Roccat’s PC peripheral output is pretty extensive but the budget side of their hardware has been a little under-represented, until now.
The Roccat Renga Boost is an update to their Renga high performance audio headset. It provides a lot more than the price would suggest, though it’s obvious from a first glance where there are savings.
This is a headset that relies on plastic, from the whole headpiece to the cushion covering, where other headsets would have used metal and leather instead. While it might be seen as a negative in other brands, here it still looks like a premium headset and doesn’t feel cheap. The benefit is that the headset is really lightweight, just over 250g, which makes a huge difference when using it for longer periods.  The headpiece is fully adjustable and was very easy to get to just the right fit. It’s a sliding system rather than a ratchet based one, so feels far easier to adjust.
There is a microphone on the left which is on a flexible wire but isn’t detachable, so the headset can’t really be used as a replacement for headphones without looking a little out of place, but at least the flexibility is good and you can pretty much adjust the mic to whichever position you prefer.
The ear pieces are a leather-like material that don’t feel all that dissimilar to leather and are pretty comfortable, even after 2 hours use. The design uses holes to allow the ear pieces to breath, which makes sense with this type of plastic covering, but does mean that these are not in any way shielded from outside noise, so it’s worth considering if you prefer to keep things quiet around you.
Connections come in the form of separate mic and earphone plugs to use on PC which can be turned into a single 3.5″ audio jack via the included accessory  This makes the headset laptop and console friendly.
Sound quality, though, is great, especially for the price. It may only be stereo rather than 5.1 or better, but it certainly sounds good in games. Trying this in Destiny 2 and Spider-man on PS4 and the explosion-friendly Just Cause 3 on PC you could hear gun fire and speech really clearly, but explosions and environmental noises such as earthquakes were slightly muted as the bass didn’t quite manage to do these justice.  The mic output isn’t the best I’ve tried but voice was clear during in-game voice chat.
For around £35 at the time of writing, this headset represents fantastic value for the quality provided in both the build and sound quality and is a great entry point to the Roccat range.
Roccat Renga Boost
Pros
- Good quality design
- Nice audio range for the price
- Laptop and console friendly
Cons
- Bass is a little lacking
