Knowledge Zenith, or KZ Audio, is a Guangdong-based electronics company that specializes in audio equipment, particularly earbuds. Their new gaming headset, the GP20, is a little bit different from their average product, though presented with all the enthusiasm of a company that had been in the market for years.
What’s In The Box
Packaging for the GP20s looks and feels decent quality, with a definite ‘gamer’ colour scheme in the blacks and greens. Inside you will find the headphones themselves, an instruction booklet, a charging cable, a USB dongle for wireless connection, and a USB-C charging cable. The cable isn’t prohibitively short, which is welcome.
The booklet has the English instructions at the back, so don’t be alarmed when picking it up and being greeted with Chinese text! They are there and set out how to get things running in a fairly easy-to-understand way. It took no time at all to get them running, and the headphones start with enough juice in the battery to get going immediately.
Aesthetics And Build Quality
The GP20 is a nice-looking headset. It has a matte black finish all over aside from glossy panels that display the KZ logo. These are the areas that will display the RGB lights when the headset is functioning. The lights can be turned on and off with a quick button press. As someone who would prefer longer battery life, and as someone who takes work calls, the ability to easily turn off the lights is something I wish more headsets had!
The build quality is something that definitely stood out early on with this headset, in a good way. It is a solid piece of gear, with a metal headband that could clearly withstand a lot of punishment. The earcups and padding are extremely soft, and do compensate for a more hefty headband perfectly well.
Specs And Special Features
Clearly lot of attention in the development of the GP20s was given to the audio quality. Its product descriptions are eager to point out the 50mm drive unit and the 110mW@32Ω DSP audio amplifier. These aren’t empty words either. The sound quality is excellent and on switching to a different headset when the battery ran low I was shocked but the change. The GP20’s sound is clear, silky smooth, and generally pleasant to listen to.
It also boasts Bluetooth 5.0 and 2.4Ghz wireless transmission, which was in turn no hollow sales pitch. Testing the mic on Discord became tricky because the latency was so low I was practically speaking over myself, while I’d been used to a decent delay on my previous mic.
What It Could Have Done Better
In general, my experience with the headset was excellent to play, watch videos and listen to music, but one factor became a major issue when I came to try out using in a Discord chat. The mic came in on the quiet side. Changing some settings improved this a little, but it wasn’t loud enough that it would be easy to get heard in a loud group chat.
This could be a flaw in the particular set, as not every user describing their experience appear to have this issue with the model, though it’s worth keeping in mind.
Verdict
The KZ Audio GP20s are good headphones. They’re comfortable, pretty to look at, sound great, and come with features that are thoughtful and appreciated. It’s only the struggles with the mic that would get in the way of me using them for everything.
