Lucidsound LS100X review – high-tier features at a mid-tier price

Our Verdict

The LucidSound LS100x’s mediocre mic is more than compensated by excellent battery, wonderful feature set and great value for money.

Reasons to buy

• Excellent value
• Robust feature set that rivals pricier headsets
• Seamlessly switch between modes and settings

Reasons to avoid

• Picks up ambient noise easily
• Mediocre mic

The LucidSound LS100X is a budget headset designed for PC and Xbox. What it lacks in frills, it makes up for in functional versatility.

While LucidSound lacks the brand recognition of Razer and Corsair, it’s still determined to compete for the gaming headset market, with a decent price and robust feature set to its credit. In my several months of using the LS100X, I’ve tested its design, features, and performance for gaming and day-to-day use, and found plenty to recommend it.

LucidSound LS100X specs

LucidSound LS100X design

Looks-wise, the LucidSound LS100X is pretty generic, following the headset blueprint of black plastic and smooth contours. That’s not the worst crime. In some ways, it’s preferable to the in-your-face aesthetics of some higher-tier headsets, and its slender frugality means the LucidSound LS100X looks just as at home on your head when you’re out and about at the gym or in town as it does during a gaming session with your friends.

Speaking of slenderness, the headband is just 2.86cm across. The LucidSound logo is emblazoned across the top, and beneath sits a section of leatherette cushioning. This cushioning, also appearing on the ear cushions, sadly feels a little more plasticky than other leatherette materials I’ve tried in the past.

The headband height is adjustable, with seven increments on the arms to most comfortably fit your head size. The arms themselves extend down to the earcups with a textured plastic recess, one of the few sparks of originality in the exterior design. The earcups themselves feature the same textured plastic design with a LucidSound logo, and the middle of the cups is both rotatable and pressable, performing various functions in your day-to-day use of the headset.

When you put the headset on, the first thing you’ll notice is how lightweight and unobtrusive it feels, which is a big plus. However, the lack of weight and rigidity of its components can prevent the headset from feeling molded to your head like others do. That rigidity does contribute to a sense of sturdiness, which is great, but, alongside the shiny, black plastic the headset is made of and an irritating rattle in the earcups, contributes to a feeling of cheapness.

LucidSound LS100X features

Fortunately, that cheapness doesn’t extend to any other aspect of the LucidSound LS100X, which boasts a feature set that stands shoulder-to-shoulder with high-tier headsets, bells, and whistles included.

My favorite aspect of these cans is the level of functionality LucidSound has imbued the typically perfunctory buttons and dials on the headset itself. As well as your standard on/off button, volume wheel, and connection-switching button, the earcups can be pressed or twisted to accomplish an unusually wide range of actions.

There are two modes of use: Bluetooth and ‘Gaming’ (ie 2.4GHz wireless), and the controls function slightly differently for each. This may sound complex, and it is, but when you get used to it, you unlock this headset’s greatest strength: its versatility.

Take the left earcup for instance. If you press it once in Gaming Mode, it mutes all audio, whereas in Bluetooth mode — more likely to be used with your phone when listening to music — it pauses or plays music, or answers and ends calls.

And that’s just one input. Holding the earcup switches between Gaming and Bluetooth modes, whereas double-tapping gives you a voice prompt indicating the current battery level. Twisting the earcup adjusts the volume, and it beeps at minimum and maximum levels.

The only issue I found with these functions is that the Gaming Mode defaults to low audio, meaning you have to manually turn it up until it beeps each time you turn it on or switch from Bluetooth. It’s a minor annoyance, but worth mentioning.

Similarly, the right earcup can adjust the volume balance of game audio and voice chat when twisted, which occasionally proves very handy. The center button can be tapped to mute the mic, which is easier to access than other mic-muting buttons I’ve used.

Thanks to this, the LucidSound LS100X makes swapping between Bluetooth and 2.4GHz wireless modes utterly seamless with none of the awkwardness some other headsets engender. Both modes work like a charm, and the added functionality of the earcup buttons makes it easy to get the most out of either mode. I found myself having to fiddle with settings on my PC or phone less than ever with this headset, and that can only be a good thing. If I’m being finicky, it’s a shame the LucidSound LS100X doesn’t allow for a wired connection, but I’m not sure I’d have used it much regardless.

