Afterglow Prismatic Wireless Headset Review

A while back I bought Afterglow's AGU-1S Headset, a very good headset especially for the price. but my only grievances were the highly over sensitive microphone and the non/self adjusting headband which would ride up on my ears after long gaming sessions. The Prismatic is just what it looks like, a redesigned AGU but with a few more tricks up it's sleeve.

This is my third gaming headset after my Triton AX-180's mic croaked and my AGU kept displeasing my friends with it's overly sensitive mic. The Prismatic is Afterglow's newest top of the line headset, nailing it right at $100 USD, just $20 bucks more than the AGU and AX-180. It's a hit or miss with headsets under the $100 mark, some can be very good overall and some can just be complete crap. And I have to admit, I felt a little worried about the Prismatic, wondering if it was just the same headset with a new headband on it. Turned out, it was quite a bit more.

The packaging on the Prismatic was not as nice as the AGU, while it came in a two layer box, it sat in a plastic mold compared to the AGU being all snug in a sealed flip top box. Both sets have the same 50 mm speaker set and function the same with the only exception that the Prismatic has a color spectrum chip in it that allows the customization of colors which is pretty unique. The headband has changed from the non/self adjusting headband to a fully adjustable and padded headband. The build quality is also apparent with it being steel reinforced like on overpriced, piece of crap studio headphones compared to plastic like on most other major brands. Yet it is much more comfortable with it being tuneable to your needs.

The headset still lights up a room very much like it's predecessor but with the absence of the light band on the  top. The color changing works well with a wide selection of color and the option to shut it off altogether. The main reason you would buy this thing is because of the universal function. It works with ANYTHING(Except toasters) even your phone. And just out of my use with the AGU and the Prismatic, they sound better than Beats with their overpricedness and bass drowning audio, both sets sound the same though considering they still use the same speaker set, not to mention they sound excellent. Like the AGU, there are three modes, Normal, Bass Boost for a bit more thump, and Immersive to drown your ears in all of sound's glory. The mic on my Prismatic sadly did not improve at all over the AGU and is very sensitive and picks up background noise easily. I played my own voice back at myself and it sounded terrible.

Overall I really like this new set and it's a great improvement over the AGU. I'm a bit annoyed that PDP did not address the apparent problem with the microphone so honestly I would only buy this if you play solo for the most part otherwise you may have to dish out as much money for a console for a good wireless headset. Other than that the sound quality is great and it's far more comfortable to wear than the AGU. It's a nice headset and it looks cool but there's some flaws to it that PDP blatantly ignored.

UPDATE- I contacted PDP regarding this issue and apparently the way this mic works is that it shuts off if it's not picking up any noise(Hence the so called "Noise Cancelling") but the problem is that the mic itself is too sensitive and it picks up things like my overhead fan so either way, it does not work because one factor counters another. Its pretty clear all they did was add something into the headset's workings itself to shut off connection to the mic when not in use and not even bother fixing the problem the actual mic portion had, and PDP acted like it was totally normal when I asked them about it which is a total buzzkill considering how well other features of the headset work. Honestly I don't think I'm going to buy anymore of this stuff until the mic problem gets fixed because I'm sick of having to resort to a product which gets everything but the number one essential thing right just to escape paying retarded prices for big name brands.

UPDATE 2- The right speaker on the headset stopped working recently so I asked PDP what was up with it. They were nice enough to have me send it back and and they sent me a new one for no charge at all. I've only tested this headset on the PS3 and so fare the headset seems to be the right amount of sensitivity. This is probably due in part to that the PS3 has the ability to tune mic sensitivity unlike the 360. The point is, PDP has excellent customer service.