The ROCCAT Elo 7.1 Air Wireless are wireless gaming headphones with customizable RGB lighting. They're well-built, decently comfortable, and have a fairly well-balanced sound profile that can be customized through their feature-packed companion software. They also have a detachable mic that offers very good recording quality and does a great job of blocking out background noise. Unfortunately, they let in a lot of ambient noise, are very bulky, and don't have an especially stable fit.
Our Verdict
The ROCCAT Elo 7.1 Air are decent for neutral sound. They have a reasonably well-balanced out-of-the-box sound profile, though some users may find it to be a little boomy. Thankfully, their companion software features audio presets as well as a graphic EQ that lets you customize their sound profile to your liking. Unfortunately, they don't deliver audio very consistently and have a closed-off soundstage.
- Variety of sound customization features.
- They struggle to deliver audio consistently.
The ROCCAT Elo 7.1 Air are middling for commuting and traveling. They're very bulky, don't come with a carrying case, and can only function with the use of their USB dongle, so you need an adapter to connect them to your phone. They also really struggle to filter out ambient noise like the rumble of bus engines. That said, they offer roughly 16 hours of battery life and are quite well-built.
- Great battery life.
- Good build quality.
- Bulky design.
- Poor noise isolation capability.
- No Bluetooth connectivity.
The ROCCAT Elo 7.1 Air are inadequate for sports and fitness, though this is some way from their intended use. They're big and relatively heavy, with a somewhat unstable fit that's likely to cause them to fall from your head during only moderately intense workouts. They also need an adapter to connect their USB-A dongle to your phone since they aren't Bluetooth compatible.
- Good build quality.
- Bulky design.
- No Bluetooth connectivity.
The ROCCAT Elo 7.1 Air are mediocre for office use. They do very little to block out any ambient chatter from nearby coworkers and leak a fair amount of audio. You also need to plug their USB dongle into your work computer since they aren't Bluetooth-compatible. However, their 16-hour battery life should get you through a couple of workdays, and they're decently comfortable to wear for extended periods.
- Great battery life.
- Poor noise isolation capability.
- No Bluetooth connectivity.
The ROCCAT Elo 7.1 Air are a decent option for wireless gaming. They're equipped with a detachable boom mic that should ensure that your teammates hear you clearly, even in noisy environments. Their companion software is feature-packed and should allow you to customize most essential aspects of your gaming experience. However, they have high latency via their USB dongle, which can cause syncing issues between your audio and visuals.
- Variety of sound customization features.
- Very good microphone recording quality and noise handling capability.
- High latency via USB dongle.
- They struggle to deliver audio consistently.
The ROCCAT Elo 7.1 Air are wireless-only headphones and can't be used on a wired connection.
The ROCCAT Elo 7.1 Air are satisfactory for phone calls. Their boom mic makes your voice sound full-bodied, natural, and mostly free of background noise, so people on the other end of the line should understand you with little difficulty. However, due to their poor noise isolation capability, you may have trouble following what's being said if you're calling from a loud environment.
- Very good microphone recording quality and noise handling capability.
- Poor noise isolation capability.
Changelog
- Updated Nov 10, 2021: Converted to Test Bench 1.5.
- Updated Apr 13, 2021: We've updated the PC/PS4 Compatibility test with additional information regarding controls.
- Updated Jan 15, 2021: Review published.
- Updated Jan 13, 2021: Early access published.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The ROCCAT Elo 7.1 Air only come in one color variant: 'Black', and you can see their label here.
If you come across a different variant, let us know in the discussions so we can update our review.
Popular Headphones Comparisons
The ROCCAT Elo 7.1 Air are wireless gaming headphones. They're compatible with PC as well as PS4 and PS5 consoles, offer a wide variety of customization options, and have a detachable boom mic with very good overall performance. Unfortunately, they aren't quite as versatile as alternatives like the SteelSeries Arctis 9 Wireless since they aren't Bluetooth compatible and have a very bulky design. If you're looking for alternatives, take a look at our list of recommendations of the best PS4 gaming headsets, the best wireless gaming headsets, and the best gaming headsets.
