There comes a point in every reviewer’s life when a headset makes them question what they’ve been settling for. For me, that moment came midway through testing Fractal Design Scape. This isn’t just a tidy first effort from a company better known for cases and fans. It’s a fully formed, functionally clever, and flat-out impeccably sounding wireless headset entirely refined straight out the gate.
Fractal Design Scape
$199
Pros
- Fantastic sound stage and mic
- Highly customisable EQ
- Good battery life
- Comfortable fit
- Robust web-based software
- 2.4GHz and Bluetooth
Cons
- No ANC
- Web app doesn’t work on Firefox
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How we test and review products.
Most companies try to grab your attention with flamboyant RGB or overwrought drivers tuned for cinematic bass. Scape doesn’t bother. It slides onto your head with confidence, arranges your music or game audio with detail and balance, and then steps back without overexerting. If I wasn’t so utterly picky with my current setup, I wouldn’t think about switching back to anything else, relishing everything from the Scandi look to microphone and magnetically charged cradle.
Design & comfort
Scape comes in two colours: Dark and Light. Not black and white, but rather a softer matte finish that avoids oily fingerprints and gleaming gamer vibes. The RGB is barely there, hugging the base of each earcup, especially accentuating the pale grey finish. You won’t see it while wearing the headset, and that’s kind of the point. It’s subtle, present, and totally avoidable if you want to save battery or avoid being a walking lava lamp.
Fabric ear cups and the memory foam band fit a little snug compared to the ski-band models I’ve become accustomed to, but it’s plenty comfortable. I initially questioned how long it would take for fatigue to kick in but I’ve spent plenty of eight-hour sessions with these cans wrapped around my head and I forget I’m wearing them in the first 15 minutes.
There’s no active noise cancellation here, which is a touch disappointing since I love transparency modes to regulate my voice of an evening, but it makes sense when factoring in the cost. There are cheaper headsets carrying the feature, like Razer Barracuda Pro, but these tend not to reach the same audio heights, instead making ANC their biggest priority. Fortunately, there’s excellent passive isolation. My air conditioner turns into a faint whisper with nothing playing and virtually inaudible when I’m gaming.
The dedicated superwide microphone is as versatile as they come being both detachable and malleable enough to bend closer to you mouth. Flip it up to mute, down to resume conversations, and chuck it aside when you want to brave the great outdoors. You’ll still be able to take calls using the built-in omnidirectional microphone, but there’s a noticeable quality hit in the process.
Controls live on both cups and are mostly well thought out. The left side has a rotating dial that controls volume but doubles as a multi-function button. One press pauses, two skips forward, three goes back. The execution works well enough, though the low button travel makes it trickier than your typical in-ear touchpad for simultaneous presses.
You’ll also find a Bluetooth switch, power toggle, and mic mute on the left. Over on the right, there are buttons for cycling RGB and EQ presets. These offer the kind of control that means you don’t have to touch software at all if you don’t want to. I’d have preferred the RGB switch consolidated into a long-press of the EQ button since it takes up space for something you’ll otherwise rarely interact with but there’s no doubt Scape features an extremely considered design for Fractal’s first headset outing.
When you’re not using it, Scape sits proudly on its 2.4GHz charging cradle, siphoning power without ever plugging it in. The USB-C port comes in handy for when you’re on the road and need to juice it up, providing a level of redundancy, but I’m truly happy to see a better alternative to the usual headphone stands that’s both form and function.
The only thing missing from the dock is a 3.5mm audio jack so I can connect it to my mixer. As it stands, SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless is the only headset I’m aware of with this functionality, allowing me to transmit low-latency wireless audio via 2.4GHz all while controlling different channels using sliders. Granted, this is an entirely niche case, but something I’m hoping for on a second revision.
Audio quality
Scape sounds wide, crisp, and deliberate. The soundstage is genuinely roomy, especially when compared to other closed-back headsets in this price range. Playing Rainbow Six Siege X with its brand-new audio propagation, I had no trouble hearing enemy footsteps reverberating through destructible environments. Directional audio feels precise, not bloated by artificial reverb, making for an ideal competitive companion.
Continuing my journey beyond Lumiere in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the immersive audio has me wheeing with no whoo. The sax-clad soundtrack carries flawlessly between each driver, with Monoco’s theme going especially hard. I almost refused to complete boss fights just to feel the rhythm coursing through my veins for a touch longer.
Mids and lows are clearly separated. There’s enough bass to feel impactful without it being overbearing, and the mids come through with impressive clarity. I threw on the 2025 remaster of Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge and found myself hearing nuances in the mix that normally get swallowed up. Guitar tones stayed sharp without piercing. Vocals remained centred. The entire experience felt considered.
It’s not trying to win a bass war. It’s trying to make everything sound as it should, which ironically makes it more suited to both gaming and music than many so-called dual-purpose headsets. Out of the box, I stuck with the default Balance profile and never felt the need to change it, even though there’s plenty of options at your fingertips.
