The Cougar Immersa Gaming Headset is decently comfortable with a good mic. However, these headphones' boomy sound profile may not be ideal for all listeners. They're well-built, although they have a few moving parts that may wear over time. They're also not the most outdoor-friendly headphones despite having a retractable mic and a regular audio jack. They're not portable, they don't block a lot of noise, and they leak a bit at high volumes.
Our Verdict
The Cougar Immersa Gaming Headset is middling for mixed usage. These headphones are decently comfortable, and they have negligible latency since they're wired. They also have a bass-heavy sound profile that's better suited for gaming than neutral listening but should sound decent enough for most listeners. Unfortunately, they're not really versatile. They're not stable or portable enough for sports and don't block enough noise for commuting.
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Negligible latency.
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Good microphone.
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Poor noise and leakage isolation.
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Bulky design.
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Bass delivery varies significantly across users. Sensitive to glasses.
The Cougar Immersa Gaming Headset is slightly better than average for neutral sound. These headphones have a bit too much bass and boominess for more neutral listeners. On the upside, they image well and have a decently balanced treble range that won't sound sharp on most tracks. Unfortunately, the elevated high-bass/low-mid makes them sound muddy and a bit dark overall, which isn't for everyone.
The Cougar Immersa Gaming Headset is poor for commuting. These headphones have a bulky design that's not really made for traveling. They also don't block a lot of background noise, so you hear the sounds of bus and plane engines.
The Cougar Immersa Gaming Headset is subpar for sports. These headphones aren't made for running and jogging. They're big, bulky headphones with a gaming-only control scheme and a wired design that's not practical to work out with.
The Cougar Immersa Gaming Headset isn't ideal for office use. These headphones don't block a lot of noise, so you hear what's going on around you. Also, they leak quite a bit, so they may distract your colleagues.
The Cougar Immersa Gaming Headset can't be used wirelessly.
The Cougar Immersa Gaming Headset is decent for gaming thanks to a good mic and a wired design with negligible latency. These headphones also have a bass-heavy sound that's suitable for gaming. They're not wireless, so they're not as convenient as some of the other gaming headsets we've reviewed. They also have no software support which makes them feel lacking in customization options.
- 5.7 Mixed Usage
- 7.1 Neutral Sound
- 5.1 Commute/Travel
- 5.5 Sports/Fitness
- 5.4 Office
- 5.5 Wireless Gaming
- 7.3 Wired Gaming
- 7.1 Phone Call
- Updated Nov 21, 2019: Converted to Test Bench 1.3.1.
- Updated Nov 21, 2019: Converted to Test Bench 1.3.
- Updated Feb 16, 2018: Converted to Test Bench 1.2.
- Updated Nov 23, 2017: Review published.
- Updated Nov 21, 2017: Our testers have started testing this product.
- Updated Nov 21, 2017: Early access published.
- Updated Nov 19, 2017: The product has arrived in our lab, and our testers will start evaluating it soon.
- Updated Sep 11, 2017: We've purchased the product and are waiting for it to arrive in our lab.
Test Results
The Cougar Immersa Gaming Headset has a bulky, gaming-oriented design. These headphones have large ear cups with very thick pads and a strap design for the headband. They have a retractable mic so they could pass for casual headphones, but their size is not really practical to use outdoors.
The Cougar Immersa Gaming Headset is decently comfortable. These headphones easily adjust to different head sizes, and the ear cups are large and fit well around most listeners' ears. Unfortunately, they're a bit tight on the head. The thick padding somewhat reduces the clamping effect, but they still put enough pressure around your ears to be fatiguing after wearing them for a while.
The Cougar Immersa Gaming Headset has a basic gaming in-line remote that gives you an on/off switch for the mic and a two-way volume dial. It's an easy-to-use setup, but the feedback on the volume dial lacks distinct notches. Also, the in-line remote is not mobile-friendly since you can't make calls or pause your music with the remote.
The Cougar Immersa Gaming Headset isn't very portable. These headphones don't fold into a more compact format and are cumbersome to carry around on your person. They may not fit easily into your bag.
The Cougar Immersa Gaming Headset are decently well-built but have a lot of moving parts in their headband design. The ear cups are dense and sturdy and shouldn't break from a few accidental drops. The headband is flexible and decently durable but has a lot of moving parts that can wear over time with repeated use. They also don't have a detachable cable so it can't be replaced if it ever gets damaged, which reduces their overall durability. On the upside, the materials used in their build quality feels a lot more premium than their price would suggest.
These headphones are big and bulky and won't be stable enough to run or exercise with. They're also wired with a non-detachable cable so if the cable gets hooked by something, it'll quickly yank the headphone off your ears. However, since they're a bit tight on the head, they shouldn't easily fall during casual listening or gaming sessions.
This headset has a sub-par frequency response consistency. In the bass range, the Cougar Immersa Gaming Headset performed quite consistently across our human subjects, except with the one wearing glasses, which experienced 6dB less bass at 20Hz. In the treble range, they also show more than 6dB of deviation below 10kHz.
These headphones have mediocre bass accuracy. Their low-frequency extension is at 30Hz, which is very good. However, low-bass, which is responsible for thump and rumble, is lacking by about 2dB. The 7dB bump centered around 120Hz and extended up to 250Hz, makes the sound of these headphones noticeably boomy and muddy.
Also, their bass delivery varies significantly across users and is sensitive to the quality of the fit, seal, and whether you wear glasses. The response here represents the average bass response, and your experience may vary.
The Cougar Immersa Gaming Headset have average mid accuracy. The 4dB bump in low-mid is the continuation of the high-bass bump, which makes mixes sound cluttered and muddy. The dip around 1.2kHz negatively affects the intensity and projection of vocals/leads.
These headphones have a very good treble accuracy. The response is relatively flat, but consistently under our target by about 1.5dB. This will slightly tilt the tonal balance towards lower frequencies.
The Cougar Immersa Gaming Headset have poor isolation performance. These headsets don't have active noise cancelling and don't isolate below 1kHz. Above that, they achieve isolation of 25dB, which is decent.
These headphones have poor leakage. The significant portion of leakage sits between 500Hz and 6kHz, which is a broad range. The overall level of leakage is also moderately loud.
The Cougar Immersa Gaming Headset have great microphone performance. Speech recorded with the microphone sounds full, comprehensible, but quite bright and even piercing. However, they have an impressive noise handling performance, and they're capable of separating speech from ambient noise in the most demanding environments, like a metro station or gaming competition.
This headset has a very good recording quality. LFE is extended down to 20Hz, which is great, making the recorded speech sound full. HFE is extended up to 10kHz, which is also very good. However, the 15dB peak surrounding 3kHz makes recorded speech sound very bright to the point of being harsh and piercing.
This headset has excellent noise handling. The microphone on the Cougar Immersa Gaming Headset has achieved a speech-to-noise ratio of 41dB which is impressive. This makes them an ideal choice for environments with very high levels of ambient noise.
No compatible app.
Negligible latency, wired connection.
