Multiplayer games being all the rage nowadays, having a headset is essential so you can communicate with your fellow players and, why not, the adversaries as well. Zowie enters the gaming-grade niche with the release of the Hammer E-Sport Headset. The design resembles an old school DJ headphone — a friend has dubbed it “Paradise Garage,” referring to the legendary 70’s and 80’s NY nightclub which was the birthplace of a particular subgenre of house music, garage. The ear cups cover the entire ear, the whole body is very sturdy and reinforced so the microphone bar and headband cannot be easily broken, and it also comes with extra cable so you can walk around the room while using Skype. Let’s examine the Hammer in details.

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Figure 1: The Hammer.

The Hammer comes with two sets of ear cups, leather and cloth, so you can choose the one of your preference. Theoretically, the leather is for multimedia use while the cloth is better for gaming since it’s not as hot as the leather cups, but it’s all a matter of personal taste. We did find the cloth cups cooler.  

There’s a control module with a shirt clip mid cable, with a mute key and volume controls. It’s a little too big but it goes with the overall design, and the microphone mute control is also very sturdy and cannot be clicked on by accident.

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Figure 2: The ear cups.

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Figure 3: The control module.

Speaking of the microphone, it’s also big and comes encased in a plastic mouthpiece. We’ll talk about its performance later.

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Figure 4: Microphone detail.