In this video, I check out the Destek QH1 Double Knob Headphones Head Strap. You can buy this head strap for $49.95 from Amazon US ➡️ https://amzn.to/3vahVt3 or for £40.50 with a voucher from Amazon UK ➡️ https://amzn.to/3hpkwfl, and €42.49 from Amazon DE ➡️ https://amzn.to/3HzsT2n.
This head strap features a top adjustable cushion strap to help reduce pressure on your face, and this strap also features retractable stereo earbuds that can be easily stowed away into the rear of the head strap.
In the box, you get a paper instruction manual, there is the head strap itself, a thank you and warranty card, and there are a pack of different-sized ear tips to get the best fit for your ears.
Features & Design
Looking over the head strap, it has an Elite strap style form factor, with side attachments that slide onto the side rails of the Quest 2 headset. It has thick rear memory foam padding that’s attached to the plastic back piece. At the back, there is a large adjustment dial to tighten the rear part of the strap. On either side of this rear part of the strap, there is a small earbud that sits in a small recessed area. Tugging at the earbud will extend the earbud on its own audio cable length of around 28 cm. Alongside each earbud’s small recess is a thin silver button that when pressed will retract the earbuds back to their original stowed position.
This audio cable connection exits out the front of the left side of the strap, and there is a small ridge on the top of the left side rail of the strap to stow the cable when it isn’t being connected to the headset.
The strap is hinged halfway down the strap, but it isn’t hinged for the rear part of the strap, instead, there is another middle connecting adjustable strap that is connected to it. This foam top strap can also be adjusted with an additional turning tile at the top. There is some forward and back tilting on it too, and thick memory foam padding is attached on the inside for added comfort. The side hinge allowed this part of the top strap to be positioned at the front of the strap for a halo strap effect, to relieve front pressure from the headset, at the back for more rear comfort, or somewhere in between. It really is up to you and where you find it to be the most comfortable.
Installation & Comfort
Installation is very simple. You slide the sides of the strap as far as you can onto the headset side rails, connect the 3.5mm audio jack to the Quest 2 audio port, and you’re good to go.
Without the rear strap being part of the central hinge mechanism, you put the head strap on in the same way as an Elite strap. The top strap then needs some adjustment, both with the turning dial, and moving the strap backwards and forwards to a position where you get the most relief of pressure on your head.
I tried the top strap in all three main points, and the front is likely going to relieve the most pressure, which gives a similar Halo Strap effect of weight lifted from the front of the headset. This also means you won’t need to have the rear of the strap as tight as an elite strap, and as a result, there’s less pressure from the facial interface around your face area.
In the middle position, I found the headset weight added more pressure to the top of my head, and over time it started to become more uncomfortable, even with this very thick memory foam pad, because it is quite narrow in its width.
And finally, at the rear position, the strap does feel more supportive with this extra padding higher up at the back alongside the main rear pad. But without a full fabric top strap to distribute the front weight, I found I needed to tighten the rear of the strap a lot further to make it more stable, and again, over time it started to get a little more uncomfortable.
So all-in-all the top padded strap is ideally placed at the front of the strap, just like a Halo strap, but with the full adjustment from the front to the back, you have more control of its position than most Halo straps offer you.
My Impressions
This QH1 Dual Knob Elite Strap with Earbuds from Destek currently retails for $49.95 from Amazon US, £40.50 with a voucher from Amazon UK, and €42.49 from Amazon DE. And I’ll leave direct links to these stores down below to learn more about this strap and buy one.
This isn’t the first adjustable top strap design I have seen, but Destek has improved the original design and given it a set of comfortable memory foam padding and it is built from some robust and solid materials. Sadly though, the added feature of its integrated retractable audio earbuds hasn’t had the same care and attention.
The retractable design is a great idea. It keeps them stowed neatly away without flapping around when they are not being used. The pulley mechanism works well, and it has set stopping points to get the length you need, and retracting them is rapid and faultless. But there are two big issues I had with them. The first is their audio quality.
Usually when an earbud sounds this bad is when they can’t get a decent seal in your ear canal. I have tried all the ear tips and I just couldn’t, which resulted in a pair of earbuds that lack any level of bass to them. They don’t fit that well either, and without much weight to them, they generally don’t feel that premium in quality.
The second major flaw with this head strap is that on my review sample, shipped from Amazon stock, had the earbuds channel of left and right earbuds the wrong way around. I first thought they sounded odd when the sound didn’t come out right in games where there was position stereo sounds, such as in Dead Second, and Pistol Whip. The latter had the bullet trail sounds coming in the incorrect ear, which is such a massive quality issue that was missed on my head strap.
So overall, if you’re thinking of buying this head strap for its audio solution, I would stay away from this head strap. But for a top adjustable strap, there might be some uses for those seeking this type of adjustment, but seeing as you’re going to be most likely wearing it like a Halo strap, you’re much better off actually buying a Halo Strap, such as the BoboVR M2 Pro.
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 – Brief overview
0:24 – Unboxing
0.35 – Features & Design
2:16 – Installation & Wear
2:48 – Comfort
4:05 – My impressions
4:48 – Audio quality
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