Cooler Master MH650 Long Term Review: Hitting the Right Spots

If you notice our recent pattern, we are working on a number of long-term reviews and as of right now, we have two gaming headsets – and one of them is this Cooler Master MH650. Lucky for us, the lovely folks at Cooler Master were nice enough to let us take our time in working on this review. That said, after quite the number of months, here’s the Cooler Master MH650 Long Term Review.

Light Design, Right Balance

The Cooler Master MH650 is completely constructed out of Polycarbonate but there are some hints of proper metal like the band of the headset which gives better durability and its nice to adjust with those right clicks to know that it holds the adjustment in place. The earcups swivels inwards or outwards depend on how you look at it and can be stored in a flat manner. There is a pouch included for you to store it away which is a pretty nice touch.

1/4

Comfort is key for a longer gaming experience and the MH650 gets it right in every way possible. Rather than going for a material like faux leather to add “extra-ness” to it, Cooler Master went for the traditional fabric which is much better because of its breathability. One thing about the faux leather is that they have a nice comfort but as you use them for longer hours, it is one sweaty situation. So, the cloth based earcups and the headband is a really nice touch. Oh, and the earcups are replaceable, but not the head rest which I wish was like put together with Velcro so you can rip it off and replace it as well when it gets all old and unusable.

RGB Glory with CM Software

If you thought this headphone looks clean with no RGB, well you are wrong – because we thought it didn’t have any until the gray-ed out ring started shining in an assortment of colors. As someone who doesn’t really enjoy having RGB on my peripherals as I love it clean, that dash of light on the headphones were pretty cool really. The ring light where it glows and cycles depending on the mode you are on – which you can control with the application available for PC – its pretty therapeutic. But there is one moment where you’d realize the lights are in your face: and that’s when its muted.

The headphones blinks in red light rapidly the moment the physical switch on the sides are toggled. There’s no way to disable it and I did find it distracting but that constant reminder that its muted was kind-of a relief to know than having a miniscule light that shines red.

Detachable Mic with Physical Buttons

Speaking of the microphone – its detachable which is great for scenarios where you don’t need one to use, and you could reattach it when you need it. It’s protected by a rubber flap which I feel would fall apart but hey, with loving care, it can last. The microphone is made out of this bendable material – so you can either move it close or further away.

1/3

This headphones have 4 physical controls on them and honestly – its nice to have – starting off with a physical volume dial which is nice to have at arm’s reach and control immediately rather than Alt+Tab-ing every time, a Physical mute switch which I am in love where it clicks in when mute and clicks out when it’s unmuted, an RGB button to control the lights and a 7.1 ch Button to enable/disable the virtual surround sound. If you look a little closer, you’ll notice a Micro USB port outline and that’s because the Wireless version of the MH650 which goes by the name MH670, shares the same body.

Direct USB Connectivity

Okay for those who are looking for a 3.5mm Headphone, turn around – this is really not the one you are looking for. We have to address this before one of you make the wrong purchase. The braided wires are a nice durable touch, it doesn’t detach and its hard-wired. That said, at the other end of the connection, it uses a proper USB-A to connect to your PC or laptop. One thing about the wire is that its long enough for you to route it to your PC all the way to your ears – so, cable management is going to look pretty neat. But it does come with a USB-A to C converter allowing you to connect to a phone or a Device that supports USB-C for you to use it. The very fact that they include a dongle really makes me happy.

Audio Wise, Better than Expected

Gaming headsets generally have a hit and miss sound quality and this MH650 has a genuinely nice balanced audio, focusing on the clarity and balance which is well maintained. It’s surprising that the headphones cover every frequency very well without a single hiccup and the bass response is tasteful and not heavy as you think it is – so when, we listened to It’s a Man’s World by Jurnee Smollet, we were impressed through and through.

But what about the gaming experience? There are few things I’d want my gaming headphones to do well in: spatial awareness in games like shooters, good separation with voice and audio without being able to choose one or the other and good audio. Now I mentioned earlier about the audio on how balanced it is and for the most part you can say the same when you’re playing games, even when at maximum volume I am extremely glad that it doesn’t screech or make unusual sound that can cause disturbance to your listening experience.

The audio manages to balance well with the voice chat – in my case, where I play with my friends, I use Discord to chat over the built-in voice chats in games for privacy and for the most part it was okay, and I didn’t have to go to the mixer to reduce the game volume or anything to be able to hear my friends. Finally, the spatial awareness – this headphone wins the cake – with amazing separation and audio shifting based on the location of your enemy as you turn is very well put together.

Honestly, we are looking at purely gaming performance here and it covers the right base and does it better. The microphone does sound a little weak but for the most part if you were to listen to the sample below, you’ll realize how clear, and it sounds pretty alright – so comms through games should be pretty breezy.

If you noticed, we didn’t talk about the 7.1 Virtual Surround – that’s because after trying many headphones that claims to have a feature that barely works, in Cooler Master’s defense, it does work but it still isn’t as mind boggling as you’d want it to be. So, this would probably be the only downside other downside I have for this Gaming headset.

If you don’t want Wired…

Now I know for those who don’t want a USB based headphones and want something wireless to keep their desk, clutter free – you may want to look into the Cooler Master MH 670 which is basically a wireless version of this and for those who want to use the legacy 3.5mm – that’s the one you should look for as it has a dedicated 3.5mm headphone jack which is detachable for you to use it however you want.

Conclusion

I came in with truly little expectation with this one but the Cooler Master MH650 proved me wrong with good balanced audio for both gaming and other audio work – with a little flare of RGB on top of that. Right now, these headphones go for surprisingly good price under RM 300 making it an excellent choice to buy and I don’t think I could recommend anything else – although the HyperX Cloud Stinger is in the same price range, but in all honestly, the Cooler Master MH650 has better build, better drivers and really an overall good package put together.

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Special thanks to Cooler Master for sending the MH650 for us to review and make this content happen.