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The Epos H3 doesn’t have a lot going on. It’s a wired gaming headset with a 3.5mm connection, no special features to speak of, and it costs $119. But if you take a closer look, it has some little touches that show a closer attention to detail, like a two-hinge system that keeps the ear cups flush. And if you listen close, you can hear that there’s detail and clarity to its sound that you might not find in a lesser headset. The Epos H3 isn’t perfect, but it’d be a mistake to take a quick glance and not consider its finer qualities.

Epos H3 – Design & Features

The Epos H3 is a straightforward wired gaming headset with a few subtle tweaks to maximize comfort and ease of use. The top band is made of black plastic with an adjustable steel core, which is marked with numbered notches to help you set your head size symmetrically. The top band features memory foam padding coated with a healthy coating of leatherette all the way around the band, which gives it a refined look.

The top band attaches to the ear cups horizontally, sitting in front of the cans rather than directly above. Meaning the top band sits forward on your head a bit more than most headsets. Though it is a distinct change, the visual difference is more subtle than you might think. When you look at the headset before you put it on, it almost looks backwards. If you look at yourself in the mirror with the headset on, you don’t notice a thing. Most importantly, at 279 grams, it sits light on your head. You won’t forget you’re wearing a headset – the ear cups fit a little too well for that – but it’s easy to wear all day.

The most notable elements of H3’s material design are its dual-hinged plastic forks. The two hinges, one vertical and one horizontal allow for the ear cups to get a flush fit on the sides of your head. It also allows you to easily adjust them if the seal starts to feel more tight than snug.

The ear cups themselves are long half-moons, padded with thick memory foam. According to Epos, the shape is designed to make the headset more comfortable and keep the cans from hanging on your ears. This works swimmingly, so long as you make sure the headset is well-adjusted. If you don’t take a moment to find the size that works for you and make sure it’s symmetrical, the narrow shape will box your ears and get uncomfortable quickly. That isn’t a problem, but it’s worth knowing that tailoring your experience is a requirement, not just a perk.

The H3 has only one on-set control, an inset volume wheel, which I rarely used. The headset comes in slightly soft at the default, full volume: The moment I started playing with the wheel, the volume was too low.

The Epos H3 comes with two cables; a 1.5 meter 3.5mm jack and a 3.5-meter Y-shaped audio cable for PC. I was peeved to find that, while the cable is detachable, the smaller audio jack and unique housing means you cannot swap them out for non-Epos cables. The default 1.5-meter cable is on the short side, so it would be nice to swap it out for a longer cable in some situations.

Lastly, the H3 features a comparatively large bidirectional mic on a thick but flexible plastic boom arm. Unlike most headsets in recent years, the mic is not detachable: It’s built into the housing of the left ear cup. When you flip it up the off position, the mic auto-mutes: In a nice touch, there’s an audible click when the headset moves in or out of mute position.

Epos H3 – Gaming

The Epos H3 looks refined, and it puts out a crisp, clear sound to match. Though Epos describes the headset’s soundscape as bassy, I’d say it’s quite even-keeled: Yes, it brings some bass, but its mids and highs sing as well across games like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Dead by Daylight, Days Gone, and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, among others.

In Call of Duty, I could tell the difference between close and too close bullets based on how they sound whizzing by. Sailing the rivers of England in AC Valhalla, you can hear the smooth timbre of your vikings’ songs. In Dead by Daylight, still my competitive go-to, I was able to locate detailed sounds like footsteps, trash fires, and crows by sound alone. Though there are headsets that offer more robust experiences with deeper, more nuanced sound, you can hear a good amount of detail in most in-game situations.

One noticeable, not so great trait: The headset’s volume, by default, is somewhat soft. As I mentioned, the volume wheel isn’t particularly useful unless you turn the system volume on your device very loud. I could always hear when playing on my PS5 or Xbox Series X but found myself frequently looking to make the volume just a smidge louder.

The microphone is generally very clear and easier to position than I expected, given its size. Although Epos described it as a noise-canceling mic, I found it picks up ambient noise just a little more fully than other headsets that feature microphones with active noise cancellation. It’s a small difference that, in my testing, didn’t impact gameplay at all but might make you think twice before using it for streaming or other, more demanding audio work.

