Cooler Master Masterhub Review – A Modular, Modern Creative Content Creation Tool

The Cooler Master Masterhub is basically a modular surface and array of Magsafe seats used to lay out customizable modules that can be rearranged and rotated to your liking. Each module has a different purpose, such as the main hub of buttons to control your stream transitions or sound effects, or to manage the volume of multiple audio sources with the fader knobs. As of right now, the available modules consist of an LCD dial, 2xRollers, a button hub, a triple RGB knob, and the fader platform. Although Cooler Master does have plans to expand their modular offerings, these current choices offer arguably the widest coverage of software customizability and control for content creators and digital professionals. Let’s look closer into Cooler Master’s streamdeck competitor, the Masterhub, to see if changing your brand loyalty is worth the extra cheese.

Style / Feel / Build / Hardware

Mechanically and physically, the quality of each module, the touch and feel of the material, and the overall experience are nothing to speak greatly about. Although each dial or button has some sort of identifying texture, it doesn’t stand out of the ordinary or seem premium in any way. The Masterhub looks relatively premium but lacks any engaging tactile exterior. For example, the LCD button on the LCD module is very wobbly and loose-feeling.

I would have liked to see a bit more use of other materials, such as rubber or metal, to spruce up the Masterhub’s presentation. The Masterhub takes up a lot of space, so can you blame me for being so critical about the way it looks? Anyway, speaking of sprucing it up, the RGB presence is nice to have but seems a bit scattered and minimal. I think I would have liked to see RGB used even more here, which is not the normal argument I would make. The Masterhub seems visually boring in relation to how fun of an actual product it is.

In addition, there is an RGB strip that adds much-needed style to the Masterhub, along with some debossed logos around the edges. Although it seems nice at first, after using the triple dial module, the LED strip is clearly more dim, desaturated, and lacking luminance compared to the dial’s RGB. It’s hard to unsee, and even out of the corner of my eye, I long for a more evenly distributed RGB illumination.

Circling to the MagSafe and module conversation, the magnets are very strong and can withstand a bit of grip without falling out of place. However, I can’t necessarily speak the same about the metal contact point, which can be found on the bottom right of each module.

In the top right section, particularly of my Masterhub, I found any module placed there to be a bit loose, subjecting the module to easily lose magsafe connection if knocked even in the slightest. The top section was the weariest, but the finicky nature doesn’t stop at the top, as any module on its right side (where the magsafe seat is located) is subject to sensitivity and potential disconnection.

I found the general sensitivity and frequency of module disconnections to be quite unfavorable, as you really have to be careful lifting, moving, or shaking the Masterhub. Clearly, the attempt at simplicity in the magsafe shape, size, and depth hurts the solidity of the magnet’s grip and seating.

The Cooler Master Masterhub suffers the most from strange software layout and user experience (which we will get deeper into), but more importantly, its physical and tactile experience. Almost everything I encounter when using the Masterhub puts a smile on my face, but it’s upsetting to see such a great product fall into the hands of too much plastic.

Although most areas and modules are made of plastic, the Masterhub generally feels tanky when assembled. I wouldn’t feel comfortable dropping it, though, as its weight might break its plastic exterior, but it does feel rather solid when picked up correctly.

Moving on, the main button hub module buttons seem a bit sticky, and some buttons feel drastically different than others when clicking, showcasing inconsistencies in mass production of the clear plastic. It’s almost as if the buttons were pressed for 3 years of constant daily use, and they start to get slower on actuation. Not a great haptic response for fresh hardware, and I hope your clicks feel better than mine.

The resolution and pixelation of the buttons are visible, but this is to be expected and doesn’t really bother me, even if I’m a resolution nerd. The graphics and icons present clearly enough at a normal viewing distance to be understood. A small but cute talking point, each button icon or graphic shrinks upon press, which is more than just a visual enhancement. It is nice to know if the Masterhub is responding and active, and visually seeing the icons become smaller is a helpful tool for acknowledging device functionality.

Regarding in, out, and connection, the Masterhub provides a 2-meter USB-C braided cable that is rigid but not too stiff, which makes it annoying to bend. The cable can plug into one of two sides of your choice, orienting the Masterhub either vertically or horizontally. Each USB-C is also adjacent to a Display Port USB-C out. Although useless today, extra DisplayPort USB-Cs will be used for future display modules and features. Stay tuned, everyone; this is a fair tease from Cooler Master.

The placement of the USB-C vertical section is misguided. Most people will use this device on their left hand to align with their keyboard, leaving the right hand open for a mouse. Even if you look on Cooler Master’s website, they show the Masterhub on the left of their desks more often than not. If this is the case, it would make more sense for the wire to be guided to the left, not the right. It was a weird play on the manufacturing here and did not go unnoticed. You won’t be able to please everyone in this category, but they definitely did not please me. Granted, this is only the case for the vertical orientation, as the horizontal layout does direct the USB-C to the left.

Something worth noting: It doesn’t get hot, but the Masterhub’s underside gets warm and generates heat simply by being plugged in. I would advise keeping it unplugged if there are no plans to use it for extended durations.

Cooler Master advertises a specific kickstand online, which this product desperately needs. Since I don’t have one, nor do I have the option to buy one, I am left upset. The kitted stand is basically useless and flat, thus rendering the Masterhub to always sit flat on my desk. It’s very hard to use this device when flat, and it takes away the efficiency aspect, leaving the Masterhub to collect dust. No kickstand, no use here.

