If you’ve seen some of our previous reviews for Master & Dynamic devices, you’ll know we’re big fans of the New York-based company’s products. They pride themselves on their ultra-premium design and build quality along with fantastic audio capabilities too. Now, they’ve decided to enter the world of gaming with the launch of their first ever gaming headphone, the Master & Dynamic MG20 Wireless Gaming Headphones.
From testing and using their MW65 headphones for quite some time, we know that M&D has a really good idea how to make a great pair of headphones. That said, the gaming market is a completely different ballgame with a preference for long battery life, great comfort and delivering low latency audio for intense online gaming. Does the MG20 headset delivery on these fronts? read on to find out.
Design & Build Quality
As expected, the MG20 is a great looking headset. Coming in two colour options, ‘Black Onyx’ and ‘Galactic White’ and we’ve been testing the black model for our review. When it comes to controls, you’ll get the majority of the options on the left earcup including the microphone volume wheel, a button to control the 7.1 surround sound option and the Bluetooth toggle button which also doubles as the power button.
The USB-Type C charging port and microphone jack are also on the left earcup. On the right earcup, you’ll find the overall volume control wheel and a playback control button. This may seem like a lot to learn but we got the hang of it quite quickly.
Like other pairs of M&D headphones, the MG20 headset is made from premium materials. There’s an Alcantara coated canvas headband, lambskin leather coated ear pads and premium metal frame. Weight-wise, they aren’t crazy heavy, which goes towards their overall comfort when using them for extended periods of time (more on this later.)
Packaged with the headphones, you’ll get a nice range of additional accessories for getting the most out of your new headphones. There’s a nice fabric carry bag with additional storage pockets and dedicated slot for the detachable boom mic, which also comes with a pop filter. There’s a USB Type-C to 3.5mm cable, if you’d like to use the headphones in wired mode. There’s also a splitter for microphone and audio inputs if your PC requires it. Finally, there’s the USB-A to USB-C charging cable and 2.4Ghz low-latency dongle for hooking the headphones up to your PC, PS4 or PS5.
Set Up & Features
If you want to tweak specific settings on the headset and carry out firmware updates, you’ll need to connect to the M&D Connect App. Overall, it’s a little sparse but still well designed. Through the app, you can tweak the headset’s EQ by using one of M&D’s own preset options (we would like the option to tweak the EQ to our own liking so hopefully this is something M&D can implement in the future.) You can also play with the ‘auto-off’ options for when you want the headphones to go automatically power off when not in use. Unfortunately, there’s no Active Noise Cancelling on the MG20 headphones but given their snug fit thanks to the ‘bite’ of the headband and large yet soft earcups, the passive noise cancelling achieved is pretty impressive in its own right.
Battery Life
Master & Dynamic rates the headset as offering 22 hours of battery. That’s not bad at all and, from our testing, seemed to live up to this claim. A 30 minute charge can get you about 50% of battery life also, which is handy.
Fit & Comfort
One of the key requirements for any good gaming headset is comfort and the MG20 headset definitely delivers. Thanks to its generous padding on its earcups and soft, ridged headband, we had no issue using the headset for extended periods of time.
Sound & Mic Quality
Unsurprisingly, Master & Dynamic really have delivered when it comes to sound quality on the MG20. These are great sounding headphones that pack real power in both the highs and lows. Also, as mentioned earlier, if you’re not a fan of the sound of the headset out of the box, you can tweak the EQ using the M&D Connect app. Bass response is deep and impactful whilst still sounding natural. Reviewing an upcoming PS5 title (which we can’t mentioned just yet for embargo reasons!) sounded absolutely fantastic on these headphones when using the 2.4Ghz low-latency dongle.
Mids, including character dialogue, also sounded natural and well-defined but its the high-end response that really stood out during our review period. There is immense amounts of detail and clarity, even for the highest frequency sounds which, when combined with the impressive mids and bass response, really create a fantastic soundstage.
Using the MG20s for general music listening whilst connected via Bluetooth to my Pixel 6 Pro also delivered a great listening experience. They also support virtualised 7.1 surround sound which sounds okay but, when using the MG20 headset on the PS5, which already has its own 3D audio capabilities, we found it was best to leave this option turned off on the headset to get a better, more immersive experience, thanks to the console’s Tempest engine, which powers its 3D audio features.
The detachable boom microphone also works pretty well. It doesn’t quite offer as much detail as some, more professional streamers/online gamers might like, and it’s probably not the microphone to rely on for things like recording podcasts or videos but your fellow players will easily be able to hear what’s going on.
If you’re looking to use the headset for taking calls when out and about and don’t want to have the boom mic constantly connected, the built in microphones on the earcups themselves do a respectable job of picking up your voice and we didn’t have much issue when chatting to our friends when using the headset on the go.
Conclusion
For their first foray into the gaming headset market, Master & Dynamic can be proud of what they’ve produced. Coming from years of premium audio product manufacturing, we would have been surprised to see the company achieve anything less. The build quality is fantastic and the audio truly delivers an immersive experience.
Of course, at €449, these don’t come cheap so the MG20 is undoubtedly still a luxury headset but you’re sure to be impressed if you do take the plunge and pick up a pair for yourself.
Pricing & Availability
The Master & Dynamic MG20 Gaming Headphones are available from MasterDynamic.eu for €449 in ‘Black Onyx’ or ‘Galactic White’.
REVIEW: Master & Dynamic MG20 Wireless Gaming Headphones
- Design & Build Quality
- Set Up & Features
- Battery Life
- Fit & Comfort
- Sound & Mic Quality
Summary
For their first foray into the gaming headset market, Master & Dynamic can be proud of what they’ve produced. Coming from years of premium audio product manufacturing, we would have been surprised to see the company achieve anything less.
