-pin)
  • Measured frequency response: 10 – 40000Hz
  • Impedance: 25Ω
  • Driver diameter: 50mm
  • THD% @ 1kHz: 1%
  • Microphone
    • Sensitivity at 1kHz: -40dB
    • Signal-to-noise ratio: 60dB
    • THD% @ 1kHz: 2%
  • Weight: 230 g

What’s in the box

  • ROCCAT Khan Pro Gaming Headset
  • Dual 3.5mm to single 3.5mm adapter
  • Information document
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What’s in the box…

Design

The ROCCAT Khan Pro Gaming Headset is on the lighter looking side of the design spectrum. Our review unit was their grey version and it is also available in black or white. As such, the main components of the gaming headset are and nice darker grey colour with black and silver accents. The headband is constructed of a solid feeling plastic with a soft, leatherette padded section underneath. Towards the edges where there is no padding, the underside extrudes inwards to form a thicker, more robust feeling headband. Across the top of the headband is the ROCCAT logo printed in silver.

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The top of the headband on the ROCCAT Khan Pro gaming headset.

The earcups are attached to the headband by way of stainless steel sliders. Slightly below that, roughly ¾” below, the inverted frame which holds the earcups rotates 95º which offers a very comfortable fit for practically any head shape. On the inner side of where the earcups rotate is an L or R to indicate which ear that earcup is meant for. The frame holds the earcups by way of a pair of grommets that allow the earcups to tilt in and out about 20º or so. Printed in silver on the right earcup is the ROCCAT cat logo while the left earcup has the ROCCAT wordmark and the word KHAN printed below that.

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Stainless steel sliders allow for easy adjustability.

Also located on the left earcup is the microphone arm which can be lowered into place or raised up alongside the headband when not in use. The microphone arm is fairly thin and not that wide and the end has an angled plastic design with a slit on the inside to where the actual microphone resides. Towards the back edge of the left earcup is a volume dial for quick and easy access to volume control. Finally, the 8′ — yes eight FOOT — braided cable runs out from the bottom of the same earcup.

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The left earcup with microphone.

The inside of each earcup consists of a padded earpad which is covered with the same leatherette material as the padded headband. Underneath the covering is a relatively thick layer of memory foam. Finally, a thin fabric layer covers the 50mm drivers.

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The leatherette covered memory foam earpads are super comfortable.

While the ROCCAT Khan Pro has a thicker looking design, they are still quite light and the added thickness definitely adds to the feeling of a durable headset. The lightness coupled with the leatherette covered memory foam headband and earpads definitely make for a comfortable, lightweight fit even after wearing for extended gaming sessions.

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While it doesn’t cover the entire headset, the memory foam on the underside covers enough for a comfortable fit.

The 3.5mm cable is split near the end into two 3-pole connectors, one for the microphone and one for the audio. ROCCAT also includes a dual to single 3.5mm jack connector for use with devices that have a single headset/microphone jack like mobile devices or game controllers. The end of the microphone and audio connectors are color-coded in the industry-standard pink and green to make it easier to match up and connect to the right port on your computer.

Sound Quality

As any gamer knows, the more channels you can get from your headset, the better your gameplay experience. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford a high-end 7.1 surround sound gaming headset. Fortunately, that’s where Hi-Res Audio comes in. While slowly gaining in popularity for audio headsets and earbuds, ROCCAT claims that the Khan Pro is the first Hi-Res Audio compatible gaming headset. Hi-Res Audio generally refers to a audio that “includes pulse-code modulation (PCM) encoded audio with sampling rates greater than 44,100 Hz and with bit-depths greater than 16, or their equivalents using other encoding techniques such as pulse-density modulation (PDM)” (according to Wikipedia). In addition, apps like Dolby Atmos and Windows Sonic can simulate 7.1 and higher surround sound on regular headsets.

On that note, the ROCCAT Khan Pro sound absolutely fantastic while listening to music, watching videos, or — as they’re intended for — playing video games. We tested the Khan Pro on a PC as well as the Xbox One X while connected through the 3.5mm port on the controller. In both cases, audio was crisp and very clear and you could definitely get a sense of spatial orientation, especially with Windows Sonic enabled. I was really blown away while playing the first few minutes of Far Cry 5 in a particular scene where there were numerous barking dogs on either side and behind you. It almost got to the point that I wanted to take the headphones off because the sound of menacing dogs all around me was a bit unsettling.

As far as sound balance goes, the Khan Pro are fairly balanced and in the case of our PC use toggling between the Dolby Atmos game and music setting definitely adjusted the sound output. With the game mode, voices and footsteps were more apparent while not sacrificing other sounds. While in music mode, various types of music all sounded equally great with just the right amount of bass to fill things out nicely.

The ROCCAT Khan Pro also feature passive noise cancellation and it’s a feature that is noticable as soon as the headphones are placed on your head, even without any audio coming through them. There’s an instantly noticeable dulling of outside sounds and once you start listening to music or playing a game, you’re really hard pressed to hear anything else.

Microphone/Voice Quality

While testing the ROCCAT Khan Pro out during a few rounds of Heroes of the Storm with its in-game chat functionality, there were no issues with other team members hearing me clearly. When asked, they did confirm that I was coming through nice and clear.

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When extended, the microphone is on. When flipped up, it’s off.

While there’s no mic toggle on the earcup or the cable, raising the microphone arm up mutes your microphone instantly.

Price/Value

With an MSRP of $99.99USD, the ROCCAT Khan Pro Gaming Headset offers pretty decent value considering it’s excellent Hi-Res Audio and lightweight design.

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The ROCCAT Khan Pro gaming headset offers great sound at an affordable price.

Wrap-up

Hi-Res Audio is relatively new with few headsets being certified for it. Even though these aren’t a 7.1 surround sound gaming headset, the Hi-Res Audio more than makes up for it. If you’re looking for a relatively affordable, lightweight gaming headset with excellent sound and microphone, the ROCCAT Khan Pro Gaming Headset should do the trick for you.

*We were sent a sample of the ROCCAT Khan Pro Gaming Headset for the purposes of this review.
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