Features:
The 5H V2 is designed as a gamer's headset. SteelSeries says that The headset is tweaked to maximize "immersion" in your games. It's optimized around the frequencies you'd hear most in games, such as footsteps, gunfire, alerts, etc. making them clearer to hear. The pads that sit around your ear are slightly thicker on the 5H V2 than the original. I found that this upgrade didn't make my ear feel as tight against the inside when I wore this headset. The padding at the top of the headset isn't material like the ear cups, but is a padded thing faux-leather. I'm glad most headphone manufacturers are now switching to material ear cups, as opposed to them being the faux-leather like they were in the past. This faux-leather style of material is known to breakdown and peel over time. Although no headset will last forever, after many years it's possible that this may happen to this strip.

The mic is on a flexible boom which retracts into the left speaker cup when not in use. Another improvement made on the 5H V2 was the mic boom length. It is now about a centimetre longer than the boom on the original 5H. This helps to bring the mic out in front of your mouth more so it can pickup speech even better with less interference from surrounding noise.

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The cable on the mic itself is one meter long, and has a volume/mic sensitivity adjuster halfway down the cable. The cable on the 5H had just a plastic coating like most, however, SteelSeries has now given it a very attractive and durable fabric braided covering instead. Also included is a 2m extension cable (with ends for both mic and headphone plugs), this too has a fabric braided outer covering.

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As with the original 5H, the 5H V2 still retains the ability to break down into three pieces. For the LAN party goer, this makes it great to just toss into a bag or bucket and not have to worry about it taking up too much space or getting damaged on the trip.

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Testing:
Even though it is mainly designed for gaming, I decided it only fair to test the headphones doing everything on my computer and not limit it to just one field. The 5H V2 obviously did excel the most in the gaming field, however, it did not let me down anywhere else either. Music, DVD's, and the regular beeps and chimes of the computer all sounded good through this headset. I found my music to maybe lack a little bit of low end frequency response and it also sounded a bit brighter in the mid range, although this didn't take away from the music still sounding great. This is something I expected being as the headset is tuned primarily for just gaming. They still sounded very good, but I did notice a small audio difference on music than with other headsets I compared them to, but nothing to really complain about. There should be small differences between products or we wouldn't need so many to choose from now would we!

Conclusion:
The SteelSound 5H V2 showed us that it is the little things that count. By making all the small tweaks and revisions as SteelSeries did for the 5H V2 over the original 5H, they now have a solid headset. The longer mic boom makes sure your always picked up clearly when chatting. The new cord design is very durable but helps protect the cable at the same time, and of course the ability to disassemble the headset still remains one of our favourite features. The only thing holding the 5H V2 back from a perfect score is the price tag. I feel it is maybe a little bit high compared to some competitors at a similar price. But in the end, if you're looking for a full gaming headset with a built in mic, the SteelSeries 5H V2 comes with our recommended badge of approval!

Pros:
Revision two brings many excellent changes
Retractable, adjustable mic
Dismantles into 3 pieces for easy transportation/storage
Excellent sounding
Comfortable to wear
Fabric braided cables are durable
USB Edition also available (Includes USB soundcard)

Cons:
Price is a bit steep

Rating: 9/10

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