Sennheiser GSP 670 review

Sennheiser has put out some of the best audio hardware on the market for years, and while its gaming headsets have never lit the world on fire—they’ve always been solidly put together products. The Sennheiser GSP 670 represents the company’s first real attempt to put out something for the high-end gaming market, but as with any high-end tool: there’s a lot to go over.

Editor’s note: this Sennheiser GSP 670 review was updated on March 1, 2022 to include more alternative recommendations.

Who is the Sennheiser GSP 670 for?

• Gamers looking for a high-end wireless experience.
• At-home workers looking for something they can wear all day from a brand they recognize more.

What’s the Sennheiser GSP 670 like?

The Sennheiser GSP 670 is a great example of a gaming headset that could be a bit better. It’s got a potent mix of features, a solid design and build, and a premium price—but it all comes together into something pretty disappointing, due to a few problems. But let’s start with the good stuff—there’s actually quite a lot to cover in this column.

This wireless gaming headset sports a primarily plastic design, with a flexible headband and sturdy double-hinged headphones. The headband features adjustable tension sliders. The difference between tightest and loosest isn’t terribly large, but being able to make slight adjustments can still make a big difference. At over 500 grams, the GSP 670 is actually a pretty hefty gaming headset, but it’s balanced just right and never caused me any strain, even over long periods.

The Sennheiser GSP 670 features earpads with fabric tops and leatherette edges. This design seems a little busy, but it means the headset can maintain a leather aesthetic, without struggling with flexibility or heat buildup. It also seems to have benefitted isolation quite a bit. Combined with the adjustable tension of the band, headphones like these made establishing an especially tight seal easy.

This gaming headset features an assortment of onboard controls. It can get a little confusing, but learning them isn’t very hard. The headset’s attached microphone sits on the left earcup, along with the switch for pairing the headset to its dongle or to a device via Bluetooth and the micro USB charging port. On the right headphone, there’s a button for toggling surround sound, as well as a small dial for adjusting chat volume, and a large dial on the side of the headphone. This dial governs the main volume for the headset, and turning it all the way down shuts the GSP 670 off.

At a glance, all the pieces are here to make for an excellent when you’re actually using the headset, but a few issues really hold everything back. The Sennheiser GSP 670 is really comfortable to wear. The mic is clear and easy to use. The headset even supports connections via Bluetooth and by using a 2.4GHz wireless RF USB dongle, so you can connect to your phone and your PC or PlayStation 4 at the same time—the dongle even automatically overrides Bluetooth audio except during phone calls. However, this headset has a pretty serious range problem.

Bluetooth connections, especially to devices like smartphones can be pretty short, but I’ve never run into a headset using an RF dongle with as short a range as the Sennheiser GSP 670. If you’re a desktop gamer, you probably won’t run into much of an issue with this, but if you walk away from your desk with the headset on, you might notice some interference. After doing some sleuthing, the issue seems to be on older batches of this particular headset, so a new one could likely be totally fine.

Not everyone will run into this issue, but if you do: getting a USB extender will fix it. Having the biggest issue of a product be fixable is reassuring, but it can be frustrating nonetheless. Extenders typically run around $10, so the fix isn’t even as expensive as the shipping required for a warranty fix. Most wireless gaming headsets that use RF dongles—whether expensive ones like the Razer Thresher Ultimate or more reasonably-priced ones like the PlayStation Gold Wireless—have little issue maintaining a steady connection within a room, so it’s definitely a head-scratcher.

How is the battery life?

Sennheiser claims the GSP 670 can last up to 16 hours using the wireless dongle, which was pretty well in line with our testing. At a constant output of 75dB, we found the headset lasted for just over 16 and a half hours of playback—if you’re listening to the headset at a lower volume (or only using it on Bluetooth) you might fare even better. If you spend a lot of time connected to both the wireless dongle and a Bluetooth device, expect slightly worse.

Additionally, the headset also has a battery saver setting that will put it to sleep after a length of time with no sound playing. The headset will wake up whenever you start listening to something again. It can take a second, but restarting a video to hear the beginning every so often is a small price to pay. The feature means you shouldn’t have to charge this thing too often, even if you forget to turn it off overnight.

What are the Sennheiser GSP 670’s connection options?

The Sennheiser GSP 670 supports wireless connections using a 2.4GHz wireless USB dongle, which pushes lag free audio perfect for playing games. Additionally, this one of the few gaming headsets to support Bluetooth audio, and among the even smaller group that supports high quality codecs like AAC, aptX, aptX Low Latency. Its range may be questionable, but the Sennheiser GSP 670 clearly doesn’t suffer a shortage of solid connection options.

Gaming with the Sennheiser GSP 670

The Sennheiser GSP 670 offers a pretty solid gaming experience, though the connection issues I mentioned above still affected things. It worked well with the PlayStation 4, but I noticed the audio starting to crackle and drop even while sitting on my couch, only 7 feet from the consoles—if your living room is larger than mine, you’ll probably have a worse time of it. When you’re in a more stable range, the headset supports both a chat and game channel, and separate volume dials for the audio sources, so adjusting the balance is easy on the fly.

