SteelSeries has expanded its collection of audio products with this second version of the 5H, the 5HV2, a new update of the original 5H that suffered a wide range of criticism.  Let's see if the improvements will bear fruit.

Did they co-operative with IKEA?

Why are we asking this question?  (I'll admit that it's pretty stupid)  Because you can take it apart and put it back together again entirely: as well as the extension cable and the USB adaptor, the two headphones come of the central support.  In fact, only two sections whose length you can adjust remain attached to the headphones.  In theory it's a nice idea, especially given that the USB 3H is very compact when folded up.  But instead we're left wondering why SteelSeries still insists on not supplying any kind of case with its headphones?  It just leaves the door open to losing one of the components, on your way to and from a LAN party for instance. 

Another problem we found was how hard it was to yank the microphone out of its headphone.  SteelSeries had the brilliant idea of fitting an automatic winding system that pulls it into the headphone, rather than a boom that can be moved, as is more usual.  It is a good idea, because the boom on the earlier version was too short, but why not just make it longer?

One criticism that has been addressed is the size of the headphones.  The 5HV2 is very comfortable to wear, although it's less pleasant than a G35 or a Carcharias.

Where is the bass?

For a gaming headset, the 5HV2 has some rather unusual characteristics.  The distinguishing feature of such products is that they tend to over do the lower end of the spectrum.  Here, that isn't really the case, and it's almost the opposite in fact: the bass seem to have been forgotten about, but low-end medium sounds take centre-stage and it sounds pretty awful when bullets are whizzing past or you're listening to electronic music.

The microphone does its job, but why does the remote control only have three different input volume levels?  It's enough to frustrate your fellow players …

There's one more good point to finish with though (and remember, apart from being imbalanced, the sound isn't as bad as all that): the 5H comes with a USB adapter.  Using it, you can connect the headset to your sound card, but switch to the adaptor if you're using a laptop or another computer with a lightweight audio chipset.

It's an average headset, then, and nothing more, with almost as many disadvantages as advantage.  SteelSeries has already shown us it can do much better.