[section_title title=”Performance”]Performance
There are three main areas to address when it comes to a headset, they are: Comfort, Audio Quality, and Microphone performance. I’m going to start off with what I consider the most important, and that is comfort.
Comfort
When it comes to design the headset is of the conventional headband design rather than the suspended elastic style that is gaining ground very quickly. When it comes to padding the Nash 20 sports generously thick memory foam ear cup and headband padding which is all wrapped in what has got to be one of the nicest pleather style materials I’ve ever come across. Also, although the ear cups appear fixed at first glance they are in fact on a socket type mount which allows them to swivel and pivot in various directions to fit your head perfectly.
What all that translates to is that the Nash 20 has to be the most comfortable headset I’ve used to date, the large pleather cups completely cover the ears and the very thick padding is not just superbly comfortable, it is also soft enough to be forgiving to those wearing glasses. The range of swivel in the cups seems just right to get a good fit on the head which helps spread the clamp load evenly which means that the Nash 20 sits very comfortably on the head and does not give you any significant punishment for extended wear.
I honestly cannot level a single meaningful criticism at the comfort of the headset, it really is one of if not the most comfortable headsets I’ve worn; when it comes to ergonomics the Nash 20 easily deserves its price tag.
Audio Quality
The drivers in the Nash 20 are proprietary 50mm ones developed by Mionix and claim to be optimised for perfect acoustics. All my testing was done using an ASUS Xonar DX sound card with UniXonar drivers, I feel this is a fairly good match although due to the low 32 ohm impedance of the headset you could use it on pretty much any source and be able to drive it to a decent volume.
Indeed, speaking first of volume the Nash 20 certainly didn’t leave me wanting any more. When you crank it up all the way you are getting a wall of sound projected into your skull and thanks to the great seal on the ear cups you get the benefits of some bass punch.
That’s not to say the bassline is dominant though, quite the opposite, the sound of the headset is tremendously well balanced. From crystal clear highs to crisp mids and all the way through to a satisfying bass punch the Nash 20 provides a superb sound scape where every detail of a piece of music can be picked out. For me the most profound example of this was in listening to the Shockwave bootleg of Zedd and Hayley Williams’ hit Stay the night, the effortless reproduction of highs from the female vocals, mid tones from the synths and the low end pounding of a hardstyle kick really exemplify the ability of these headphones.
When it comes down to it the Nash 20 provides the best sound I have ever heard from a ‘gaming’ headset, the sound lives up to the price point every inch, just like the design and the comfort.
Microphone
Considering it is a gaming headset, the quality of the microphone is very important as most gamers want a high quality chatting experience. Design wise the mic is great as it has the flip to mute functionality which is a much more convenient way to do it as opposed to fumbling with an in line remote.
When it comes to actual voice quality, the mic on the Nash 20 is nice and clear with all the people I spoke to having no problem understanding what I was saying. One complaint I do have though is that the mic lacks ‘depth’, that is the sound is treble dominant which although effective for communication is not the best listening experience for your friends, though I received less complaints when mine realised the noise cancellation of the mic tuned out the MX blues of my keyboard so there’s a certain give and take.
Overall the mic on the headset does the job well enough, but personally I think it is the one aspect of the performance that doesn’t quite live up to the price tag.
So, the performance matches the looks and the price tag; lets head over to the next page for a conclusion.