The headset features surround sound using Sennheiser’s Gaming Suite app, which I couldn’t get to work until a recent software update—if you’ve got the GSP 670 and have struggled in the past, time to check in again. The Gaming Suite allows customization of the headset’s EQ and mic settings, and enables the surround sound function. It’s pretty straightforward, and if you only want surround sound, it’s just a button press away.

I never had any issues actually playing games on PC and PlayStation 4. On console, where surround sound isn’t an option to begin with, the scores of games like Final Fantasy 7: Remake and Control sounded great—the headset’s even frequency response really lent itself to the more complex audio profiles of single player games like this, where orchestral scores and many layered sound effects all work in concert to immerse a player. On PC, games like Overwatch and Risk of Rain 2 sounded great. The surround sound function worked with Overwatch just as well as the option the game builds in.

This is a very comfortable gaming headset, and I never had an issue with weight or heat, even after long sessions on PC—long sessions on PlayStation 4 seemed less tenable as the connection deteriorated.

How does the Sennheiser GSP 670 sound?

The Sennheiser GSP 670 offers extremely accurate audio for the most part, especially in the bass and mid range. There’s some barely-noticeable de-emphasis in the highs, but nothing so significant that it will impact your listening experience in a bad way. As a side benefit, you might find that high-pitched sounds in games will be a little less grating. This is especially good for action games that have a lot of explosions, tinnitus sounds, or mechanical whines. You shouldn’t run into any issues with the din of explosions running roughshod over other the sounds speech or footsteps.

In music, a frequency response like this is great for electronic music with booming bass, or really most music in general. The slightly de-emphasized highs mean the sounds of some strings and cymbals can be a little on the faint side, but I never ran into anything terribly noticeable.

In Hollywood Witches by Woody and Jeremy, the laid back funky bass line leads the song, but never runs the risk of drowning out slightly faint horn sections that play periodically. The rhythm guitar in the background is mostly noticeable, but when the music swells during the chorus, you’ll definitely have trouble hearing it if you’re not looking for it with the Sennheiser GSP 670.

The Sennheiser GSP 670 offers outstanding isolation for gaming headset. There’s nothing approaching ANC here, but the thick ear pads and solid seal make for excellent passive protection. You shouldn’t have any issues with sounds at home, whether it’s a whirring fridge down the hall, car horn out the window, or roommate who decides to start practicing bass at 9pm on a Tuesday.

How is the microphone?

The Sennheiser GSP 670 offers a pretty standard microphone experience. There’s a pretty significant de-emphasis in the bass range, which means people with deeper voices might sound a little quiet. However, the added emphasis in the high range means the sibilant sounds (F, S, and SH sounds) is important for natural-sounding speech, even if it can get a little grating in certain instances. Additionally, the Sennheiser GSP 670 combats the proximity effect (that overly-bassy sound when people get too close to the mic), and consequently sounds clear and doesn’t have the volume issues many gaming headset microphones struggle with.

Sennheiser GSP 670 microphone sample:

Should you buy the Sennheiser GSP 670?

Maybe not if you’re looking to save money, but the Sennheiser GSP 670 does have some distinct advantages over more popular headsets. The price is still steep, but as of June 21, 2021 it has gone down to $246.

The Sennheiser GSP 670 has a lot going for it: it’s very comfortable, sounds great, and it offers some solidly useful features. However, the connection issues are a bit annoying to deal with—if you have them. If you don’t, then this is an expensive headset that delivers performance at a fair value. Still, given its price point, it should all work better than the cheaper products.

What should you buy instead?

If budget isn’t an issue, and you want something like the GSP 670, but a little more modern, check out the EPOS H3PRO Hybrid. EPOS has been putting out some compelling stuff since it split from Sennheiser in 2020, and this is the company’s return to a truly premium gaming audio offering. The H3PRO Hybrid supports Bluetooth and wireless audio using a USB dongle, has great sound, an excellent microphone, a comfortable build, and good battery life. Plus it has all sorts of software features.

However, you don’t need to spend nearly as much to get something wireless. The HyperX Cloud Flight S is wireless, doesn’t struggle with range, and offers surround sound on both PC and PlayStation 4. The Corsair Virtuoso Wireless SE is another great alternative, featuring a premium metal build, a variety of connection options (including wireless), RGB lighting, and one of the best microphones we’ve ever tested—perfect for in-game communication or your next conference call.

For PC gamers, the Razer BlackShark V2 Pro is another great wireless headset to consider. It offers an extremely comfortable design, good isolation performance, a bass-heavy sound signature, and decent microphone quality. Deep software integration with Razer Synapse 3 enables access to features such as EQ controls, microphone settings, and THX Spatial Audio for immersive gameplay. Console gamers might also like the HyperX Cloud Flight S, which brings 7.1 surround sound to both the PC and PlayStation 4.

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