Prif Freedom 1 Chat Headset Review & Giveaway

Prif have entered the gaming peripheral market with a welcome mantra for gamers everywhere, that quality should not be reserved for the rarified world of the pro-gamer. Their licensed PlayStation products aim for a high-quality experience at a reasonable price, and thus far they are proving true to their word.

The Freedom 1 is pegged as a next-gen wireless headset, featuring customised audio technology for HD quality chat with low latency. It’s certainly a smart looking piece of kit, with a glossy black finish set against the red outline of the central silver buttons. The earpiece and earhook are made from solid feeling rubber, and it’s light enough to be worn for long gaming sessions.

Opening up the diminutive box you have the main Freedom 1 unit, the body of which is about the length and width of a finger, alongside the USB receiver dongle that goes into the USB port on your console. There’s also an alternative fascia in a camo design for those who are into their military shooters in a particularly ‘serious’ way, as well as an extra earhook so you can wear the unit on the other side of your head.

The Freedom 1 itself is pretty unfussy, with an on/off switch, voice monitor button, volume controls, microphone mute slider, and a micro-usb charging port. Despite its budget pricing it doesn’t feel like a cheap earpiece, and it held up well to repeated usage.

Swapping the fascias and the earhooks over is as simple as prising the front from the unit. The fascias themselves aren’t made from the sturdiest of plastic though, so I would say a gentle touch will work best for you, but I had no problems at all switching them back and forth.

With a simple USB dongle, the Freedom 1 is compatible with both PS4 and PS3, but I also had no issues getting it to work with both my PC and my Mac as well so it has a welcome level of usability. It’s capable of outputting all sound from whichever source you choose, but since it’s only piping that into one ear, it’s clearly not designed for listening to music or immersive gaming audio. You’ll be wanting to switch the settings on the PS4 to chat-only for the best experience.

The chat performance is of course the headset’s core function and thankfully it holds up very well indeed; party members were able to hear my voice clearly, and it retained a good level of depth to my voice without becoming too tinny. With the audio volume cranked up there was a touch of audio leakage for listeners when I was talking as well, but reducing the level minimised these moments, and in the heat of a battle I don’t think it would cause any issues. In turn, the speaker produces clear and distinct chat audio, with other player’s voices sounding full and well-rounded.

Along with the headset I was also sent a link to the updated firmware for the headset, and I was able to update it without a problem. All new units now ship with the latest version of the firmware, with future updates set to be available from the Prif website in the near future, ensuring that it continues to offer an optimal experience.

Overall the Freedom 1 is a well-rounded wireless headset, which fulfils Prif’s design brief perfectly. If you want to combine all the audio into one headset, this clearly isn’t for you, but the Freedom 1 has clear and listenable chat audio, while the headset itself is light enough to be worn comfortably for long sessions. For anyone looking for a great value, wireless chat earpiece, the Freedom 1 is easily recommended.

Fancy a brand new Freedom 1 headset all of your own? The folks at Prif have kindly provided two prizes for our readers, with a Freedom 1 Headset and a Crescendo 1 Headset Amplifier up for grabs. To be entered into the prize draw simply post in the comments below or retweet our competition before 11PM BST on April 21st, with the winners picked at random.