Victrix Pro AF ANC Headset Universal Review

It’s a rarity to find a quality headset especially a gaming quality headset as you normally get one or two good features and maybe one excellent feature and then you get a laundry list of problems that you’d hope would be fixed in the next iteration and instead you get an additional list of problems with one or more issues addressed. When it comes to gaming headsets you often find out that you’re limited to a few options when you want a high-end gaming headset, and many are for all intents and purposes cheaply made for the premium that they are charging you that may or may not last the duration of a year let alone 6 months and if they go outside of their warranty then good luck. Enter the disruptor of the gaming industry, Victrix Pro with the Pro AF ANC Headset Universal to change the scene.

The Victrix Pro AF ANC has a build unlike any other with a Stainless Steel and Aircraft grade Aluminum Alloy body, Protein enriched leatherette slow return memory foam over-ear ear cups with built in cooling mechanism, active noise canceling, bi-directional noise-cancelling microphone 100hz -10kHz frequency response. and an inline 3.5mm powered and wired controller with up to 20 hours of usage when in use. That’s a mouthful of technical specifications and to bring it down to everyday lingo all that means is this headset is one of if not the absolute best gaming and e-sports ready headsets on the market.

The fit, finish, and feel of the Victrix Pro AF ANC is unlike any other gaming headset on the market as its sleek black stainless steel and aluminum carbon frame with purple highlights are simply eye catching and the fact that its not only lightweight but also incredibly durable. It’s based on and modeled after the same style of headphones that military helicopter pilots use and is made of military grade materials which sets this entirely apart from the typical gaming headset. Typically you’ll buy a gaming headset and it’ll cost you around 40$-300$ and they are made out of cheap plastic however this being made out of the materials that it is you could drop these and like an old Nokia/Kyocera phone from the early 2000’s it’ll still be working without a hitch, durability is engrained into the build of these military grade cans. There are 4 microphones total on the headset itself not including the cobra microphone as there is a microphone on the back of each over ear as well as on inside each earcup.

The headband is incredibly comfortable and sits solidly on your head without giving you the standard clamping compression feeling that nearly every gaming headset gives you after prolonged usage. To make sure that the cans are as comfortable as people claim them to be I decided to wear them for about 8-9 hours on my days off as I edited videos, music and more and not once did I ever feel compression or fatigue on my head or ears and with the cooling mechanism I can pull the lever on either earcup to cool my ears and hear my surroundings. On the slide hinge of the headphones and arm band are etched numbers that allow you to see what your selected setting from 1-5 is and on the bridge of the right slider is a number that lets you know what number made is your Victrix Pro AF which is cool making it a cool collector’s item.

Another excellent aspect of the headset is the ability to swivel the earcups so that you can rest your headset on your shoulders/neck area and with how lightweight it is you will barely feel anything there. So how is the sound? Well as a person who switches between high end cans from Focal reference studio headphones, VModa M-100’s, BeyerDynamic DT 990 Pro’s, Sennheiser Momentums and more on the professional studio grade end and on the gaming end

I’ve used everything from Turtle Beach Elite 800X, Astro A40’s/A50’s, Playstation Platinum Headphones, and more and to say that the sound quality on these is equivalent to that of those headphones on the professional end and donkey kicks while leapfrogging over anything the gaming end of headphones can even begin to imagine is something I have NEVER seen or more accurately heard in a pair of cans that are 299$.

Now you may be thinking that it’s impossible for a gaming headset that is this price to be on the level of a 400$-1500$ pair of cans but with the fact that Victrix Pro has gone to great lengths to give this headset not only the best materials for its build but also the best price for the consumer.

The fact that there is a cooling mechanism where you can just pull the lever down to cool off your ears is a blessing especially for those in hot environments (such as Hawaii) which will allow airflow that cool off your ears in about 20 seconds and as a side benefit and especially if you’re used to using open back headphones; you can pull the levers to give yourself that open back feel if you’re audio engineering or more and if you have the ANC turned on while pulling the lever you’ll hear a beep as it turns off the ANC when the lever is pulled and turns it back on when the lever is put back in place.