Perhaps most impressive, all these impressions come via 2.4GHz wireless, beating the compression odds. Bluetooth 5.3 holds up surprisingly well under similar circumstances, although the weakest connection in the chain dictates sound quality drop-off. Hook this up to a comparatively ancient standard and your mileage may vary.
Mic quality
Wireless headset mics usually fall into two categories: barely serviceable or so compressed they sound like a walkie-talkie. Scape lands somewhere much more respectable. My voice didn’t sound as rich as it does on a proper desktop mic, but it came through clearly and consistently with no interruptions.
The superwide microphone isn’t quite as crisp as Razer BlackShark V2 Pro, but compared to Arctis Nova Pro Wireless, Fractal has done an excellent job at tuning out the background clutter. My keyboard and mouse became silent bystanders while I spoke, and while you can still hear them faintly when no one’s talking, it’s never distracting. For a wireless boom mic, it punches up. I’d even consider using this on professional calls without embarrassment. Do keep in mind that it’ll sound different depending on the platform you’re using. Microsoft Teams was relatively clear with a stable connection, but Discord adds post-processing that interferes with the exact quality you’d expect.
The fact it’s detachable is a huge win. You can tuck it away completely when you’re using Scape as a pair of lifestyle headphones. Don’t expect much from the built-in omnidirectional microphone, which invites a lot more noise without the same level of noise isolation, but it’s handy to take a quick call when you’re away from keyboard.
Battery life
Fractal’s magnetic charging cradle is one of those features you’ll miss the moment it’s gone. It works flawlessly. Drop the left cup into place and the headset powers down and charges immediately. Pick it up and it turns back on like nothing ever happened. The process doesn’t automatically pause your music or video, but the convenience far outweighs that small quirk.
Battery life has been rock solid. After several hours of mixed use, including high-volume gaming and music, I get around 32 hours before needing to feed it once again. With good habits, you’ll pop it right back onto its charging dock at the end of your session, meaning you should realistically never feel the need to reach for the stand before the end of the day.
You can periodically check your battery life by refreshing the Adjust Pro software or by taking it off and clicking the power button. Using the traffic light system, it’ll flash green when you’re still between 50-100%, orange between 15-49%, and red for anything under 14%. I’ve yet to see it even reach its crimson beacon with such an intuitive charging system.
You can’t use the headset while it’s charging via the cradle, though. When docked, Scape powers down and disappears from Windows. You can always rest on the USB-C connection to charge and listen simultaneously, but as I say, it all comes down to cementing decent practices and you’ll never need to.
It doesn’t take two hands to pry it since gravity plays its part, but there is a trick to removing Scape from its dock if you don’t want to lift the cradle with it. Since it uses a magnetic bond to secure the left ear cup in place, you’re best pulling the headband down and out rather than directly up. You don’t need to worry about scuffing the ear plates thanks to the fabric cushions on the seating, so just wiggle it about until you figure it out.
Software
Fractal’s Adjust Pro software (not to be confused with its Adjust Pro Hub, which is a hardware lighting solution) is entirely web-based. It won’t work on anything other than Chromium browsers, so Firefox users will need to either install Chrome, Edge, or Opera, or download the offline app. If nothing else, it’s handy to have the option.
Regardless of your choice, you’re greeted with one of the cleanest UIs I’ve used, with only two tabs: Audio and Lighting. The lighting side gives you ten presets right out the box. Northern Lights is the default, but Mystic Night won me over with its slower, deeper purples. Brightness, speed, and colour customisation are all available, but it never pushes into garish territory.
The Audio tab is more advanced. You can dig into individual EQ bands or use broader categories like bass, mids, and highs if you want a quicker path. Any changes you make apply instantly, so it’s easy to fine-tune your setup while playing a game or listening to music. You can only save three profiles at once, but it’s more than enough to finetune to movies, games, and music independently.
Scape plays nicely with Windows Spatial Sound and other audio enhancements, but Fractal recommends turning them off for the most accurate experience. Dynamic Lighting support is also built-in, though disabled by default to keep compatibility broad.
Conclusion
I’ve tested a lot of headsets, and most of them fall into the same traps. Overdone bass. Dodgy microphones. Software that tries to do too much. Fractal Design Scape avoids all of it and delivers a genuinely thoughtful product on the first try.
The audio is clean, wide, and balanced. The superwide mic isn’t perfect but it’s far better than most peers at this price point. The comfort, design, software and dock integration; it’s all just really well put together, ready for market without once feeling like a beta test.
At $199, it’s an investment. But compared to something like Arctis Nova Pro Wireless, which often costs $50-100 more, Scape feels like excellent value. The microphone is stronger, passive isolation better, and it works just as well on your desk as it does out and about, never looking out of place doing either.
That’s not to say there’s no room for improvement. I’d love to see active noise cancellation in a future version and a 3.5mm passthrough for mixers, but these are fringe benefits that would undoubtedly push the cost higher anyway. Fractal Scape already hits the mark, earning its rightful place on your desk with a chic Scandinavian vibe.
