Logitech G522 Lightspeed Wireless Gaming Headset Review

Gaming headsets come in all shapes and sizes, and when you’re a company as large and influential as Logitech, it can be wise to have an option for gamers at all price points. Last week, we looked at the affordable G325 Lightspeed Wireless, which, while not yet finding a place among the very best gaming headsets, offered an impressive value at only $80. With the Logitech G522 Lightspeed, we get to see if that value proposition holds true as we move higher up the chain. And — spoiler alert — at $130, it definitely does.

Logitech G522 Lightspeed Wireless Specs

Design and Comfort of the Logitech G522 Lightspeed Wireless

The Logitech G522 is unmistakably a gaming headset. You don't need to look any further than the bright RGB rings on either earcup to see that — but even if you were to turn off the lighting, its distinctive futuristic appearance still allows it to stand out. Turned off, the lighting rings become gray plates. The yokes seem to float over the back of each cup.

It’s a balanced design, striking the middle-ground between comfort and flair. Its physical design definitely hits the visual notes of a gaming headset, but I was surprised by how light and comfortable it is. At only 290g, it's airy — but Logitech has also employed a ski-band like headstrap to evenly distribute its weight, preventing hot spots on the top of your head.

The cushions are also designed with comfort as the top concern. They’re soft and conform to the shape of your head and are very breathable if you play in a warmer environment. As expected, isolation suffers with this type of design, but it’s an intentional decision. Sound can bleed in and out, but you don’t need to worry about sweaty ears or a sore dome after wearing it for a few hours.

As Logitech’s mid-range flagship and a headset well over $100, you should go in expecting a few basics. Enjoyable sound quality for gaming as well as other types of content, a comfortable design, and versatile connectivity to use it with multiple devices you may own. The G522 checks all of those boxes.

The G522 packs upgraded 40mm Pro-G drivers to deliver bigger sound with improved detail. These drivers and the headset’s integrated DAC (digital-to-analog converter) allow the headset to offer a full-spectrum 20 Hz - 20kHz resolution and wide dynamic range with plenty of volume. They sound great out of the box, but can also be customized with preset or custom EQ settings in the Logitech G Hub software.

The microphone is detachable and can be muted with a button on the left earcup, where you’ll also find controls for power, Bluetooth, and volume. Like the sound you’re hearing, the vocals it captures can also be equalized and post-processed with studio FX to fine-tune how they come through to your listener.

The headset delivers solid connectivity options, supporting Logitech’s 2.4GHz Lightspeed audio, Bluetooth 5.3, and USB connections. It does not support simultaneous dual wireless connectivity, so you'll need to toggle between connections. Simultaneous dual wireless connectivity usually comes at a premium, so I’m not surprised by its absence, but I still miss it every time it’s not on a wireless headset.

Audio Performance of the Logitech G522 Lightspeed Wireless

I'll be frank. The Logitech G522 didn't blow my socks off at first listen. It sounds tame, with neither highs nor lows jumping out in either games or music and only the footstep frequencies seeming slightly elevated. There’s enough detail to provide an enjoyable listening experience and the warmer tone essentially ensures a comfortable listening experience free of sharp edges.

But believe me when I say that this headset is capable of much more. You can hear it immediately by cycling through the included presets. The G522 is quite versatile, and its out-of-the-box sound is really best viewed as a starting place if you want to see what these drivers are capable of.

With finessing, I settled on the custom EQ above. It looks a little wonky, but the G522 sounds amazing with it. Originally designed for music, I’ve taken to using this EQ profile for everything. Acoustic guitars sparkle, sniper rifles ring with spent shots, explosions rumble, vocals are lush and nearby, and the soundstage wraps around you.

Logitech highlights that “PRO-G drivers are built to reproduce audio from multiple sound layers simultaneously so you hear each sound layer as clearly as possible” with its drivers. First, to nitpick, all headphones reproduce multiple sound layers simultaneously. If they didn’t, we would call them broken.

That aside, what Logitech is getting at is resolution. In the audio world, a headphone’s resolving ability is its ability to reproduce tiny details that make the whole recording sound higher resolution. Think of the jump between 720p and 1080p and then again from 1080p to 4k. Headphones scale the same way, but with your ears.

