Cougar Immersa
HEADPHONES REVIEW

The Cougar Immersa look like bulky gaming headphones. They have large ear cups with very thick pads and a strap design for the headband that makes them look somewhat like the AKG K712 Pro. They have a retractable mic so they could pass for casual headphones but their size is not really practical to use outdoors. On the upside, they look a lot more premium then their price would suggest.

The Immersa have an old school strap design and thick ear pads that make them decently comfortable. They easily adjust to different head sizes, and the ear cups are large and fit well around most listeners' ears. Unfortunately, they're a bit tight on the head. The thick padding somewhat reduces the clamping effect, but they still put enough pressure around your ears to be fatiguing after wearing them for a while.

The Immersa have a basic gaming inline remote that gives you an on/off switch for the mic and a two-way volume dial. It's an easy-to-use setup, but the feedback on the volume dial lacks distinct notches. Also, the in-line remote is not mobile friendly since you can't make calls or pause your music with the remote.

The Cougar Immersa are a very large and bulky headset. They don't fold into a more compact format and are cumbersome to carry around on your person. They're not limited by a transmitter stand or USB dongle like some of the other wireless gaming headphones. But unfortunately, they're not very portable and definitely require a bag if you're going to be commuting or traveling with them.

The Immersa are decently well built but have a lot of moving parts in their headband design. The ear cups are dense and sturdy and won't break from a few accidental drops. The headband is flexible and decently durable but has a lot of moving parts that will wear over time with repeated use. They also do not have a detachable cable so it can't be replaced if it ever gets damaged which reduces their overall durability. On the upside, the materials used in their build quality feels a lot more premium than their price would suggest.

These headphones are big and bulky and won't be stable enough to run or exercise with. They're also wired with a non-detachable cable so if the cable gets hooked by something it will quickly yank the headphone off your ears. However, since they're kind of tight on the head, they won't easily fall during casual listening or gaming sessions.

Comes with a headset adapter/Y-splitter cable.

Mediocre bass range performance. Low-frequency extension is at 30Hz, which is very good. However, low-bass which is responsible for thump and rumble is lacking by about 2dB. The 7dB bump centered around 120Hz and extended up to 250Hz, makes the sound of these headphones noticeably boomy and muddy. Also, their bass delivery varies significantly across users, and is sensitive to the quality of fit, seal, and whether you wear glasses. The response here represents the average bass response and your experience may vary.

Average mid range performance. The 4dB bump in low-mid is the continuation of the high-bass bump, which makes mixes sound cluttered and muddy. The dip around 1.2KHz negatively affects the intensity and projection of vocals/leads.

Very good treble range. The response is relatively flat, but consistently under our target by about 1.5dB. This will slightly tilt the tonal balance towards lower frequencies.

Sub-par consistency. In the bass range, the Immersa performed quite consistently across our humans subjects, except with the one wearing glasses, which experienced 6dB less bass at 20Hz. In the treble range, they also show more than 6dB of deviation below 10KHz.

Average harmonic distortion performance. The overall amount of harmonic distortion in the treble range is low, regardless of level. However, in the bass and lower mid ranges, there is a significant rise in THD under heavier loads.

Poor isolation performance. These headsets don't have active noise cancelling and don't isolate below 1KHz. Above that, they achieve an isolation of 25dB, which is decent.

Poor leakage. The significant portion of leakage sits between 500Hz and 6KHz, which is a broad range. The overall level of leakage is also moderately loud.

Very good recording quality. LFE is extended down to 20Hz, which is great, making the recorded speech with the Immersa to sound full. HFE is extended up to 10KHz, which is also very good. However, the 15dB peak surrounding 3KHz makes recorded speech sound very bright to the point of being harsh and piercing.

Excellent noise handling. The microphone on the Cougar Immersa has achieved a speech-to-noise ratio of 41dB which is impressive. This makes them an ideal choice for environments with very high levels of ambient noise.

No compatible app.

Negligible latency, wired connection.