HP OMEN Mindframe review: Gaming headphones that act like refrigerators for your ears

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no hot heads

HP OMEN Mindframe review: Gaming headphones that human action like refrigerators for your ears

Featuring the world's showtime active ear cup cooling tech the OMEN Mindframe is super chill.

HP OMEN Mainframe

Gaming headphones are entering a whole new level of technology and HP is 1 of those leading the fashion. The HP OMEN Mindframe is a $199.99 premium headset that does something no ane else has achieved: agile ear cooling so you lot can relish hours of gaming without getting hot.

I've spent the final few days with the Mindframe and here'due south what you need to know.

Frosty ear cups

HP OMEN Mindframe

Lesser line: The only gaming headphones that cool downwardly your ears.

Pros:

Actively keeps your ears absurd.
Extremely comfy for long durations.
Retractable mic boom.
Noise-cancelling, unidirectional mic.
Audio quality is higher up average.

Cons:

Only USB Type-A (no 3.5mm string).
Exercise not fold for travel.
No EQ or accelerate sound settings.

HP OMEN Mindframe — Active cooling

HP OMEN Mainframe

The large selling bespeak with the OMEN Mindframes is that they feature the "earth'southward starting time ... active ear loving cup cooling engineering". While much endeavor by other manufacturers has gone into using breathable materials or fancy venting, these are the first headphones that lower the temperature of the ear cup through agile measures.

HP calls this technology "FrostCap," and information technology's no gimmick. Each ear cup features a thermoelectric device that modifies the temperature through voltage changes allowing rut to transfer from the inside of the ear cup to the outside.

It works similar this: when you plug in the OMEN Mindframe's through its USB connector to a PC the charge powers the thermoelectric ear cups resulting in a temperature driblet from the inner cup to the outer i.

The thermoelectric cooling in effect on the HP OMEN Mainframe.

Quite possibly the near comfortable gaming headphones on the market right now.

The result is tangible and visible using a SEEK thermal camera (see to a higher place paradigm).

The exterior of the ear cups (where the LED lighting is) hovers around 90 degrees F (32 degrees C) while the inner cup drops down to a 66 degrees F (xix degrees C) in a room where the boilerplate temperature is around 72 degrees F (22 degrees C).

Touching the inner metal of the speaker console and you can feel a substantial cooling result compared to the warmer exterior of the ear loving cup where the heat was transferred to by the thermoelectric device. Those outer ear cups do get warm too alike to how smaller devices feel when existence activey charged. It's bang-up, just unlike.

HP OMEN Mindfame — Ice boxes for your ears?

HP OMEN Mainframe

Interestingly, your ears do non make contact the chilled downward metallic (although if you press the headphones against your head, you can force it). That means wearing the Mindframe's is not like putting a cooling pack directly on your ears. Instead, the result is more like keeping the air effectually the ear libation and preventing heat buildup that is often found in other over-the-ear headphone designs.

The consequence of the cooling is besides dependent upon the corporeality of estrus being generated – so information technology's all relative. Hotter days with a person generating more estrus results in more heat transfer away from the ear, while a cool day where someone is non making much oestrus results in less.

For those who desire more command, the HP OMEN Control Center software lets you set the cooling effect to on or off with settings for high, medium, and depression chilling.

During the whole time, I used them I always left the agile cooling on and set to high. The headphones never approached getting besides cold.

HP OMEN Mindframe — "7.i sound" and other features

HP OMEN Mainframe

Other features with the Mindframe include those familiar to near competitive gamers, including:

7.1 virtual surround sound (positional audio and 3D spatial awareness).
RGB lighting effects – xviii presets with static, color shift, or audio-responsive effects.
Adjustable mic monitoring so y'all can hear your voice in real-time through the headphones.
Breathable, moisture-wicking fabric.
Volume knob built into the right-headphone cup.
Dissonance-cancelling, unidirectional microphone that mutes when folded.
Double-banded pattern for comfort.

The audio quality is slightly to a higher place boilerplate particularly with the 7.one simulated surround sound. Sound is crisp and rich with suitable bass response. The flip down microphone works very well with decent sound reproduction and the car-mute characteristic when folding up is a bonus (it also makes a 'boop' noise to alarm you to the muting and unmuting — clever).

