Cosmic Byte Equinox Kronos headset review

The Cosmic Byte Equinox Kronos comes in a hard protective case which is a first in this price segment. Inside the case, you get the headphones, a Type-C dongle for the 5.8GHz wireless connection, a USB Type-A to Type-C charging cable, a 3.5mm cable for wired connection and a USB Type-A to Type-C converter for the wireless USB dongle. Also, all cables are braided and of good quality. It’s surprisingly easy to travel with the Equinox Kronos and it’s built so because Cosmic Byte wants to woo pro-eSports athletes with these. Even the hard case and the quality of the zip and materials are of good quality. Good enough to keep your headsets safe and also not feel like you’re rocking budget gaming headphones.

The quality of the headsets is what surprised us the most. For this budget, gaming headsets are usually made of hard plastic that comes with too much creaking noise around the hinges. The Comic Byte Kronos doesn’t have any of those issues. There’s a fair bit of plastic used but the overall construction is metal and the non-removable leatherette cushioning on the earpads is also plush. They have good passive sound isolation as well. The earpads don’t microwave your ears during long gaming sessions but humid climates like in Mumbai can lead to a stuffy feeling if you’re sitting without an air conditioner. 

The headband has decent flex and cushioning. Although the earcups themselves don’t have any rotation motion. Just a few inches of clamping movement in the earcup but plenty of vertical direction to fit your noggin within the headband. The headband adjustment isn’t the smoothest but once you find your perfect adjustment, there’s little to deter the fit.

The sound quality is not done cheaply either, the 50mm driver is genuinely good for gaming. The sound signature on the Equinox Kronos is V-shaped which is fun for playing immersive games with an expansive soundstage and explosive set action pieces. The upcoming The Last of Us Part 1 Remake has a completely reworked sound design to complement PlayStation 5’s 3D Audio and Dolby Atmos. The Equinox Kronos comes with Dolby Atmos support which is not half-baked and it handles PS5 games quite well. Thundercracks and raindrops in games like The Last of Us and Ghost of Tsushima are placed nicely around the soundstage to give you an immersive sound experience. The lower end has a meaty bite which can be best experienced through high-quality games like Marvel’s Spider-Man, Horizon Forbidden West and Deathloop. 

As much as we like the bass, the highs on this really make or break your listening experience. For music listening, there’s a bit of sibilance but you won’t have any issues with that in competitive shooting games. The boomy bass and the sharp highs give it a bit distinct sound which can be fatiguing for ears that are used to a slightly flatter EQ. Although, those qualities of the Equinox Kronos make it a valuable tool for competitive gaming. Even the lightest footsteps in Apex Legends ring off in your ear like a shoot-first alarm. And if you’re a seasoned gamer, the soundstage will make it precisely clear where those footsteps are coming from.

Our only gripe is with the quality of the retractable microphone. The mic sounds like you’re sitting in the loo and talking to your buds. It has good voice isolation but that comes at a cost of muffled voice with occasional static noise and sibilance. It reeks of poor quality. The headset also announces every button pressed on the headset. So you may lose game audio for a second or two when the headset decides to say ‘microphone off’ every time you mute yourself. This is nothing significant but it can quickly become annoying if you’re spending too much time in Valorant and on Discord.

Even the control buttons and the volume wheels are of shoddy plastic quality. It’s not terrible but there are little features that simply hinder your daily experience. For one, there’s no LED to tell you how much battery juice is remaining. Cosmic Byte has neatly added an LED logo within the metal grill of these closed-back headphones but somehow forgot to add an important battery indicator. Another minor but head-scratching issue for us is with the USB Type-C port on the headset. You see, the USB port on the headset is recessed so you’re forced to use the cable provided by Cosmic Byte. Any other Type-C cable (your smartphone’s charging cable) will not be able to fit within the recessed area, we tried five and none of them fit because of the shield housing around the pin. 

The Cosmic Byte Equinox Kronos wireless gaming headset is quite a mouthful but assuredly it offers a good set of features, accessories and quality audio for gaming. Don’t expect these to be great for listening to music. More specifically, there are better headphones out on the market but none that do and offer such features wirelessly. So Cosmic Byte might be a good option if you’re looking to cut the cord. We would suggest investing in a separate microphone because if you’re looking to play with your friends on Discord, the mic quality is subpar at best. The wireless range isn’t the best through concrete walls. You could barely get 15 feet away before the connection starts to drop. If you face the left earcup towards the dongle, it will give you a few extra feet of stable connection.

There’s also a downloadable software that has all the EQ settings for Gaming and Music profiles which you can play around with and fix most of the audio shortcomings of the Equinox Kronos. The microphone ENC can also be turned off for some clarity. Although the software doesn’t have a battery indicator.