Cooler Master has informed me that an updated kickstand will be available after the product launch. It will offer more versatility and operation angles, along with aftermarket mount support such as a floor-standing arm or mic boom arm. For now, we hunch over to view the Masterhub.

Performance / Hands-on-use / User Experience / Analysis / Etc.

The Cooler Master Masterhub makes it easy to control any stream or content capture by having full integration and support of major streaming platforms and portals such as Twitch, Streamlabs, OBS, and more. This is expected, but it’s nice to confirm. Just like all streamers dream of, it’s very easy to use transitions, control individual audio sources with predetermined faders or dials, change scenes, layouts, and really any live-action feature you need.

To make it as simple as possible, any controllable hotkey setting in OBS can be mapped to a button or dial on the Masterhub. This also applies to Streamlabs, but OBS and Twitch were used in this review.

The features and compatibility don’t end there, as the Masterhub also supports basic Windows system functions, web URLs, software, screen capture, and more using Cooler Master’s specific new piece of software self-titled “Masterhub.”. You can even find abundant support for the Adobe Creative Suite, Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere, to be exact.

The ability to program any hotkey or keystroke to a button is helpful for more than just streaming. If you often forget hotkeys, you can create pages of buttons specific to the software, such as a page for all of your favorite Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator tools.

This feature and the addition of the Adobe Creative Suite hit home and were greatly appreciated. Not only does it work phenomenally, but design-wise, it matches spot on and makes my creative workflow much more engaging. The Masterhub made me want to incorporate the device into my day-to-day, and that is a strong indication of great product design and a customer-first mentality.

The Masterhub Software is disorganized or lacks heads-up information. It was a bit hard to find all of the program’s features, but after some digging with a microscope, it’s rather simple to operate. It just takes some time to get situated, as information and clickable windows don’t stick out like they should. A bit of design work can benefit the UE of the Masterhub overall.

Button customization seems abundant, allowing users to change icons from a pre-loaded library with 90 choices, color, background, title, text, font, color, and size (small, medium, large, huge). You can even upload and set your own images for reference, which can be useful when creating complex podcasts or live streams.

The icon button customization is rather simple, less than the Call of Duty Black Ops icon builder if you remember that game. Still, from what I can tell, it provides no real boundaries for practicality. The features provided were more than enough to organize a show professionally by color, image, design, and more.

Diving further into customization and creativity with the Masterhub, creating macros requires combining the multi-tasking feature with hotkeys. Although this seems overcomplex, it still works for advanced keystrokes or button combinations. An example of this would be one button to copy and paste simultaneously.

A delightful feature of the Masterhubs dial modules, since they are also buttons, is that you can click the dials to cycle through, as far as I’m concerned, as many features as you want to. For instance, I can have 10 features linked to one of my RGB dials, and it may get confusing to remember, but you can really pack your Masterhub profiles and layouts out with control. If you do it right, you should never run out of space or options to nest features if Cooler Master has no limits in its multi-functional programming. This was a surprising delight to see.

Not to mention, don’t be afraid to get creative with the customizable dials. The ability to keep spinning creates fun ways to use traditional features such as undo and redo. Spin to win.

Before I forget, in terms of RGB customization and settings, there are rather few effects to choose from, such as breathing or color cycle, but that doesn’t necessarily bother me. I just figured I would share the news. Unfortunately, you can’t control the RGB knobs individually and only as one unit. In general, you have the option to control each available RGB module individually or set RGB settings for the entire Cooler Master Masterhub as a whole.

I am surprised by how easily each module integrates into various software and applications. I was worried that customization limits would hinder Masterhub’s universal nature, but I can find no accessibility limits. If you want to use the MasterHub to control anything on your PC, you can probably do so.

Weirdly enough, you can also configure modules both vertically and horizontally as long as you don’t confuse yourself, as the Masterhub software will recognize the degree of rotation of each module. For instance, you can have faders running left to right on a landscape layout, thus allowing for even more module layouts to play with.

The Masterhub has built-in gyros and knows when it is lifted off the desk. You can manually turn the device with your hand to confuse its orientation, so just keep that in mind when propping it up in an unconventional manner. You have the option to plug into either USB-C to your preference and set the orientation of the Masterhub manually in the software window.

Overall, during my experience with the Master hub, I encountered very few to no bugs other than some trouble connecting my local server to OBS. Most of my problems came with outdated software versions or firmware versions, so once I updated them, I couldn’t be happier with the functionality of the device. Twitch TV, YouTube, OBS, and more were easy to control and tweak. Yeah, it’s a bit quirky, but it works as intended with seemingly immediate response times.

Conclusion

For the price you pay for the Cooler Master Masterhub, which is $399 for the standard kit, and $549 for the extra LCD and Knob modules, the buttons are quite sticky, the LCD module seems very fragile, and, for lack of a better term, it is cheap. The overall aesthetic of the Masterhub just lacks some style. Besides design and manufacturing qualms, the device couldn’t be more useful and creative.

Luckily, for those interested, there is an early bird discount available, bringing the price down to $299, a more competitive rate compared to their competitors.

I’m extremely curious to see how the public will take on the Masterhub and how the hardware’s life span will pan out. Cooler Master plans to release more add-ons, modules, and accessories in the future, so I will keep my eyes peeled out of curiosity alone.