Verdict
The Nacon GH-120 might be cheap, but they struggle to impress. The loose-fitting headband is annoying and the muddy audio is unsatisfying. Even at this price, you can do better.
Key Features
- Loose fittingWhile the flexible plastic construction seems durable enough, it’s too loose fitting even on my larger than average head. This results in it feeling like it’ll slip off with every head movement, as well as poor sound isolation.
- 40mm driversDespite the 40mm drivers, the GH-120 lacks bass, with the mid-range overpowering everything else. As an analogue headset, you’ll need third party software on your source device if you want to adjust the balance.
- Wired connectionThe 3.5mm stereo port is ubiquitous, so you’ll be able to use the Nacon GH-120 with any system. Well, except your smartphone.
Introduction
The Nacon GH-120 is a wired headset with basic features aimed at gamers on a tight budget.
I know Nacon can produce a decent headset at a fair price (the RIG 600 Pro is fantastic value for money), so I went in with reasonable hopes.
At the lower end of the market, there are many alternatives and it can be difficult to differentiate on much other than looks.
Design and Features
- Wired-only headset
- Choice of colors
- Loose fitting
The Nacon GH-120 is a wired headset that requires a 3.5mm stereo jack on your source device, which rules out the majority of smartphones from the last five years unless you’re happy to use a dongle. There is no Bluetooth connection or battery.
The box contents are sparse, but there is a Y-splitter to get a separate headphone output and mic input if you don’t have a TRRS port.
The cable is nicely braided, with an ample 2.2 metres of it to reach your source, but it’s not removable. Normally I would dock points for repairability, but at this price, it’s forgivable.
At 288g, the GH-120 is lightweight; too light, to the point of feeling cheap. The build is entirely plastic, with weak click-clack adjustments to the headband, which ends up feeling as loose as it could be without technically falling off.
Despite having quite a large head, I found I only needed to adjust it to the first of six possible steps of expansion. Any further and it would sit too low on my ears. For anyone with a smaller head – particularly children – this just won’t stay on. There are no exposed wires though, and on the whole, it feels durable; I expect it would take a few knocks and bumps without issue.
But the loose, pleather-covered headband was constantly disconcerting. If I shook my head even slightly or looked forward, it began to slide off. There’s a balance with any headset between comfort and a secure fit. Too strong and it’ll push your ears, making long sessions uncomfortable. Too weak and it’ll fall off. The GH-120 sits firmly in the latter category for me, and I don’t think this is a one-off manufacturing defect.
You do, at least, have a choice of colours. In addition to the white I received, it’s also available in black, grey, red, or blue. There’s some light branding on the top of the headband, and the Nacon logo on the earcups in light grey, but nothing overt. It’s all quite understated.
The hardwired cable features an inline remote control, with a volume dial and microphone mute slider. Again, this is expected at this price point. Complex mechanisms like a lift to mute the microphone or a dial built into one of the earcups would have increased costs; an inline remote is a cheap way to do it.
As with any headset of this type, the volume control can only reduce the volume sent by your source, so you’re better off adjusting it there if you can, rather than relying on the remote.
The microphone also can’t be detached, and the point at which it connects to the earcup doesn’t rotate. You can bend the arm out of the way when not in use, but it doesn’t bend enough and stays annoyingly within your peripheral vision at all times.
Audio and Microphone
- Muddy, mid-heavy sound
- No sound isolation
- The microphone is fine, but picks up everything
The GH-120 features 40mm drivers, but I found a surprising lack of bass. You’ll find plenty of treble and mid, but the overall sound profile is muddy.
There’s no accompanying app to adjust the equaliser, so unless you have some third-party software on your audio source, it is what it is. Again though, for the price you could do a lot worse. It doesn’t sound horrendous, and it can get loud if you can tolerate it.
Booting up GTA V, I found the explosions and gunfire were devoid of substance and wholly unsatisfying, but at least I could hear clearly every bit of verbal abuse directed my way for driving on the wrong side of the street or lightly bumping pedestrians.
I kept wanting to increase the volume so crashing would give more of a thud, but that resulted in ear-aching tinniness from everything else.
When it comes to music, the muddy, mid-tuned sound worked well for the dirty warmth of drum and bass, but for anything with nuance, the details were completely lost. The usually dulcet violin sounds of Lindsey Stirling sounded grating, and when the beat dropped, everything went fuzzy.
As for audio isolation: there isn’t any. I turned on a white noise app from my phone, and could hear all of it. Lowering my expectations, I plugged in and turned on my gaming PC: the GH-120 didn’t even block the humming of my case fan. It’s not helped by the looseness of the headband, of course, but even if they were snug on my ears, I suspect the earcup material wouldn’t block much.
The microphone quality is decent, and picked up my voice clearly once I’d increased the recording volume to maximum. Unfortunately, it picked up everything else too: the hum from the computer, and even the music track I was listening to. Many games offer some sort of built-in background noise squelching, so this might not be as big of a problem as it sounds.
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Should you buy it?
You’re looking for something cheap and functional that’ll get the job done
The Nacon GH-120 isn’t going to win any design awards, be the most comfortable headset around, or sound great – but the value for money can’t be argued with.
You have a larger budget
If this is your first headset and you’re on a bare minimum budget, you could do worse. But you could also do a lot better by spending not a lot more on one of the best gaming headsets.
Final Thoughts
I’m amazed anyone can make a headset for the price of a modest takeout, but the compromises can be seen and heard in the audio, build quality, and features.
For the same price as the Nacon GH-120, there’s a lot of choice on the market. Earlier this year we were impressed by the Turtle Beach Recon 70. At the time of review in 2020, we rated the Razer Kraken X Lite for £50; now they can be found for £30. Even Nacon’s own RIG 300 series would be a desirable design for gamers.
You aren’t going to get great audio from a pair of cans this cheap, but you should at least get a comfortable fit and the features you need. You probably won’t find either here.
How we test
We use every headset we test for at least a week. During that time, we’ll check it for ease of use and put it through its paces by using it in a variety of games, as well as playing music in order to get the full experience.
We also check each headset’s software (if applicable) to see how easy it is to customize and set up.
Use as our primary gaming headset for at least a week.
Tested with a variety of games.
Also tested with music playback.
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FAQs
Which systems is the Nacon GH-120 compatible with?
As an analogue headset, you can use anything that provides a stereo headphone jack, which is pretty much anything except a modern smartphone.
