Nacon RIG 900 Max HS review – “convenience and comfort all rolled into one great sounding PS5 headset”

Nacon and Sony’s PS5 have been a match made in gaming accessory heaven for a while now. The Nacon Revolution 5 Pro is up there with the best controllers cash can buy, even amongst the PS5’s own official DualSense and DualSense Edge offerings, and that high quality fortunately extends to gaming headsets too.

Nacon’s headset line is almost as old as the PS5 itself, with the brand acquiring RIG back in 2020. The Nacon RIG 900 Max HS is available from $۲۴۹.۹۹ / £۲۰۹.۳۵ at Nacon and is the latest result of this partnership, which looks almost identical to its Xbox-designed 900 Pro Max HX counterpart with its all-black colorway. However, this best PS5 headset contender is designed to work in tandem with your PS5, with its dual wireless connectivity, 2.4GHz low-latency wireless dongle, great-sounding 40mm audio drivers, and handy charging stand.

If you’re on the hunt for mic quality that can rival that found on the best gaming headset, the Nacon RIG 900 Max HS isn’t for you. Instead, this headset is all about convenience. Its handy charging stand made worrying about battery life a thing of the past, and its accompanying app made updating and tinkering around with audio settings a breeze. There are more impressive PS5 headsets on the market, but its array of high-quality features make it still worthy of your setup.

Key Specs

Design

The Nacon RIG 900 Max HS may come with that all-black colorway that is pretty common amongst the best wireless headsets, but its unique headband aesthetic makes it stand out amongst the sea of PS5 headsets I’ve tested throughout the years. Instead of just a plain, curved band, Nacon has designed a futuristic-looking product.

It’s not dripped out in bright colors or RGB lighting, but the main band is a thin steel sheet, with ‘RIG’ proudly plastered on top in a shiny, silver typeface. On either side, there are three cylindrical cutout shapes which can be snapped onto either cup to keep them attached. There are three of these cut-out sections in total, giving you different levels of adjustment. The metal band is also supported by a leather and fabric-coated stretchy second band, which isn’t densely padded, yet still manages to provide a light and comfortable fit.

While the headband is missing some extra padding, the cups aren’t. There’s plenty of cushion for the pushing, which, when combined with the reasonable clamping force, never felt uncomfortable even as a glasses wearer. The padding also makes use of both leather and fabric-coated mesh, and its large oval shape even managed to fit nicely around my Dumbo-sized ears.

The outer edge of the left cup is where you’ll find the majority of the headset’s onboard controls. That includes the mode button, multi-function button, volume control dial, power button, and the flip-to-use microphone which sits flush with the 900 Max when not in use. Begrudgingly, each button has the same glossy plastic texture, so it’s hard to differentiate them from each other. That can be a pain when you’ve set up the dual wireless and have a phone call coming through, but the volume dial and its soft rubber texture are at least easy to find at a moment’s notice.

Arguably, my favorite aspect of the headset, the charging stand, also sports an all-black, sleek look. During my time with the 900 Max HS, it sat proudly underneath my smart TV, and became not just convenient for charging, but an ideal way to store and display the PS5 headset when I wasn’t racking up my trophies. My typical go-to pair of cups for my Sony pixel pushing beast, the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5P, sits at the edge of my Star Wars coffee table when charging, which puts them at risk of being attacked by my cat. But the accompanying charging stand helped keep the 900 Max HS safe, charged, and lent itself to its futuristic and funky aesthetic.

Features

Other gaming headsets like the Logitech G Astro A50 X, which also come with a charging stand (albeit, it’s also an HDMI switcher), don’t include everything you need to get set up, despite its premium price tag – but the Nacon RIG 900 Max HS has you covered. Straight out of the box, you get everything you need, from the headset, charging stand, 2.4GHz dongle, and even the USB-A to USB-C cable required to hook it up to your PS5 console.

Getting set up with the 900 Max was pretty easy. It took a matter of minutes to slot the wireless dongle into the charging stand, and then all I had left was to plug the USB cable into one of the free ports on my PS5. Instead of using one of the ports on the front-facing side of the console (mine lies horizontally), I made sure to use a back port and fed the cable through the back. Not only did this mean my PS5 gaming setup was less busy looking, but it also meant the front ports were free for quick and easy access for accessories like the PDP Riffmaster guitar controller, which I use on a day-to-day basis.

After everything was set up, I was able to make use of one of the headset’s best features, its dual wireless connectivity. With the 900 Max HS, I was able to connect the headset to my PS5 via a 2.4GHz dongle (that’s attached to the stand) and connect to my Samsung S24 phone via Bluetooth simultaneously. This dual-wireless feature means you can talk on the phone to friends in between Marvel Rivals matches, or just switch to your phone’s audio to scroll mindlessly through TikTok (an embarrassingly favorite pastime of mine) while waiting for your friends to pop on Discord. Resentfully, as a millennial, I don’t get too many phone calls on any given day, so I did have to ask my partner to give me a quick call to see just how easily I could switch between modes with the onboard controls, and it turned out to be pretty straightforward. Like briefly touched on before, it will just take a moment to remember what button does what, as they all have the same glossy, plastic touch.

Performance

I wasn’t initially blown away by the sound on the Nacon RIG 900 Max HS headset. Don’t get me wrong, the drivers didn’t sound bad by any means, and in the early days of testing the bass, mid, and treble frequencies of the 40mm audio drivers sounded pretty balanced as I took to learning my new main in Marvel Rivals, Scarlet Witch. However, it didn’t quite have that bassy gut-punching drive that the hero shooter needed to make the end of matches feel truly nerve-wracking. That was, until I pulled out the Nacon app.

With the dual wireless connectivity, I was able to connect the headset to my PS5 via the wireless dongle (as it was plugged into the charging stand) and have my Android-based phone connected via Bluetooth. This gave me access to the app, which provides a battery life rundown, access to updates, settings, and the best part, customization. I always appreciate when a gaming brand has an app for their headsets, as it means I don’t have to run back and forth to my PC in order to get the best sound, and the Nacon app lets me do just that.

There are three profiles you can save to the headset, and a range of audio presets from an FPS audio setting, Bass Boost, Voice Boost, clarity, and a custom option. Annoyingly, the ‘Bass Boost’ option actually made the lower frequencies a tad overwhelming, with tracks like ‘Burning’ by the band Hitsujibungaku (that I’ve had been listening to on repeat) sounding distorted, and not in a good way. However, with some tinkering, I was able to not only get that reverberating bassy sound that you can feel deep in your bones, but the app and the convenience of having all that customization at my fingertips cemented the RIG 900 Max HS as a contender for one of my all-time favorite PS5 headsets.

Much to my chagrin, the 900 Max doesn’t have Dolby Atmos or any other spatial audio support. So it was missing that extra immersive soundscape I’ve grown accustomed to when using headsets like the Corsair Virtuoso Max wireless. That being said, whether I was returning to my sea-faring pirate adventures or powering up generators in Dead by Daylight, the 900 Max MS gave justice to everything I threw its way – especially with the app in play.

I’m still slowly making my way through Clair Obscur Expedition 33, and its gorgeous, pseudo-classical score by composer Lorien Testard sounded impeccable through these PS5-designated cups. There’s no active noise canceling found with them, yet I was still able to get totally lost in the game’s hypnotic sound and atmosphere as the large oval padded cups were still able to eclipse my ears and keep everything contained. When not attempting to make my way through the RPG, I was chatting way to friends using the flip-to-use built-in microphone as we grinded through our Marvel Rival daily and weekly challenges.