The SteelSeries Arctis 9 Wireless are more versatile than the ROCCAT Elo 7.1 Air Wireless. The SteelSeries have lower non-Bluetooth wireless latency and are Bluetooth-compatible, allowing you to stream music off your phone as you game or chat with friends. They're also comfier, are better built, leak less audio, and have a longer battery life. Their boom mic also has superior recording quality and noise-handling capability. However, the ROCCAT take less time to charge.
The Logitech G PRO X WIRELESS LIGHTSPEED Gaming Headset is a superior choice for wireless gaming compared to the ROCCAT Elo 7.1 Air Wireless. The Logitech are more comfortable, deliver audio more consistently, have a boom mic with superior recording quality and noise handling capability, and last longer on a single charge. They also have a companion software with more features and significantly lower wireless latency. That said, the ROCCAT have a better noise isolation performance.
The Corsair HS70 Wireless are better gaming headphones than the ROCCAT Elo 7.1 Wireless. The Corsair have a more comfortable fit, feel better-made, and charge substantially faster while offering similar battery life. They also have lower non-Bluetooth wireless latency. However, the ROCCAT offer on-board controls for channel mixing, and have a boom mic that delivers superior recording quality and noise handling capability. Their companion software also has a broader range of customization features.
The SteelSeries Arctis 7 2019 Edition Wireless are better than the ROCCAT Elo 7.1 Air Wireless. The SteelSeries are more comfortable, better-built, leak less audio, have superior overall microphone performance, and last significantly longer on a single charge. They can also be used on a wired connection via a 1/8" TRRS cable and they have lower non-Bluetooth wireless latency.
Test Results
The ROCCAT Elo 7.1 Air have a somewhat bulky, gaming-oriented appearance. While their all-black color scheme isn't especially flashy, their two-piece ski-band headband and RGB logo on their ear cups ensure that they stand out in most settings. Unlike the Astro A20 Gen 2 Wireless, they have an RGB lighting feature that can be customized through their companion software.
The ROCCAT Elo 7.1 Air are decently comfortable. They should feel relatively light on your head, and their ear cups do an effective job of distributing their somewhat high clamping force. However, their headband can become loose fairly easily, and achieving a comfortable position with its ski-band headband can be tricky. For more comfortable gaming headphones, check out the Razer Barracuda X Wireless.
The headphones' controls are passable. There are dedicated scroll wheels for volume control and channel mixing as well as power and microphone muting buttons. The buttons yield good, clicky feedback, but the channel and volume wheels can be hard to tell apart and they scroll infinitely, so there's no way of knowing once you've reached a maximum setting. If you're connected to a PS4 or PS5 console, the volume control wheel also doesn't work, so you need to adjust the volume directly from the console.
Like most over-ear gaming headphones, the ROCCAT Elo 7.1 Air aren't very portable. Even though they have ear cups that can swivel flat and a removable boom mic that slightly reduces their overall size, they're still bulkier than alternatives like the SteelSeries Arctis 7P Wireless.
The ROCCAT Elo 7.1 Air are well-built. They're mostly made of sturdy-feeling plastic, though their outer headband is made of metal. Faux leather and cloth are used to line the ear cups and inner headband. They feel quite solid overall, though their ski-band headband does seem like a potential weak point.
These over-ears have an adequately stable fit. Despite their fairly high clamping force, they're likely to loosen on your head and move around with moderate to high-intensity movements. They should have no trouble staying in place if you're wearing them while gaming, however. Their wireless design eliminates the risk of an audio cable getting snagged on something and yanking the headphones from your head.
- ROCCAT Elo 7.1 Air Wireless headphones
- USB-A dongle
- Detachable boom mic
- USB-C charging cable
- User manual
The ROCCAT Elo 7.1 Air have a somewhat boomy sound profile, which should help emphasize in-game sound effects, but without totally overpowering dialogue or music thanks to their well-balanced mid and treble ranges. If you'd like to fine-tune their sound profile to your liking, their Roccat Swarm companion software features audio presets as well as a graphic EQ.
These headphones have middling frequency response consistency. Audio delivery can vary dramatically depending on the ear cups fit, seal, and positioning. This could be especially annoying if you have thick hair or wear glasses, as this can affect their seal and lead to a reduction of intensity in their bass delivery.
These headphones have good bass accuracy. They're lacking a bit of low-end thump and rumble, but their overemphasized high-bass range should provide extra warmth to in-game sound effects, though at the expense of sounding a little boomy. That said, their bass delivery can vary drastically depending on their fit, seal, and positioning.
