With the Teufel Cage, the Berlin loudspeaker manufacturer Teufel has brought its first gaming headset onto the market. The Teufel brand is associated with high-quality audio products. The Teufel Cage* seems to belong to it again, because it offers many appealing features. For example, a USB sound card is integrated directly into the gaming headset, which also offers virtual 7.1 surround sound. The detachable microphone allows the gaming headset to be used as headphones on the go. And if you would like to use your PC and Smartphone as input medium, this is also possible through Mixed Audio Play. Both the jack and the USB simultaneously act as inputs. That all sounds great for now. But whether the functions in Teufel’s gaming headset debut are convincing, you can find out in our detailed test report.
Scope of Delivery
In addition to the actual headset, a 1.3 metre jack cable and a 3 metre USB cable are also included. The detachable microphone is not yet connected to the headset and must be plugged in if necessary. The microphone is already equipped with a pop screen. Unfortunately, there are no additional ear cups with alternative covers.
Workmanship & Wearing Comfort
The Teufel Cage is optically unspectacular and trumps with simple elegance instead. The earcups and the headband are covered with black plastic. The suspension is made of aluminium and accentuated with a Gunmetal Grey finish. The aluminum suspension and the adjustable, flexible metal bracket hidden under the black plastic cover make the Teufel Cage Gaming headset very robust.
The recognizable Teufel logo can be found on the ear cups. This shines red when connected via USB. If you use the jack cable for the connection to the audio device, the Teufle logo does not light up and remains simply white. The thick ear cushions, which are covered with artificial leather, provide the right comfort for the ears. These are spacious and also accommodate larger ears. The imitation leather cover does not cause sweating, but warm ears. Since it is relatively easy to remove the ear padding, I would have preferred an alternative padding here. At the moment, however, Teufel does not supply any alternatives or accessories that can be bought later. Nevertheless, the Teufel Cage is comfortable to wear, thanks to the flexible suspensions of the drivers, the adjustable headband and the soft padding of head and ears.
Unfortunately, the microphone was only partially successful. Positive is not only the recording quality (more about that later), but also the fact that you can plug it in on both sides. It’s very flexible and long enough to align perfectly. Unfortunately, it is connected to the middle of the earpiece, almost at eye level. Even if you use the length of the microphone arm to place it outside the field of view, you won’t be able to do this completely. So the microphone connection should have been a few centimeters lower. The microphone can be muted at any time via a simple switch directly on the microphone arm.
The connections as well as the control buttons are all located on one earpiece. The jack connections are at the same height front and rear. Because they are multifunctional, the Headset can simply be rotated to have the microphone left or right. At the bottom there is a volume wheel that you can clearly feel. But you can also hear it clearly during use. There is also a multifunction button, which unfortunately only works via the jack connection. Calls can thus be conveniently answered or music playback controlled on the smartphone. On a PC via USB, the key has no function, although you could do a lot more here. There is also a small switch that controls the microphone output. When using USB and jack at the same time, you can easily switch between them. You’re in the middle of a heated CS:GO battle and want to keep hearing your teammates, but need to make an important phone call? No problem.
The Teufel Cage is connected via micro-USB or jack cable. While the jack cable is only 1.3 meters long, 3 meters are available via USB. The gaming headset convinces by its unobtrusive design, the possibility to use it via USB or jack as well as its flawless workmanship without defects.
Sound Quality
The sound quality of the Teufel Cage has to be differentiated between USB and jack. The Teufel Audio Center can also be used on the PC via USB. Here Teufel relies on software from Xear. In addition to an equalizer, the sampling rate can also be set. Xear Surround Headphone, Xear Audio Brilliant, Xear Dynamic Bass, Xear Smart Volume, Xear Voice Clarity and Xear Surround Max are designed to further enhance the sound. I wouldn’t call all functions an improvement, but Xear Surround Headphone (for virtual surround sound) and Xear Audio Brilliant are particularly worthwhile. Here everyone should try out which feature should be active. Although the surround sound provides a better sound, it doesn’t necessarily help to locate enemies better.
The audio improvements by the Teufel Audio Center are quite useful, but the sound via the 4-pin jack cable on the smartphone is also very good. Especially cool: You can use USB and jack at the same time. Thus, for example, you can hear the in-game sounds while you are on the phone.
Recording Quality
The microphone actually consists of three microphones. Two sit in the microphone arm, one directly at the earcup. Teufel wants to achieve crystal clear voice recordings without echoes. This succeeds surprisingly well and is almost no longer comparable with headsets from other manufacturers. If you don’t use the Teufel Audio Center, all ambient noises will be recorded. So it’s worth using the Teufel Audio Center on your PC and activating the “Environmental Noise Cancellation” option.
The ambient noise is thus filtered very effectively. When activating the mode, however, you must bear in mind that the quality of the voice recording can suffer. However, only if the microphone is not ideally aligned. This is also known from other headsets. If the microphone is correctly aligned, the recording quality is excellent, as you can hear in our test recording. A popscreen also helps to swallow hard noises, but breathing noises unfortunately less.
Technical Data
| Material | plastic, upholstery: synthetic leather cover; hanger: aluminium |
| Type | Over-Ear |
| Audio driver | 40 mm |
| Frequency range | 20 Hz – 20 kHz |
| Impedance | 32 Ohm |
| Sensitivity | 86 dB |
| Interface | 3.5mm jack, USB |
| Microphone type | Three microphones for ambient noise suppression, mobile microphone arm |
| Microphone frequency | 30 Hz – 18 kHz |
| Cable length | 1.3 m (jack), 3 m (USB) |
| Special features | microphone can be connected on both sides, USB and jack connection can be used in parallel, illuminated earcups, virtual 7.1 sound |
| Weight | 322 g |
| Price | € 114.99 * |
Conclusion of the Teufel Cage Review
The Teufel Cage Gaming Headset is a successful debut of the Berlin loudspeaker manufacturer. The sound and recording quality is convincing, and other headsets in this price range can still learn something from it. The ergonomics are also excellent. But I was particularly impressed by the simultaneous use of the jack and USB. However, I would like to give Teufel one small improvement: Next time lower the microphone connection so that it is not in the field of vision. My recommendation has the Teufel Cage* in any case.
Teufel Cage
Workmanship
Comfort
Sound
Recording
Features
Absolute recommendation!
With the Teufel Cage, the Berlin loudspeaker manufacturer delivers an almost perfect gaming headset - as a debut!