The Cobra Microphone has a forward facing noise shield with a curved noise guide surface on top of a bi-directional electret mic unit with a pop and hiss filter with a customizable badge plate at the end giving you the best in quality audio that exceeds any boom mic you’ll find on any other headset. The sensitivity of the microphone is -45 ± 3dB with a signal-to-noise ratio of about 60dB which gives you the best clarity for picking up your voice without the excess sounds around you which is a definite plus in my book as I’m often in loud environments and to know that I can play a quick game of Street Fighter V or Black Ops 4, record a podcast, or chat with a guest on skype or discord without fear of my noisy neighbors being heard is a godsend. If you’re a streamer that normally uses a microphone like the Blue Snoball or any boom mic then stop using those now and get this headset as it blows those fully out of the water in all aspects.

The inline controller is a wired 3.5mm 4-pole jack that’s 2m in length for the cable that uses 2 x AA Alkaline batteries and lasts around 20 hours estimated give or take (in my personal usage I’ve clocked around 19.5 hours with the pack in batteries) and there is also a micro usb port in the battery compartment to power the inline controller in the event that you do not have batteries on you and want to use ANC and the additional features allotted to the controller such as volume control, mic gain, mic monitoring, audio modes 1 & 2, and lighting led strips for the sides of the headset that you can switch between on, pulsating, and off. The audio mode 2 in comparison to 1 gives the headphones an extra sense of depth and fullness to the sounds that you hear from movies, music, and gaming, while mode 1 gives you a more acoustic natural sound of what you’re listening to. The Inline controller has a quick release pully that detaches the inline controller along with the cable which connects to the headset via micro usb: the cable sits snug and secure while seated in the headset.

Now you may be thinking “hey what’s the weight of the inline controller like and will it get in the way of my gaming sessions?” or “why do they even use that inline controller over something else like Astro’s MixAmp as an external source?” and to those answers I want to let you know that there is a clip/belt clip that’s connected to the inline controller that allows you to clip it on your pants or your shirt to keep it out of your way while gaming and as far as the weight goes its not at all heavy weighing in around the same as an Apple TV remote with batteries or a Nintendo Switch JoyCon without batteries; basically it’s as light as a feather so theres no issues there in my books. And as far as the inline controller over an external source well that’s because if you’re in the eSports scene such as an FGC event then you’d know that with how noisy it is that there are times when you just want to block out the surrounding noise and have just you and the game audio and with the inline controller being built in that makes it a cinch to just plug into any 3.5mm jack on a fight stick such as any of the Hori or Razer fight sticks that have the 3.5mm input or even better would be Victrix Pro’s own FS fightstick.

The inline controller is convenient and also tournament legal and for those who want more control with 5.1 Dolby DTS then there’s the Team Amp which is Victrix Pro’s answer to Astro’s MixAmp (Review for that coming soon).

So in wrapping up this review I think it’s safe to say that I have become a fan of the way Victrix Pro is not only making gaming headphones but also with how they are disrupting the gaming industry. You wont find anything like this gaming headset at any brick and mortar store and that also is because it’s not a headset that is found in any store and that is one of the many ways that Victrix Pro are living up to their name and reputation as a company that is disrupting the industry.

If you want to get your hands on this high end headset then you’ll need to go to www.victrixpro.com or head on over to my Amazon Affiliate links in order to order one of these bad boys, effectively removing the middle man of a retail store from the mix allowing the customer and the company a one on one pathway of communication as one really neat thing that Victrix Pro has done is etched on every headset their contact number for you to be able to reach out to them 24/7 should you have any issues, concerns or questions: name one other company that makes headsets and let alone any gaming items in general where they offer you a direct line to them the way Victrix Pro is doing as honestly you wont find anyone else doing that. Hands down Victrix Pro has put other gaming companies on notice that there’s a new company in town that’s bringing the heat unlike anyone else and like the old saying goes “competition breeds creativity” and Victrix Pro brings both the creativity and the competition.

Are there any downsides? Well to me no but like anything else the design can and will be improved as more iterations come over the years so I’m not worried or bothered by anything regarding these headphones. This is a certified go at 299$ and while it may not be for everyone or the average consumer price wise do keep in mind that its an item marketed to those who know that they want the best of the best as in my opinion you’re getting an affordable price with a 1500$ quality unlike anything else on the market so make sure you get one of these today and make sure you tell them that Mekel Kasanova sent you! The Victrix Pro AF ANC Universal Headset is KASANOVA APPROVED!