QRD Maestro S3 Wireless Hitbox Review

When they started emerging on the market, leverless controllers were considered a niche option. However, they quickly gained a lot of popularity in the fighting game community thanks to some of the clear advantages they provide compared to traditional gamepads and arcade sticks, advantages that are balanced by the time required to become proficient with such an unconventional setup.

Following the release of multiple gamepads, including the excellent QRD Spark N5, Chinese manufacturer QRD has now launched its first leverless controller, the Maestro S3 Wireless Hitbox. Like the other controls it has released so far, this controller is a solid proposition thanks to its price and unique features.

At first glance, the QRD Maestro S3 Wireless Hitbox leaves an excellent first impression. The build quality is extremely solid, possibly even more than similar controllers in the same price range ($169.99). Coming only in an elegant black color, the controller features the standard 12 buttons seen in most hitbox-style controllers, six additional smaller buttons (share, turbo, options, q, which is used to switch between some of the controller’s unique features, L3 and R3), a front USB Type-C port, and a side headphone jack, which, alongside wireless support, makes the QRD Maestro S3 Wireless Hitbox rather unique, as these are niche features found in very few leverless controllers, and definitely not in this price range. With an 800g weight and an L300*W200*H31mm size, the controller feels very comfortable to use, whether placed on a hard surface or on the legs. The nine single-color LED lights are a nice touch, and they don’t impact battery life too much, which lasts around 8 hours. Charging the battery to the fullest takes around 3 hours, which is in line with pretty much every wireless controller on the market. While having a wireless option is great, however, it is currently limited as Xinput is only supported via a wired connection, but this is unlikely to be an issue for most competitive players, as, while the wireless connection works quite well, a wired connection is always preferred to reduce input delay as much as possible.

What is definitely an issue for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S players is the lack of support for these formats, as a converter is required to use the QRD Maestro S3 Wireless Hitbox with current generation consoles. This is definitely the controller’s biggest issue as, while PC is becoming the platform for fighting games, in-person tournaments still use the PlayStation 5 as the platform of choice, so those who purchase the QRD Maestro S3 Wireless Hitbox will have to purchase an adapter to be able to use the controller in these situations.

It is a shame the QRD Maestro S3 Wireless Hitbox doesn’t support PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S out of the box because it is, honestly, a pretty great controller. Both wired and wireless setup was painless on PC and Nintendo Switch, and even on an Android device. The controller is actually a pretty viable option for mobile gaming, thanks to the included mobile attachment accessory, although I can’t think of a case where someone might want to play with a hitbox-style controller on mobile, with the exception of some retro gaming. The hot-swappable mechanical switch buttons are extremely accurate and much more silent than, say, the standard Sanwa buttons, which is a definite plus for late-night players such as myself. Despite being more used to arcade sticks and pads, it did not take long for the QRD Maestro S3 Wireless Hitbox to click, and I expect the controller to become my controller of choice for Street Fighter 6 once I feel more confident with it. The controller worked great in Tekken 8 and Guilty Grear Strive as well, with no noticeable input delay with both wireless and wired connections or any other sort of issue.

Much like other leverless controllers, the QRD Maestro S3 Wireless Hitbox comes with multiple SOCD cleaning modes. The first one, which is also the mode the controller has enabled by default, returns a neutral input when holding down left and right simultaneously and an up input when holding up and down. The second mode returns a neutral input with both opposite directions held down, which is the SOCD cleaning mode required to participate in any Capcom Cup event, so, primarily playing Street Fighter 6, it is the mode I am using and the one I suggest ever Street Fighter 6 player to use. The QRD Maestro S3 Wireless Hitbox also comes with unique latency settings – Automatic, Low Latency for older arcade games, Medium Latency for more recent arcade games and emulated games, and High Latency and Highest Latency for modern and future games. To give these latency modes a proper try, I have used the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection as well, and I felt that Automatic worked well enough and just as well as low latency, so it seems a solid option to start with before proceeding to switch between other modes in case there are issues. I haven’t encountered any across all of the games included in the collection, and the aforementioned Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, and Guilty Gear Strive using Automatic mode, so I’ll definitely stick with it for longer.

The QRD Maestro S3 Wireless Hitbox also comes with one more unique feature, EZ-Mode, which should clean up inputs for better execution. Despite having limited experience with leverless controllers, I noticed no real difference with Z-Mode, as I had no trouble doing consistent DPs and quarter-circle motions using any SOCD mode. This could possibly be helpful for players new to the genre as a whole, but for a somewhat experienced player, it did not make much of a difference, if at all.

At the end of the day, the QRD Maestro S3 Wireless Hitbox is an excellent leverless controller that is more than worth its price tag, thanks to its solid build quality, silent buttons, wireless support, and additional features like latency features. Sadly, the lack of support for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S is a major issue that will prevent the controller from becoming a more popular choice, but if you primarily play on PC and want to try out a solid leverless controller without breaking the bank, the QRD Maestro S3 Wireless Hitbox is undoubtedly the controller to get.

Review unit provided by the manufacturer.

With its ease of use, silent and accurate buttons, and unique features such as multiple SOCD cleaning modes, Latency Modes, wireless support, and a headphone jack, the QRD Maestro S3 Wireless Hitbox offers more than similar leverless controllers in the same price range. Unfortunately, the lack of PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S compatibility prevents the QRD Maestro S3 Wireless Hitbox from being a universal choice for fighting game players, as an additional purchase of a converter is required to use the controller with current-generation consoles

Buy for $169.99 from Amazon

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