And the G522 does an exceptional job at pulling out and isolating those tiny details and spatial cues so you do wind up hearing each layer more clearly. Of course, a high-end pair of headphones designed for music will do an even better job, but for $130, this headset is a performer.

Microphone of the Logitech G522 Lightspeed Wireless

The detachable boom microphone that comes on the Logitech G522 Lightspeed is omnidirectional and noise canceling, offering good clarity and acceptable gain without any software tweaks. It also includes a red light around the capsule that illuminates when it's muted, which is a helpful feature to avoid mid-stream faux paux’s.

But just because you can use it straight out of the box doesn't mean you should. In fact, G Hub and its Blue Voice features are so integral to the microphone's quality that it should be a consideration for anyone thinking of adding this headset to their wishlist.

If you’re anything like me, the first thing you’ll want to do is try out some vocal presets and effects to sound more “broadcast-worthy”. Logitech includes a half dozen presets to play, learn from, and customize. Helpfully, G Hub lets you record and loop a sound sample so you can hear how each preset or setting change impacts your voice.

The other half of customizing the mic comes from the range of vocal FX built into the software. Here, you’ll find broadcast favorites, like a noise gate and compressor to block out background noise and balance levels. There’s a De-Esser to remove sharpness from S sounds and a De-Popper to get rid of plosives when your P- and B-sounds send bursts of air into your microphone. There’s also a high-pass filter to gate out low, droning sounds like HVAC units.

The final effect you’ll find is Noise Removal. This is the classic filter that gaming headsets have used for years. Turn it up too high and you’ll sound compressed and nasally. Leave it all the way down and you’ll sound your best, but so will any noise-makers around you.

If all of this sounds like Greek to you, don’t worry. Next to each effect, Logitech has included a tooltip that explains what each tool does and how your adjustments will impact the end result.

Like the headphone side of this headset, tweaks are required to get the best performance from the G522, but if you put the time in, this is a mic you could take into a stream without fear that its quality will drive viewers away.

Software and Features of the Logitech G522 Lightspeed Wireless

I’ve discussed the software features at length already, but it’s worth highlighting again just how integral Logitech G Hub is to the G522. If you’re not interested in keeping software running in the background, the G522 probably isn’t the headset for you.

In addition to the deep customization options for sound and recording quality, it also offers another unique trick: a customizable soundboard. You can load up your own samples and background music and be free to launch those stingers and segues with ease.

Of course, you can also customize the headset’s lighting. There are five device-based presets to choose from, including a static lighting option, and a screen and audio sampler that will synchronize the earcup lighting to what you’re seeing or hearing. There’s also a Freestyle mode where you can set each of both earcup’s four lighting zones independently.

The final element we haven’t discussed is the device settings menu. The usual options and battery readout are all present and accounted for. I appreciate some of the additional power-saving options that Logitech has incorporated, however. Being able to customize how the headset behaves during low power or sleep mode, and when sleep mode and shutdown occur, are welcome options and add granularity to battery management.

Battery Life of the Logitech G522 Lightspeed Wireless

The Logitech G522 Lightspeed offers extended battery life of up to 90 hours when lighting is disabled and volume is limited to 50%. Using the out-of-box lighting animation and the same volume, that drops to 40 hours. Using it every day over the last couple weeks, lights on full brightness, I recharged it once after 33 hours and a second time at 36 hours — both of which could have been extended if I kept to the 50% volume used in the battery life claims.

Bottom Line

For $130, the Logitech G522 Lightspeed wireless gaming headset offers an excellent value to gamers that want flagship features and sound quality without flagship pricing. Its lightweight, mostly plastic construction feels a little cheap, but lets the headset remain lightweight and comfortable. The sound quality, while not to my taste out of the box, can transform into one of the best in its class with some tweaks to EQ — and the same can be said about your voice thanks to its powerful vocal processing.

If you want something that costs a little less and feels more robust in the hand, the Razer Blackshark V3 Pro is worth a look, and the Blackshark V2 Pro even more so, if you can find one. On the other hand, if you love what Logitech is offering here but don’t get on with its sense of style, the Logitech G325 Lightspeed Wireless is another recent release worth your attention.

While I wish the tweaks weren’t necessary, what sounds “best” is subjective and the fact that the G522 can “get there” makes all the difference. With the right changes to match your taste, it punches well above its class and is an exceptional value at its current asking price.