HP OMEN Mainframe

I'm used to headphones building the volume key inline to the cord (which is good quality and braided here), but HP put the volume knob on the correct headphone towards the dorsum. It's not bad, and the knob is metal with precision tuning. It took a few tries to get used to but overall works.

The RGB lighting is well done though non extravagant. Through the HP Command Center software users tin switch between xviii dissimilar colors (ruddy is by default) and modify brightness and hue. The LED color can remain static (default) or shift betwixt half-dozen different color choices at varying speeds. At that place's also an audio-responsive style.

HP OMEN Mindframe — Comfort is rex

Just every bit important is the overall wearability. I have a sensitive head for headphones, specially at the noon where fatigue usually sets in after 30 minutes of usage. The OMEN Mindframes — similar the OMEN 800 series that I reviewed last year — are easily the most comfortable headphones I have worn. I never felt I had to adjust the headphones even subsequently an hour of wearing them.

HP has a knack for finding the right rest in weight (one.05lbs, or 0.48kg) and condolement using that double-band suspension design. Combined with the over-the-ear squishy ear cups and that active cooling the OMEN Mindframes are something you can clothing for hours on end without whatsoever discomfort.

What's not to similar about OMEN Mindframe

Ironically, when information technology comes to audio in that location are zero options in the HP OMEN Control Center software. The user must rely on the Windows arrangement sound preferences, which tin can exist tailored with Windows Sonic (costless) or Dolby Atmos ($fifteen) to command spatial audio.

In that location's no built-in EQ, nor settings to turn of the pseudo-7.one sound.

Bass is solid with the Mindframe and presence rich, only the overall experience is not the best-in-class and betrays a chip the $199 toll point, which is clearly going towards the thermoelectric applied science. While I enjoyed the sound reproduction a lot other may find it defective to other headphones in the $200 toll range. Nonetheless, I'd still consider the audio hither very proficient.

Build quality is excellent simply in that location is a reliance on a lot of plastic too instead of just metallic. The benefit, still, is the Mindframe'southward weight (i.05lbs, or 0.48kg), which is far from heavy despite the metallic being used in the ear cups for the cooling technology.

The headphones also practise not fold nor do the ear cups rotate effectually for travel. Also, there are no meta-adjustments for the size of the headphones so those with large heads may discover the Mindframe's a bit tight.

Should you purchase HP OMEN Mindframe?

Gaming headphones are a lot similar ownership a PC; you need to find the right set of features that work for you.

For me, the HP OMEN Mindframes are my new go-to PC gaming headphones for the simple reason of infrequent comfort. These are arguably the most comfortable gaming headphones on the marketplace right now.

My merely major complaint is these are merely USB Type-A headphones with no 3.5mm headphone jack. That makes using these with an Xbox or whatever gaming console prohibitive (nothing happens if you plug them into an Xbox). Of course, that'due south easily explained by the fact that these need to exist USB powered for the thermoelectric devices to piece of work, only it would be cool — pardon the pun — still to employ them on all platforms.

The lack of audio optimizations or higher-quality audio reproduction seems to be a tradeoff for the avant-garde cooling tech. In other words, these headphones lean towards extreme comfort rather than extreme sound for a feature set up. That's OK so long as you know what you lot a getting. Others may adopt more authentic gaming audio from other other headphones but you may accept to put upward with some head soreness or getting hot and sweaty.

The HP OMEN Mindframe's are my new PC gaming headphones

At $199.99 the OMEN Mindframes are non inexpensive, just betwixt the outstanding condolement both in the physical ergonomics and the active ear loving cup cooling and the solid audio quality, I feel it is worth it. For those looking to save coin the OMEN 800 series at around $70 is still an splendid option that delivers similar comfort, robust audio, but lacks the more advanced cooling features of the OMEN Mindframe.

If like me, you lot similar to game with merely over-the-ear headphones but dread the ear-muff result that causes you to get warm the OMEN Mindframe is a terrific solution to your trouble.

See at HP.com

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Daniel Rubino

Daniel Rubino is the Executive Editor of Windows Central. He has been covering Microsoft here since 2007 back when this site was called WMExperts (and after Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, Surface, laptops, and modernistic computing. Follow him on Twitter: @daniel_rubino.