Here’s some good news for anyone in the market for a smart watch, fitness tracker, or wrist-mounted internet machine: Apple Watch Series 6 is on sale for $100 off at Amazon right now. It almost never drops that low, so now is a good time to buy if you’ve been on the fence. The deal only applies to the (Product)Red color scheme, but it’s a great color.

Apple Watch Series 6 is the latest version of the company’s smartwatch. The 40mm GPS model normally retails for $399, but right now you can get one for $299 at Amazon.

Apple Watch Series 6: Save $100

The Apple Watch Series 6 brings all the high-tech features of previous models forward and adds a handful of new hardware and software features of its own. So it still offers all kinds of internet connectivity, like letting you place and receive phone calls and send and read text messages. The always-on screen, inherited from Series 5, is 2.5-times brighter than the previous model as well.

Apple Watches are full-featured fitness trackers. They count your steps, track a range of exercises from swimming to yoga, and can periodically remind you to stand up and move around.

As for what’s new in Series 6, the headline new features are all about health. You can monitor your blood oxygen level now, thanks to a new sensor. You can take an ECG anytime, if you’re interested in that kind of thing. It also has a new sleep app that helps you set a nighttime routine and can monitor your rest. You can even set sleep goals for yourself, and it will track them for you.

Beyond all that, you can swap out watch bands to match your outfit or mood. They play nicely with other Apple products, like Airpods, the company’s wireless earbuds. It’s a good watch, and this is one of the best deals we’ve seen on it. Grab it before it’s gone.

Apple AirPod Deals

Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert at IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed.

This is a spoiler-free review of season one of Schmigadoon!, which is now streaming on Apple TV+.

There’s a battle raging at the heart of Schmigadoon!, and I don’t mean the one between its central lovers. The comedy-musical series from Apple TV+ centers on a couple from New York City, who are on the brink of breaking up when they accidentally tumble into a magical realm where people spontaneously burst into song. But while they bicker, the major conflict is between the music’s earnest sentimentality and the show’s smug cynicism. It’s as if this six-episode series doesn’t know who its audience is.

Created by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio and directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, Schmigadoon! parodies musicals from The Golden Age of theater with a jaunty mash-up of influences. Borrowing a plot device from Brigadoon, the titular town appears in the mist, a seeming safe haven for Melissa Gimble (Saturday Night Live’s Cecily Strong) and Josh Skinner (Key & Peele’s Keegan-Michael Key), two lovers lost on an arduous hike that was meant to bring them closer together. Here, the colors are violently vibrant. The townsfolk dress in prim attire: long, full-skirted dresses for the women, and dapper suits for the men. Their cheeks are all ruddy with the robust rouge of stage make-up. And — of course — they break into song, eagerly and often.

To Melissa, who has long cherished American musicals of the ‘40s-‘60s, this is a dream come true, but Josh is anxious to escape from the first chorus. Of course, it’s not so simple. A leprechaun (borrowed from Finian’s Rainbow) informs them that they can’t cross the bridge out of town until they’ve found true love. So, they look elsewhere for love, coming across an array of allusions to memorable musicals. There’s a flirtatious farmer’s daughter (Dove Cameron) plucked from Oklahoma!, a stuffy but dashing doctor (Jaime Camil) from The Sound of Music, and a sneering preacher’s wife (Kristin Chenoweth) and the sweet but stern schoolmarm (Ariana DeBose), both visiting from The Music Man. Many more musicals will be name-dropped by Melissa, but the music from Schmigadoon! takes these references to another level.

