NACON RIG 600 Pro HX Headset

It seems that over the years, I've gathered enough headsets for Sony PlayStation that I have them coming out my ears. My wife jokes that I get a new headset in the mail once a week; they are draped and scattered in every room of our house. But while I do admit that my headset collection has become somewhat excessive, I didn't have a single headset that was made specifically for Xbox. Until, that is, the NACON RIG 600 Pro HX headset arrived via UPS a few weeks back. Retailing for $99.99, the RIG 600 Pro HX has a lot of features packed in for that price point, not the least of which is Dolby Atmos functionality. 

I wasn't sure what to expect from the 600 Pro HX. I've had a few wireless/Bluetooth dual connection headsets in the past, and I haven't been terribly impressed. I've found them to be overly engineered, with far too many buttons and switches for my taste. Perhaps I'm not the audience for this particular feature. I'm not the sort of person that listens to podcasts while gaming; nor do I like providing my own soundtracks for games. I never receive phone calls, and I certainly would not answer the phone while I'm playing a game. Basically, what I want is a headset that will easily flip between my Xbox console, my PC, and my phone with minimal hassle. And that is exactly what the 600 Pro HX provides. Over-engineered, it is not. Instead, I found the headset to be extremely intuitive and usable, with sound quality that is batting well outside of its price range.

The packaging for the 600 Pro HX doesn't reveal much about the headset's power. Basic cardboard packing materials contain the half-disassembled headset (there's a reason for that), a USB dongle, and a couple of quick-start/safety pamphlets. It turns out that's all you need. The very simple quick-start booklet gives you all the info you need to get started, with one easily overlooked but ultra-important piece of information almost hidden. The very last panel on the paper suggests that you might want to download the RIG 600 Pro mobile app to personalize your headset. This, in fact, is an absolute must, and is probably the first thing you should do after getting the headset synced to your phone.

It turns out that the 600 Pro HX sounds pretty good out of the box, but after fiddling around with the settings in the mobile app, it sounds flippin' incredible. A very basic equalizer contained in the app boosts the sound quality of the headset exponentially. Before messing with the app, I found the 600 Pro HX to be precise, but a little quiet, without enough "oomph" for my taste. 30 seconds with the mobile app changed all of that, and now I feel like the 600 Pro HX is one of the best-sounding headsets I own. I performed A/B tests between the 600 Pro HX and several extremely expensive high-end headsets I own, and I found that the 600 Pro HX sounded just as good, if not better in some cases. The precision I've found emanating from this headset has been absolutely stellar. 

I used the 600 Pro HX for the majority of my Starfield review, popping the USB dongle back and forth between my Series X and my PC. I was frankly stunned at the level of detail I was able to hear from this headset that was completely absent from both my soundbar and the wired headset I had been using. Footsteps behind me, doors opening and closing, strange creatures shuffling behind rocks, I could hear everything. The headset contains Dolby Atmos functionality when used with Xbox, and the sense of directional audio it delivers is absolutely mind-boggling. The Starfield Soundtrack, already very impressive, melted my brain when played through the 600 Pro HX. 

I also like to test headsets with music, as I tend to use them beyond gaming. In this case, I've been listening to tracks from Peter Gabriel's new I/O album. Anyone familiar with Peter Gabriel can attest to the attention to detail that exists in his tracks, and the 600 Pro HX reveals individual layers of sound that I've never heard before in these songs. The tiniest sounds hidden in the mix are discernable and distinct. I also, of course, subjected the 600 Pro HX to my patented Beastie Boys "Hello Brooklyn" test, to see how they handle the 808 barrage in that song. Quite well, it turns out, with the bass rattling my jaw with no distortion to the mids or highs. Impressive sound, indeed, from a $100 headset.

In fact, everything about the NACON RIG 600 RX is "impressive for a $100 headset". The headset is extremely lightweight, weighing in at only 240 grams. That's...um...just over half a pound. It's so lightweight that I can wear it on my head for an entire eight hour workday without the slightest sense of discomfort or fatigue. Both the ear cups and the headband are foam covered in a lightweight fabric that becomes neither itchy nor sweaty while tightly gripped to your face. Frankly, the lack of weight makes wearing the 600 Pro RX almost akin to wearing nothing at all. The comfort level here is ludicrous.

One of the things that shocked me a bit about this headset was the way that it arrived with the earcups hanging loose - meaning that they were dangling from wires, not attached to the headband. I kind of chuckled a bit at the three-hole solution offered here; each ear cup has a little knob that can be inserted to one of three holes on either side of the headband. This had to be some sort of cheap way out of utilizing an extending headband, right? Wrong. It turns out that after fiddling with it for maybe 30 seconds, I determined the correct fit for myself, snapped the doodads into place, and never looked back. 

The headband is also listed as "unbreakable". Didn't try it; I'll trust them.

Connectivity was a snap as well. The 2.4GHz USB-C dongle comes with a standard USB adaptor, so I just slapped that bad boy into the front of my Series X, turned on the headset, and it connected immediately. In around 50 hours of use so far, I've only had one instance where the headset spontaneously disconnected, and a quick unplug/replug resolved the issue. Similarly, my phone synced with the Bluetooth very quickly (there's a Bluetooth button you hold down for six seconds to connect). Toggling between the two connections is dead simple, with that same Bluetooth button toggling between game mode, Bluetooth, and dual functionality. 

Beyond that button, there's one other that toggles the volume button between game volume and chat volume. That same button handles most of your phone options, accepting and ending calls, and playing and pausing music (I did make a few calls out of a sense of duty. It was fine). And that's kinda it. Power button. An inset volume dial. A neat little pop-out microphone that mutes when you tuck it back away. It's all very simple and intuitive. I should also mention that I've only popped the 600 Pro HX on the charger once during the entire review period. No idea if it needed it, it just felt like a good idea one night. So yeah, battery life is pretty great.

My only real grievance with the RIG 600 Pro HX is the way the volume dial is handled. The dial spins endlessly, meaning that you can spin it right past the maximum volume. Doing so makes the headset emit a little beep, and the volume is reset to a lower level. Which means of course that I immediately start spinning it up to a higher volume again, and pass the maximum again. It's mad irritating. A simple solution would be to allow the user to spin it backwards a notch to go back to maximum volume, but no such luck. Spinning backwards gets more quiet no matter what. It's not as though I'm looking to deafen myself, but I would like a better way to manage things than having the headset automatically turning itself down for me. Of course, this was more of an issue before I downloaded the app and made some adjustments to the equalizer. Now I don't want to get anywhere near top volume, as I value my hearing. 

But that is a very, very small nitpick when one considers the performance, functionality, and comfort this headset delivers for a hundred bucks. The sound quality of the RIG 600 Pro HX rivals that of headsets triple the cost, as does the dual connectivity. There is a simplicity at play here that I deeply appreciate, and I gladly take the light weight over the "premium" materials that some headsets are constructed from. Yes, we're dealing with plastic and foam here, but damned if this isn't the best $100 headset I've ever used. My last $100 headset is now laying on the floor next to my gaming desk, looking all sad and dejected.

If you are in the market for a headset for your Xbox, and you are sick of dorking around with wires sticking out of the bottom of your controller, I would not hesitate to jam on the buy button for this one. Just don't forget to download that app. It's really the key to unlocking the excellence in this fantastic peripheral.