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High-End Gaming Headset Roundup -- Check Out These Sweet Cans!
Posted 10/10/08 at 01:55:42 PM by Reed Porter
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Razer Piranha
In searching for the ‘king of the cans’, we were bound to find a lemon scraping the bottom of the barrel. The Razer Piranha unfortunately fills that role. Unlike all of the other headsets we tested, the audio sounded completely flat and static.
After wearing them for hours our ears began to hurt as they sat right on top of our ears. Many sounds that we could hear clearly in other headsets were indiscernible on the Piranhas, while the highs and mids were very drained.
Oddly enough however, the headset had punchy bass that held clear even at high volumes. In addition, the microphone quality was respectable. The Piranhas perform great in those areas, but in every other respect they were sub-par.
Verdict: 4
Plantronics GameCom 777
These GameComs shocked us in nearly every area of testing. The 777's come with a detachable "5.1 Dolby Headphone USB soundcard" that allow for either analog or USB input, making it perfect for the LAN party gamer. In addition, the inline mixer is a plug-and-play device, so it requires no software installation.
When testing the USB card we found its directional mixing was surprisingly accurate and close that of an X-Fi soundcard. The headset was also very comfortable to wear with velour padding on both the earcups and the headband. The microphone also folds up into the headset itself, flush with headband – something we’ve never seen before. We wonder why it took so long for companies to implement this seemingly obvious idea, and hopefully we'll see more headsets following suit in the future.
Thankfully, Plantronics decided to build the headset with an open-ear design which results in increased fidelity as well as a more natural listening experience. The highs and mids were crisp and clear while the bass was wholesome and thunderous. Only at VERY high volumes would the bass cut out.
The GameCom’s sexy and comfortable aesthetics, mixed with superb audio make it our favorite headset in the roundup.
Verdict: 9
AXPC by Tritton Technology
Submitted by pcfitness on Mon, 12/22/2008 - 12:13pm
I just got these yesterday and love them.
Instead of me doing a review on these I will leave a few links that I found which actually made me go buy a pair.
http://www.modders-inc.com/reviews-story--163.html
http://www.cinemablend.com/games/PC-Review-AXPC-Gaming-Headphones-4670.html
http://www.gamernode.com/features/2895-axpc-51-usb-gaming-headphones-review/index.html
PC Fitness.
www.expertcomputerhelp.com
www.expertpersonaltraining.com
Others review
Submitted by Talcum X on Mon, 10/13/2008 - 10:05am
Interesting. I like to read customer reviews of products after reviews such as these to see what the masses had to say about their purchace. Come to find out, the Senneiser got better overall reviews than the Plantroics. The Plantronics got some major mixed reviews on NewEgg. Especially about the 5.1 claim.
***********
Every morning is the dawn of a new error.
"In Ireland, there are more drunks per capita than people." - Peter Griffin
EDGE Accoustics GX400s?
Submitted by BizSAR on Mon, 10/13/2008 - 8:18am
There reviews are great and long overdue.
Did you consider the EDGE Accoustics GX400 earphones (http://www.edgeacoustics.com/products/gx400/)?
I would suspect they would stand up quite well against the best headphone counterparts.
~BizSAR
Submitted by billysundays on Sun, 10/12/2008 - 2:37pm
This has been a long awaited round up review. Great job Reed.
I'm glad you guys have thrown in an opinion on the use of multiple speakers in headsets to reproduce 5.1 surround sound. I remember you also gave Turtle Beach’s Ear Force HPA2 headset props for the same reason.
There're more than a dozen brands now touting thier own multi-speaker surround sound gaming headsets for PCs and consoles. Most opinions I've read online make them out to be gimmicky, while affirming the combination of quality headsets with HRTF technology, like Creative Lab's "CMSS-3D", to be the only way to go.
Here's my question to anyone in the MaxPC staff. Seeing as the Medusa's "aural positioning was the best we've heard", would you say that the multi-speaker solution is better than the conventional use of HRTF with headphones?
Any readers have an opinion?
By the way, Reed, where's the review of the ASTRO A40 GAMING HEADSET by
Will Smith? I was sure it would've been feature in this round up.
Will told me he had the
Submitted by whisp on Mon, 10/13/2008 - 3:54am
Will told me he had the review for that headset nearly finished when I was working on this one.
Currently I would go with a quality stereo headset and rely on a good soundcard to mix the surround. 5.1 headsets have a ways to go from what I have seen, for whatever reason they always seem to produce degraded audio quality. The latest X-Fi soundcard had surround positioning just shy of a true 5.1 headset, the difference was not as much as you would think.
"we Plan for Tomorrow, but we Live for Today"
Submitted by billysundays on Mon, 10/13/2008 - 8:22pm
On Astro's website there's a review of the A40 headsets by a Will Smith for "Official Xbox Magazine"? Does Will Smith also write for "Official Xbox Magazine"?
Submitted by billysundays on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 12:09pm
scratch that, i just read Smith's bio.
Submitted by foyleman on Sun, 10/12/2008 - 10:09am
You don't need a desktop mic to sound good. There are studio quality headsets with microphones.
I have a Sennheiser HMD Pro 280 headset with mic. You have to solder on the cable end that you plan to use. I soldered on a balanced microphone plug for my mixing board. Then I run the mix through to my Creative Soundblaster Audigy soundcard.
I get asked all the time, "How do you sound so good? What do you use?" This is it.
Submitted by PDeath on Sat, 10/11/2008 - 8:26pm
I am very happy with my Steel Series 5Hv2s, the're great if you prefer anolog 2.0 through your soundcard instead of usb.
