JLab Nightfall Review

About the JLab Nightfall gaming headset

• Price: $40
• Style: Over-ear, closed-back
• Colors: Black with rainbow-colored accents
• Drivers: 50mm dynamic drivers
• Connections: 3.5mm only
• Device compatibility: PC, Mac, PS5/PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, Android, iOS
• Microphone: Flip-to-mute, near-field directional
• Virtual surround sound: Supported
• Weight: 8.8 ounces (with cable)

As a cheaper gaming headset, the JLab Nightfall doesn’t offer much excitement in its build. It’s an all-plastic affair with no metal to be seen, and inexpensive feeling at that. On the bright side, this makes for a light headset that doesn’t burden the head or neck. Despite the lower quality bill of materials, the JLab Nightfall isn’t poorly designed. It has a good degree of flexibility in the ear cup hinges, allowing for an adaptable fit for a variety of users and a lay-flat design when worn around the neck.

Though there are no height adjustment sliders, the whole headset rests on a rainbow-colored elastic band with some stretch to it. As I’ve seen on SteelSeries’ headsets, this style of suspension band does an excellent job of evenly spreading out the headset’s weight for long-term comfort. The JLab nightfall also has decent ear cushions and a light clamping force that make it particularly comfortable to wear for long periods.

So far so good. For the price, you shouldn’t expect anything too fancy, so you’re looking at a simple, flip-to-mute mic that can’t be removed and a wired audio connection. There’s also a handy volume dial on the left ear cup.

The JLab Nightfall was truly shaping up to be a great budget gaming headset. It even impresses with its audio presentation, putting forward plenty of sound without noticeable distortion. It’s a bit bass-heavy, almost delightfully so, without completely drowning out the higher frequencies.

The stereo separation works well enough with in-game surround sound virtualization that I could get a good sense of enemy direction in Overwatch 2, as well.

This all pairs with a microphone that actually sounds half decent, readily beating many of the mics on pricier wireless gaming headsets like the HyperX Cloud III Wireless or Sony Inzone H9 (though not the Beyerdynamic MMX200 Wireless). It doesn’t effectively eliminate background noise and lacks any form of noise cancelation, but it has a good focus on voice and presents it with a fullness most wireless headsets miss.

Tragically, it’s in the mic that the headset completely falls apart. In testing, I quickly noticed some cable crosstalk, where the headphones blend together audio signals coming from the computer with the microphone signals going into the computer. I’ve come across such an issue on some cheaper wired headphones, with the culprit occasionally being the motherboard. However, for the JLab Nightfall, a bit of troubleshooting with different computers and ports (including a DAC that removes the motherboard from the equation) showed that the headset itself was responsible for the crosstalk.

My friends on Discord could hear anything I was listening to when I used the Nightfall. When playing League of Legends together, they could hear my game audio. Worse still, the cable crosstalk happens even if the mic is flipped up to mute. The only way around the issue is to use a separate mic, at which point you’re better off getting a different headset altogether or pairing a better pair of dedicated music headphones with an external mic.

Should you buy the JLab Nightfall?

No, the mic is fatally flawed

A gaming headset needs to be good for listening to your games and content, help with communication with your teammates and foes alike, and should be comfortable to wear for hours on end. The JLab Nightfall almost nails these three aspects at an affordable price.

Sadly, the cable crosstalk wrecks its ability to serve the role of a gaming headset as you can’t rely on its mic. You can often find the Corsair HS65 Surround available for $50, and it solves the communication issues while also providing modest audio and good comfort. The $60 (though readily on sale for less) SteelSeries Arctis Nova 1 are an even better bet, with similar comfort, good sound, and no communications issues.

This foray into gaming has not panned out for JLab. The Nightfall has a low price and a handful of commendable qualities that might have made it a budget winner. But a fatal flaw and no shortage of worthy competitors make this a headset to pass up.

JLab Nightfall

The JLab Nightfall does a lot right but is undercut by mic crosstalk.

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Meet the tester

Mark Knapp

Contributor

Mark Knapp has covered tech for most of the past decade, keeping readers up to speed on the latest developments and going hands-on with everything from phones and computers to e-bikes and drones to separate the marketing from the reality. Catch him on Twitter at @Techn0Mark or on Reviewed, IGN, TechRadar, T3, PCMag, and Business Insider.

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