Gaming is designed to be an immersive experience. If you’re not gasping in fear or ducking digital bullets the you’re doing it wrong. Of course, not all games will work that way but many will, as long as you have decent sound hardware, you should be able to get your head into the game, as it were.
Which brings us to the next set of cans from Sades, which we still have no idea how to pronounce, called the Snuk. The SA-902 Snuk, if you want to be exact, and these are a cheaper, slightly less well engineered set of PC gaming headphones that are nonetheless quite similar to its pricer brethren.
Read More: Sades A-60 Spellond Gaming Headphones Review
Build on it
The Snuk is a smaller pair of headphones than the Spellond pair that Stuff was playing with recently, with a smaller driver and differences in the build and mic-placement. Construction is still largely plastic, with sturdy ear-cups that are sized a couple of notches down but which still manage to cover the ears – unless you’re the BFG. The head-strap also remains plastic, though with less flex this time around. That doesn’t mean it’s rigid, you could probably stand on these cans and they’ve walk away unscathed.
There are lights (blue) in the cups themselves when they’re powered by the USB connected that sits at the end of the braided 3 metre cable. There’s a smaller in-line control that manages volume as well as mic and sound output mute options, though there’s no vibration or ‘glitter’ (also known as lights) options to be found.
The cup and headband padding is less generous this time around, which is to be expected with a cheaper headset. The quality of the headband padding has also dropped somewhat but it’s still comfortable for extended periods.
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Driver: 40mm, NdFeB
Connection: Braided cable (3 metre), USB only
Microphone: Yes
Mic Sensitivity: -38dB, +-3dB
Controller: In-line
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Easy setup
Like the Spellond from Sades, the Snuk comes with a driver disc that we could have used to get everything up and running. As it happened, just plugging in the USB was enough on our test machines. PC or Mac, it just works (please don’t sue us, Apple).
Sounds of a Snuk
Which brings us to the really important bits, though we’ll take comfort as a close second. The sound. Used as a conventional stereo headset it has the same issue, if you can call it that, as the Spellond. It’s loud as balls when you’re just consuming music, enough to blast your ear-drums into oblivion if you weren’t paying attention to your software sound settings. Turn the sound down somewhat and you’re going to experience clear audio that holds up as the volume rises.
But the Snuk is much more capable in a gaming environment when it’s emulating a 7.1 surround setup. The delightful sound of birds (or bullets) orbiting your skull is more than enough to make you forget that you’ve been parked in the same chair for six hours attempting to clear a level that just won’t die. The mic helps if you’re doing recon in your favourite multiplayer shooter, though we’re less impressed with the left-hand placement and the rigid bow. We prefer our microphones a lot closer to our cheeks but the sound is fantastic – especially at this price.
Verdict
The Sades SA-902 Snuk is a cheaper edition of the Spellond, which we were surprisingly taken with during our time with them. You’re securing decent sound at very little cost with the Snuk, considering that they’ll set you back R700. But for just a couple hundred bucks more, you can get the larger, comfier Spellond with its larger driver and better microphone. But if you’re on a tight budget, this is still a viable option.