A short time ago I jumped into laptop gaming, in part so that I could easily enjoy playing in my living room. Right after I purchased my new ASUS laptop I found out that the Bluetooth keyboard and mouse I was planning on using wouldn’t cut it. Logitech’s Lightspeed gear saved the day. I had not planned on running any multiplayer games in the living room. So I skipped audio gear.
That plan lasted two whole weeks. I really enjoy playing on my big screen while sitting in my recliner. The kids are busy on the weekends nowadays so I have more time to play upstairs than I thought. I needed a wireless headset that didn’t lag, sounded great, and whose signal could reach across my living room.
I was impressed with the Logitech keyboard and mouse, so I picked up the matching G935 headphones. I lucked out, the local BestBuy had them on-sale for $99.00. As with the keyboard and mouse, the build quality of the headset was apparent as soon as I removed it from the packaging. The band that connects the earphones is metal, the articulation points are sturdy, and the plastic is dense. One of the earphone’s covers conceals the USB dongle and the other provides access to the rechargeable battery. The removable covers are attached via magnets that hold them fast.
Each earphone easily covers my entire ear and I don’t feel the speaker grill rubbing anywhere. Each cup features a strip of RGB lights on the back. The colors and effects of the lights can be controlled from the GHUB software. The left earphone contains a boom mic that you pull down to activate or stow to mute. The end of the boom can be extended and is flexible so that you can put the microphone in the perfect position to fit your face.
The 50mm drivers work with DTS X:Headphone 7.1 surround sound, and the GHUB EQ to bring the soundscape of your games from the background to front and center. A lot of the headphones I’ve used over the years trade nuance for volume. The bass thunders but you miss the tinkle of a bullet casing bouncing off the concreate. DTS really balances things out. The explosions still rattle your head, but you don’t loose the foot steps in the grass behind you.
The wireless signal easily reaches across my living room. I’ve made it down the hall to my kitchen while still chatting with my buddies and nobody noticed. The headset also includes USB and 3.5mm connections. The battery life is advertised at 12 hours with the lights off and 8 with them on. I don’t have gaming sessions that last that long IRL so I will probably never find out if those times are true LOL. The ability to swap the battery out should alleviate any longevity issues you might have.
Everything about the G935 isn’t lollipops and honeysuckle. There is a fly in the ointment. If your system doesn’t have any true USB 2.0 ports, you will find that you are not able to use the wireless dongle out of the box. When you connect it, the headset will pair and you’ll hear the confirmation beep. The GHUB software will forever show “setting up” and no matter what sound you create on your system you will never hear it.
For whatever reason, Logitech’s own driver is not compatible with the G935 over USB 3.0. Yes I know they are backwards compatible with 2.0 but in this case it doesn’t matter. If you only have USB 3.0 ports, you will need to use the device manager to change the driver to Microsoft’s. Trust me, I’ve tried everything including an external USB 2.0 hub, removing / reinstalling the GHUB software, multiple versions of the GHUB driver, and even opened a ticket with Logitech support. The only option to use the wireless dongle on USB 3.0 systems is to change out the driver. Research leads me to believe this isn’t just a Logitech issue, it seems to affect many wireless gaming headsets that use a USB dongle.
The good news is that swapping the driver works and doesn’t affect the headset’s performance minus one thing. To change any settings like lights, the EQ, etc. you will either need to use the onboard buttons, or connect the headset to a system with a USB 2.0 port. If you dig through the Logitech support pages you will eventually find this one, that specifically calls out the USB 2.0 requirement. On their support page you should also find the instructions for changing out the driver. I’ve written better ones below.
Change to Microsoft drivers:
- Connect the USB dongle and turn on the headset.
- Go to Device Manager (Right-click Start button, click Device Manager).
- Scroll down to and expand Sound, video and game controllers.
- Right-click on the Logitech G935/G933 Gaming Headset and click Update Drivers
- Click Browse My Computer for Drivers.
- Click Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer.
- Click the USB Audio Device in the list.
- Click the Next button.
- Click the Close button.
- The headset should immediately start working.
If you can live with the driver issue, the headset is fantastic. Like the keyboard and mouse, I like the Logitech better than Razer Kraken I have hooked up to my desktop. The driver thing is really annoying though, every time the GHUB software updates it re-installs the Logitech driver and you have to repeat the process above. Given the specifics of this problem, I don’t see it ever being fixed. I’m personally able to tolerate the problem and will keep the headset, but you should consider the situation carefully if your system only has USB 3.0 ports.
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