The ROCCAT Elo 7.1 Air have excellent mid accuracy. The range is very flat and even, yielding full-bodied and clear vocals and lead instruments that are present in the mix.
The ROCCAT Elo 7.1 Air have very good treble accuracy. The range is fairly flat but a little underemphasized, so vocals and lead instruments may lose a bit of clarity. Their uneven mid-treble range can give sibilants an alternatively slightly dull and harsh quality. Their treble delivery is very sensitive to their fit, seal, and positioning, so your listening experience may vary.
These headphones have decent peaks and dips performance. A bump in the high-bass through low-mid ranges can generate some boominess and clutter vocals and lead instruments. The dips in the low-mid and low-treble ranges can thin out vocals and lead instruments and veil them, respectively. A rise in the mid-treble range makes sibilants sound piercing.
The ROCCAT Elo 7.1 Air have impressive stereo imaging performance. Their weighted group delay falls entirely beneath the audibility threshold, resulting in tight bass and transparent treble. Their L/R drivers are also quite well-matched in regards to amplitude and phase response, with only minor frequency mismatch being present. This means that objects like footsteps and voices should be fairly accurately placed within the stereo image. That said, these results are only valid for our model.
These headphones have an acceptable passive soundstage. It should be perceived as sounding natural and as if it's coming from out in front of you rather than from the inside of your head. However, it may also be perceived as being small and closed-off. Since they have a closed-back enclosure, their soundstage isn't as spacious as open-back gaming headphones like the Astro A40 TR Headset + MixAmp Pro 2019.
These headphones offer support for 7.1 Surround Sound through its Roccat Swarm companion software. However, we don't currently test this feature.
The ROCCAT Elo 7.1 Air have passable weighted harmonic distortion performance. While audio reproduction is fairly clean and pure at normal listening volumes, some audible distortion is present across the mid-range at max volumes, which could be noticeable with real-life content.
These are the settings used to test these headphones. Our results are only valid in this configuration.
The ROCCAT Elo 7.1 Air have poor noise isolation. They do almost nothing to block out the low-pitched rumble of sounds like bus or truck engines. They don't filter out much in the way of ambient chatter either. However, they do a good job of blocking out the high-frequency hum of an AC unit.
The ROCCAT Elo 7.1 Air's leakage performance is okay. People nearby may be able to hear what you're listening to in quiet environments if you're listening at a high volume, but leaking audio should be lost beneath the noise floor of a normal office.
The ROCCAT Elo 7.1 Air have a detachable flexible microphone.
The boom mic's recording quality is good. Recorded speech should sound full-bodied and natural, though a little muffled and distorted.
The microphone's noise handling capability is very good. Teammates and people on the other end of the line should be able to understand you clearly, even in noisy environments.
The battery performance of these over-ears is great. They supply roughly 16 hours of continuous playback time with their RGB lighting turned on, which should be suitable for a couple of long gaming marathons. They're advertised as having a 24-hour battery life with their RGB lighting turned off, but this wasn't tested. They're also equipped with an adjustable auto-off timer to help conserve battery life when not in use. They take over 3 hours to charge, which is comparable to other wireless gaming headphones like the Logitech G PRO X WIRELESS LIGHTSPEED Gaming Headset, but can be used even if they're plugged in.
The Roccat Swarm companion software is great. It offers users a couple of sound customization features, like a graphic EQ and audio presets, as well as some mic adjustment functions, such as voice modification and voice clarity. You can also use it to set the length of the headphones' auto-off timer or adjust the RGB lighting on their ear cups.
The ROCCAT Elo 7.1 Air aren't Bluetooth-compatible.
Update 12/09/2021: These headphones have been updated to test bench 1.5. In this update, we made changes to the way we test latency. We now use a click track in our software, and we measure latency three times and average the results. This new method has resulted in different latency values than what we had reported in our previous test bench. As a result, we have updated our review to reflect these changes.
The ROCCAT Elo 7.1 Air have okay non-Bluetooth wireless capability. Their USB-A wireless dongle has high latency, which could cause syncing issues between your audio and visuals.
These over-ears aren't compatible with any wired connections. They come with a USB-C cable for charging.