Songs from all of the above as well as Kiss Me Kate, Carousel, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and others will be mined for parodies. Some are essential for the plot, like “Schmigadoon,” which sets up the town, its tone and crucial figures. Others are silly, like the overlong ode “Corn Pudding” or the sex-ed song “Va-Gi-Na” (in the style of “Do-Re-Mi”). Some even scratch at sincere emotion, like Mrs. Menlove’s (Ann Harada) yearning ballad about her husband, “He’s a Queer One, That Man of Mine.” But few of the songs are all that good. Several overstay their welcome, and that’s supposed to be funny: Another verse, another reprise, another cutaway to an over-it New Yorker. Other songs feel like shallow spoofery. They mock the cheery veneer of these musicals with the only commentary being the clucking of the cynical lovers, who refuse to sing along. It’s as if the writers saddled their series with its own haters, a Statler and Waldorf who aren’t even interested in cracking jokes as much as pointing out problematic content. Yes, old-school musicals are littered with creepy elements, troubling gender norms, and racism. But pointing that out with a snotty aside isn’t entertaining or all that deep.

Schmigadoon! is at its best when it gets out of its own way and lets its Broadway ensemble show their stuff. A cavalcade of incredible performers pop up, including Wicked’s Kristin Chenoweth, Nine’s Jane Krakowski, Moulin Rouge’s Aaron Tveit, Cabaret’s Alan Cumming, Avenue Q’s Ann Harada, and Hamilton’s Ariana DeBose. While the music overall is underwhelming, several songs offer showstopper moments that give these stars the space to shine. They belt. They croon. They tap dance. They pull off operettas and an 18-page-long group number that brings the whole town into the mix. The enthusiasm of these performers makes Schmigadoon! exciting in a way its snarky premise can’t.

Sadly, these characters are given short shrift. Most are painted only in the broadest of terms, their plotlines adding a bit of color but little emotional depth. Krakowski’s hot Hitchcock Blonde is a featured role (perhaps fitting, as that’s how she won her Tony for Nine). Tveit’s sexy rapscallion is enchanting, but essentially a one-note joke. The Menloves get the most poignant arc of the townspeople, but its path is obvious from the moment you hear their last name. Other stories are either predictable or abruptly abandoned, including one that seemed rich for drama and romance. Perhaps they might be explored if the show gets a second season. Still, this lazy disregard for structure and storytelling is irksome.

Aside from the war in tone and the wasting of opportunities in this parody realm, there’s another big problem at the heart of this rom-com musical series: its lovers lack luster. Coming from a background in sketch comedy, Key and Strong have stellar comedic timing, which brings bite to their bickering. However, they have zero chemistry as an onscreen couple. It’s easy enough to buy them as co-workers, but there’s little intimacy in their interactions. Even in the flashbacks to their better days, there’s no spark. Thus, the romance at this show’s core never really catches on to burn bright. So, how are we to root for these lovers to reconnect?

Mocking a beloved franchise isn’t usually the recommended path to take to secure a job as part of it, but apparently it worked in favour for actor and comedian Bill Burr in the lead up to his role as Migs Mayfield on The Mandalorian.

As noted by the Hollywood Reporter, the stand-up comic was recently interviewed on the podcast Your Mom’s House where he revealed more about how he came to play the former Imperial Army sharpshooter, despite having a reputation for teasing the franchise and its fans.

“I went to Mike Binder’s birthday party and Jon [Favreau] was there, and he said, ‘Hey, we’re writing this thing. We kind of have you in mind. Do you want to do it?’ And I was like, ‘I don’t know, Jon. I have teased Star Wars people a lot.’ He goes, ‘I know. I listen to the podcast a lot. I think it would be funny if you got in it,” Burr said. “My wife was kicking me under the table and I was like, ‘All right, I’ll do it.’ he continued.

Burr went on to explain that there was a misconception at the time that he truly hated Star Wars. “I just was hating on it as a comic,” he told the host. “You see 1,000 people excited about something, you’re going to make fun of it.”

Burr’s casting seemingly came as a surprise when it was announced, as the actor had said that he wasn’t really a Star Wars/sci-fi fan before accepting the role.

Burr’s character, Migs Mayfield, features in both the first and second seasons of The Mandalorian. It has not yet been confirmed whether he will reprise his role for the third time around.

In other Mando related news, the third season of the Disney+ show will go into production soon, with filming for the Book of Boba Fett seemingly now complete. Make sure to check out our review of Season 2 of The Mandalorian, where we said that the show “pulls off an ambitious and epic sophomore season that has plenty of heart and nostalgia.”

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN currently missing his weekly fix of Baby Yoda. You can follow him on Twitter.