If you are like to keep your desk all organized there is a good chance you have a headphone stand or have considered getting one. I personally have had a few different designs. I’ve even seen people use banana stands as a cheaper alternative, especially before a lot of the “gaming” companies got into the market and started making them. Well, recently a few companies have been making them up adding other features including Cooler Master. They showed one-off at Computex and they have finally released it. They call it the GS750 and in addition to being a headphone stand it also has a wireless phone charger built-in, USB ports, a 7.1 sound card, and of course… RGB lighting. Well, today I’m going to check it out, it most certainly isn’t going to fail from lacking features. But is there too much going on? Is this something people want? I’m going to check it out today and find out.
Product Name: Cooler Master GS750 Headphone Stand
Review Sample Provided by: Cooler Master
Written by: Wes Compton
Pictures by: Wes Compton
Amazon Affiliate Link: HERE
Photos and Features
Purple and grey, I know I was surprised too! But seriously, Cooler Master stuck with their normal purple and grey colors for the GS750’s box. They touch on all of the important things right on the front with small icons in the top right corner, showing the qi wireless charging, USB hub, 7.1 audio, and the RGB. But for me the big thing here is them putting a large photo across the front to show you what you are getting. Around on the back, they do a better job of showing the features with an action shot of the stand as well as a few lines pointing out the features with short descriptions. They also highlight the cable management that is built-in which isn’t mentioned on the front.
Inside the box, everything comes out at once for you. The stand has foam on the base and the top which keeps it locked in place and safe. There is a small box attached to the bottom foam and inside they have the cables. Everything is wrapped up in a plastic bag and nice and tidy. There is also a small user manual that is tucked in with the base as well.
So for cables, Cooler Master has included two. The main one is the charging cable which powers the wireless charger, feeds power to the lighting, and I assume also gives power to the USB hub but I wasn’t able to confirm on that. The power cable is your standard run of the mill wall wart and thin low voltage cord. The second cord is a lot better in quality and is the USB cable. This cord is much thicker and also has a sleeving on it. The cable ends are Cooler Master specific, they used the same boxy plug style on some of their other products and it has the Cooler Master logo on it which should help you spot the cord at the back of your PC. On the other end, it has the old school USB 3.0 micro connection which half of shares the same plug as a USB 2.0 micro plug. I’m really surprised Cooler Master didn’t go with a newer Type-C connection here, if for no other reason than to not have to worry about plug directionality. But I also think it would be nice to have the option to unplug and charge a newer phone as well and most use USB Type-C now.
When you first pull the GS750 out it does have stickers all around the base for protection. The top sticker pulls double duty and helps point out where the Qi wireless charger is and it shows that iPhones will charge at 7.5 watt and Samsung supports the full 10 Watts.
Well here she is and I can say without a doubt the GS750 isn’t really a looker. I’ve had stylish headset stands made of all aluminum, there are carved wood variations all over the place. Headset stands, for the most part, are a stylish product that sits out on your desk. So I do feel like Cooler Master is missing a little, but I’m also not really sure how to go about doing it better either. The base where most of the action is has to be a little larger and they use an aluminum bracket that comes up from the base.
Speaking of the base, here it is. It looks a lot like some of the basic portable battery backups you can find. It is a black plastic and the top has a slight texture to it and it is glossy around the outside edge. The Qi wireless charger is up on top and this is where you would sit your phone. A softer rubber finish might be nicer here for me, plus if you look our sample has a little discoloration or something going on with the top. Hopefully, that is a pre-launch sample issue. The qi charger is indicated by the Cooler Master logo shape in the center. As for the other connection around the base, there are a few. There are USB 3.0 ports on both the left and right sides and the right side also has the built-in 7.1 sound cards audio port. Given the PC use here I’m very surprised they didn’t split that up, you have to use a headset that has a single jack. Thankfully a lot do that because that is also what is supported by mobile phones and all of the game consoles. But still an odd choice. Around on the back, you have the power plug and then the micro USB 3.0 jack for the data cable.
The other half of the GS750 is the stand itself. Like I mentioned before they used a flat aluminum. The arm isn’t complexly vertical so the headphone actually hangs a little closer to center which helps with the balance along with weight in the base as well. Then they hid a cable management feature as well with a second flat aluminum section up the backIt is spaced out from the main arm and with the standoffs, you can wrap up your cord here. I think the idea here is to give a place to clean up your cord when you aren’t using the headset, but you can also wrap up extra cord even when you are using it. That will come in handy if you are using the built-in sound card or plugging in a USB headset and have the stand near you on your desk and won’t need the normal 6 foot of cord. Then up on top, the arm has a small lip on the front but not the back, I think both would be nice and there is a thick rubber up on this section which should help headphones from not sliding off.
