CM Storm Ceres 500 Review

[section_title title=”Conclusion”] Conclusion

The Ceres 500 is a really great headset. and for £50 a bargain. Compared to the other two headsets i’d reviewed recently versus the Ceres 500, the Ceres 500 doesn’t feel held back in the same way the other two did.

To start, volume control alone was one of the real stand out features of the Ceres 500 and something so basic really shouldn’t be so difficult to control properly, but in light of the KG-200 and Onda Pro, it seems to be harder to implement proper control than it isn’t. To add to this, whilst neither of the headsets I reviewed had a software package, forcing you to use a USB headset and not offer desktop software to customise seems odd to me. The Ceres 500 isn’t too bad here due to the neutral sound offered up, but the Onda Pro suffered badly in this regard and the KG-200 has so-so buttons for you to cycle though – this area could be better addressed on the whole by manufacturers it seems.

The lack of extra processing on the Ceres 500 also provided a better overall sound compared to the Onda Pro. There was no suspect video performance like there is with the Onda Pro and no need to switch through various EQ settings like there was with the KG-200. You just get a solid – untouched as much as possible – stereo stream and, really, that’s all you’d expect from any headset upwards of £100, let alone one half that. If Coolermaster made apparent cuts to the Ceres 500 package to hit its RRP and the lack of DSP and carry case were the victims it’s hard to argue against their exclusion.

The Ceres 500 itself was an admiral performer in its own right even without comparing to recently reviewed headsets. Really, without going looking for niggles or comparing specific tracks and effects to my dedicated soundcard/headphones setup, you’d be hard pressed to find fault with the Ceres 500. The audio solution matched up with the relatively simple hardware aesthetics means that the Ceres 500 not only sounds great, but feels great during usage. The around-ear design was really a God-send relative to headsets I’ve reviewed beforehand and only come second in comfort to the Sennheiser PC360 from around-ear headsets I’ve used.

To sound out, the Ceres 500 from Coolermaster has impressed me massively. I’m glad Coolermaster have managed to forgo a typical OEM cut and shut of a product as the Ceres 500 appears at first – a rebranded Corsair HS1 – and instead produced something that a great performer irrespective of market segment and only an even better one with the cost taken into consideration. For £50, I think you’d be hard pressed to find a better headset.

I would like to thank Coolermaster for this sample and hope to see more from them in the future.