If you accidentally run over it with your office chair, it will keep working. Instead of a regular plastic cable USB, the SA902 has a thick, red, braided cable that protects it from environmental hazards. The air conditioner I had running wasn’t audible, which lets me know the mic cancels out background noise well enough.

I chatted with a friend on Skype and was told I sounded clear. The only downside to the mic's design is that you can’t move the mic closer to your mouth. It also doesn’t feel flimsy, which surprised me. The mic doesn’t have a lot of resistance when moving it into different positions, which I liked since it makes it easy to adjust. The built-in omnidirectional mic can be adjusted by swiveling it both up and down, but it's not removable. The highest compliment I can give the SA-902 is that after I adjusted it a bit I could barely tell I was wearing them. The headband is easy to adjust, and there's a good deal of padding on it too. The SA902’s earpads covered my ears completely, making them comfortable and great at cancelling outside noise. It is made of thick plastic throughout, which isn't surprising given its price, and has the benefit of making the headset very lightweight and comfortable. The Sades SA-902 looks pretty basic, but does offer red LEDs on the sides, which is neat. Can it compete with budget headsets that cost three times as much? I decided to find out. It is rated at four out of five stars with over 1,600 reviews, and sells for just $26.99, discounted from a supposed MSRP of $72, although near as we can tell they've never been sold at that price. To find our contestant we scrolled through Amazon and stumbled across its #1 Best Seller - the Sades SA902 (See it Amazon) / (See it at Amazon UK). In doing so we decided to see if a super-cheap, no-name brand, the kind you see at the top of online retailers, could compete with the likes of Logitech, Astro, HyperX, and so forth. However, we understand money doesn't grow on trees, so we've started examining some of the more affordable headset models, too.

Normally IGN reviews proper gear from well-known brands, and for headsets we've covered both the midrange and the upper echelon of choices this year. Note that if you click on one of these links to buy the product, IGN may get a share of the sale.

Be sure to visit IGN Tech for all the latest comprehensive hands-on reviews and best-of roundups.

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