When taking photos I did grab a nearby headset and try the stand. You can see that even with the headset extended out to fathead sizes the headset wasn’t close to the base. This is important because if you want to use the wireless charger you need to get your phone to it. I also took advantage of the built-in cable management to hide the cord as well.
Performance and Overall and Final Verdict
So normally I would break the performance testing down into its own section as well as our final verdict but this is a headphone stand, even with a lot of extra features it is still relatively simple. For testing, I had to make room on my desk because it’s a mess right now and get it powered up and hooked up to USB. With all of that done I downloaded the software and plugged in a headset and went on my way. Frankly, when it comes to the headset stand portion of things there isn’t much too it. It did a good job of holding all of the headsets I tried on it. I like that it is thinner so with my suspension based headphones I could slide it in between the headband and the top to keep from stretching the headband out. It also worked well with normal headsets as well and my concerns about not having a back lip weren’t an issue at all. The rubber kept them all in place.
The wireless charging for me was the most interesting feature and I didn’t waste any time in trying it out. The Samsung S10 I tested with it picked up the base right away and started charging. The phone didn’t have to be dead center or anything to work and as someone who seems to be always charging a phone I love having wireless charging right on my desk. Combining it into another device that I’m also using just makes sense. Plus it means one less device on your desk.
Now the built-in sound card for me was a lot less needed but I can really see how a lot of people would like this. I already run a DAC right on my desk, but if you don’t getting a simple plug right at your desk is extremely helpful. Like I said before I wish it had microphone and headphone jacks split up, but there is a convenience still there. Audio performance wasn’t bad, it was about what you would expect from an included USB sound card with a headset. They also provide a relatively good EQ in the software as well. I will say though that by default it was a little boomy with bass, but a lot of people will like that. Having the option to tweak things means that isn’t an issue at all. You also have the ability to fully adjust the 7.1 surround sound as well and frankly, I don’t care much for simulated surround sound so I turned this off as soon as I could say I tested it enough. Now they did a fine job on it, it just isn’t something I prefer at all.
The other big feature is the RGB lighting and its funny because this actually works even if you don’t bother to hook up the USB at all. The wireless charging does too as well if you are only interested in that. But much like Corsair and Razer with their headphone stands, the GS750 does has a glowing ring around the bottom. It has 13 LEDs in total and you can control the lighting using the software with a few lighting modes or by setting a static color to match your setup.
So what do I think of the GS750? Well, my first impression was with the styling and frankly, I think the GS750 has none at all. Both the Corsair ST100 and Razer Base Station Chroma are targeting this same market and they both at least look good. The GS750 kind of looks like they packed as many features into it and put a plastic cover over it and sent it. Those features, however, are what make this a good product. Neither of the competing products has included Qi wireless charging and that is my favorite feature. The USB hub and built-in sound card kind of do the same thing for me. They give you options right on your desk to plug different devices in without having to get back behind your PC. More importantly, they both are tucked away inside of something that I would use anyhow, a headphone stand. Which by the way worked very well, especially with the rubber up top keeping headphones and headsets from moving around. The RGB lighting is also nice, but it feels like they are just repeating what Corsair and Razer have done. I do think going with just a single headphone jack as a combo microphone and headphone jack is a little disappointing considering PCs always use two. But this isn’t really any different than Corsair who did the same thing. I would also prefer to see the data cable connection be Type-C just for simple use and to give a quick charging option when needed for phones that don’t have wireless charging.
It’s the Qi wireless charger that makes the GS750 stand out, the Corsair and Razer options both have RGB lighting and USB charging. Corsair also has a built-in 7.1 sound card as well. But Cooler Master has theirs priced $20 more with an MSRP of $79.99. Is that expensive? I think it is and that $20 could get you a wireless charger. That said you are getting everything combined. Personally, I think if the price came down this could be a nice gift or pickup to clean up your desk. It isn’t perfect however but would still recommend it assuming you needed all of the features. I would keep it on my desk as well but in my case I don’t actually have the space on my desk without blocking a monitor and I already have everything except the wireless charger setup, but this might be a nice upgrade for my wife’s headphone stand and I know she would love the wireless charger and extra USB ports being within reach.
Live Pricing: HERE
