We've all been there. You're on a VoIP call with someone boring and you start multitasking, typing an email on your clicky keyboard, when the other person on the line busts you for not paying full attention. Or maybe you're on a Discord chat, and the music from your roommate's stereo keeps bleeding through, so everyone on the team has to battle royale to Celine Dion. Due out later this year, Patriot's Viper V380 USB gaming headset promises to save you from embarrassment by filtering out background noise from the microphone while providing top-notch comfort and style.
I had a chance to try on the Patriot Viper V380 headset at Patriot Memory's Computex suite, though I was not able to test the audio quality or noise filtering properties. Looking at the headset, I was struck by its attractive and premium design, from the smooth leather-like headband with its sleek red stitching to the large rectangular ear cans with their sci-fi-esque vents and bright RGB rings, which are addressable using Patriot software. If Deckard from Blade Runner wanted a gaming headset, this would be the one.
The Viper V380 is also exceedingly light. Patriot didn't share an official weight for the headset, but it felt paper light. There's no way that this is going to feel heavy on your head.
When I put the Viper V380 on, I immediately noticed that the artificial leather cups were large enough to fit around my fairly big ears, rather than pressing against them, like most cushions do. I only wore them for a few minutes, but I can imagine these staying comfortable for hours, unlike many other headsets that start annoying me after an hour or more of smushing my auricles.
Patriot says that the Viper V380's environmental noise cancelling capability is built into the hardware so that you don't need any kind of special application to make it work. So, even if you use the headset with an operating system other than Windows, it should work the same way. When not chatting, you can remove the microphone.
In terms of audio output, the Viper V380 features 50mm drivers and 7.1 surround sound. I was not able to test the listening quality but these seem like decent specs. The fact that this headset uses USB rather than 3.5mm audio means that even if you don't have a good sound card (or any sound card), you should get good, hiss-free audio.
Patriot did not announce final pricing for the Viper V380, but said that it is hoping to come in under $100 if possible.
Image Credits: Tom's Hardware