Speaking of not fiddling with settings, we’d normally talk about software in this section of the review. But LucidSound doesn’t have a dedicated platform to customize the LS100X, so we can’t. While this could be seen as a drawback, I appreciated the fact that all functionality was accessible through the headset itself.

LucidSound LS100X performance

Well, its looks and neat features are all well and good, but how does the LucidSound LS100X sound? The answer is: pretty good. While the 50mm drivers lack the distinction and clarity of top-of-the-range cans like the Corsair HS80 Max Wireless, they’re more than competent enough for day-to-day gaming.

The directional sound is great, which is handy for general immersion, and tactical FPS where identifying the direction of audio cues is key to success. However, lower frequencies come across quite murkily and the bass response is limited. In short, this is a headset better suited to the precise gunplay of Valorant than the sweeping score of Baldur’s Gate 3.

The mic is a different story, sadly. Although it’s not terrible, it fared poorly in the side-by-side testing I carried out against a similarly priced headset, the HyperX Cloud 3. You come through fine in Discord or Zoom, but not as well as other mics in this price bracket. The mic is detachable via a 3.5mm jack, which is great, but problems arise when the mic isn’t attached.

The LucidSound LS100X also has an in-built mic, which is unsurprisingly weak, but that’s not the issue. It suffers from terrible ambient noise when you’re outside or have a fan or heater on. When the detachable mic is removed from the jack, the headset switches to the built-in mic, and you’ll get a lot of feedback unless your environment is perfectly still. Now, that’s not a problem when you’re gaming at home with no fans nearby, but it’s a massive problem otherwise, especially outside.

Although the mic is a rare letdown for the LucidSound LS100X, its battery is a real highlight. It can run for up to 130 hours in Bluetooth Mode or a creditable 70 hours in Gaming Mode. This means you can go weeks without charging it, depending on your usage. If you want a headset that runs and runs, look no further. Comparing it to the Roccat Syn Max Air’s 16 hours, on a headset that costs more than double, it looks even better.

Overall, the LucidSound LS100X performs excellently for a range of purposes. Ultimately, you can’t have everything at this price, so a few drawbacks are to be expected. But the positives well outweigh the negatives.

LucidSound LS100X price

The LucidSound LS100X price is $99.99. For this price, you more than get your money’s worth. The competition at this price bracket is stiff, with more and more sub-$100 headsets arriving with swathes of great features and solid build quality. But the LucidSound LS100X is well worth the $80-100 you’ll likely pay for it.

If the LucidSound LS100X isn’t for you

The HyperX Cloud 3 is about ten bucks more than the LucidSound LS100X but fulfills a similar niche. The HyperX Cloud 3’s mic and sound performance are slightly better, at the expense of the LucidSound LS100X’s versatility and wireless functionality.

If you’re looking to keep a little more of your hard-earned cash, the Asus TUF Gaming H3 is an excellent budget choice. It may be wired only, but these days you can snag a real bargain on this comfy headset, and you’ll be impressed by its performance.

Is the LucidSound LS100X worth it?

Although it’s not quite as polished sound-wise as some more expensive cans, and the mic leaves something to be desired, this headset stands tall amongst its budget and mid-range brethren. Its robust feature set can go toe to toe with headsets double its price.

But it’s not perfect, as very few headsets at this price are. The boom mic isn’t great, and the in-built one is worse, but its many strengths make up for this. These cans may look generic but will suit those who value no-frills performance. And the battery life is up there with the very best.

You should buy the LucidSound LS100X if:

• You’ve got a strict budget of $100
• You want a headset you won’t have to charge often
• You care more about performance than aesthetics
• You like headsets with functionality that doesn’t require fiddling around with an app

You shouldn’t buy the LucidSound LS100X if:

• Mic quality is your main concern
• You want a headset to stand out from the crowd