Submitted by billysundays on Fri, 10/10/2008 - 7:26pm
actually, sirphunkee, they've featured 3 turtle beach headsets in the past. do a quick search. they liked the Ear Force HPA2 headset (june '07"). i wonder how they would compare it to these headsets.
Exactly, I was just hoping
Submitted by sirphunkee on Fri, 10/10/2008 - 10:46pm
Exactly, I was just hoping to see them compared directly to the Sennheiser and Plantronics models
Submitted by sirphunkee on Fri, 10/10/2008 - 6:44pm
I'm also surprised that not a single one of Turtle Beach's gaming-worthy headsets got a mention...they have several models all across the pricing spectrum, some of them 5.1, and all of them better than several models that were included in this roundup (IMO).
Submitted by joe2 on Fri, 10/10/2008 - 4:53pm
i read several positive reviews so i bought the medusa progamer 5.1 v2 for $130.
within 2 weeks they stopped working. the power somehow got cut off or the flimsy plastic switch broke. i barely used them (only wore them 1-2 hours a day) and treated them very well.
they were almost new so i thought it would be easy to get them replaced. unfortunately they have a really nasty service policy:
in order to get them repaired i had to send them to england ($40 shipping) then IF they decided to repair them, i had to pay to have them shipped back (another $40).
so, $80 to have them repaired, IF they decided to repair them. otherwise i would get a bill for a repair charge.
i've never heard of a company that makes you pay $80 in shipping to repair an obviously defective product. my 24" monitor stopped working after 3 years and Acer paid shipping both ways and repaired it for free. my microsoft keyboard stopped working and they sent me a new one, no questions asked, no charge.
to add insult to injury, the emails from their service department were curt, bordering on rude. apparently when you buy the headset the money goes to germany but when you repair it the headset goes to england, so they have no motivation at all to provide you with good customer service. i don't know why they would run their company that way but if i convince a single person not to buy this headset i'll feel better about wasting $130.
(i bought a $40 creative fatality headset after i threw away the medusa and it was more comfortable and sounded better anyway.)
Submitted by strykyr on Fri, 10/10/2008 - 4:21pm
I just bought the Pantronics set last week. Was listening to Me and Bobby Mcgee and I swear I heard pages turning and a mic stand being moved in the background. The beginning of hells bells...The sound the Nano suit makes in Crysis...wow. Thses things have to be the best sounding 'phones I have ever heard. I don't realy use the little sound card that came with it. I have an Audigy 2 Platinum and the 2 jacks on the drive unit suffice and drives them better. The mic picks up fly farts. What kept them from getting a 10?
Submitted by whisp on Mon, 10/13/2008 - 3:58am
If the rating system was based stricly on a price/performance ratio, the headset would have easily been given a 10.
"we Plan for Tomorrow, but we Live for Today"
Submitted by ProtoJMB on Fri, 10/10/2008 - 4:07pm
Hey, good article. I shall refer my friend to it, as he was looking at some different headsets.
Anyways, you said "although it would be amazing, we have yet to see a high end optical headset"
Well apparently they DO exist! A company called TRITTON Technologies (I've never heard of them) makes high end optical headsets that can be used with anything that has an optical port, including PC's with optical ports either onboard or with the latest round of soundcards. I think it would be worth checking out. They actually make two different kinds, a lower tier and then a super high end that will be coming out soon. They are also DOLBY Digital 5.1 certified headsets.
This headset is under $100 on newegg:
http://www.trittontechnologies.com/products/TRIGA600.htm
This headset only has an "OUT OF STOCK" placeholder on newegg, but the website says it's a coming soon product. It's WELL OVER $100:
http://www.trittontechnologies.com/products/TRIGA611.htm
It'd be cool to see a review of those, see how they stack up to the analog brethren. = D
Submitted by billysundays on Sun, 10/12/2008 - 2:20pm
Those headsets were announced so long ago, and MaxPC has already reviewed two of trittons headsets and found them to be mediocre, so don't hold your breath.
Submitted by Manolo71 on Mon, 10/13/2008 - 10:50am
Billisunday i have to defer on your comment about the TRITTON'S cans, I have a pair of AX360 (http://www.trittontechnologies.com/products/TRIGA600.htm) for almost two years now, i buy those when 2142 hit the market, and the only thing i can say this can's rock my ears, first of all the only down side is that you have to tweak the control the find that sweet spot, and yes they are digital, i have them conected to my X-Fi fatality titanium and it work great. I have 2142, F.E.A.R.,HALF LIFE 2,S.T.A.L.K.E.R (SHADOW & CLEAR SKY), COD4, CRYSIS, WORLD AT WAR, with no problem at all. I can wait to try FAR CRY 2 & FALLOUT 3,
Prices
Submitted by mitpatterson on Fri, 10/10/2008 - 1:53pm
Good article Reed, but where are the prices and links?
mitpatterson
Submitted by billysundays on Sun, 10/12/2008 - 2:31pm
(Reed) Regarding your review of the Plantronics, I'll assume that "we found its directional mixing...close to that of an X-Fi soundcard" means that you guys find Creative Lab's "CMSS-3D" HRTF to be superior to the "Dolby Headphone" technology. That being the case, I think it would be worth noting that the Plantronics headset can also be connected to your souncard via its analog connection, and they're about $150 less than the Sennheisers.
Submitted by whisp on Mon, 10/13/2008 - 4:09am
I believe I did - "The 777's come with a detachable "5.1 Dolby Headphone USB soundcard" that allow for either analog or USB input"
I have been told not to mention price in the reviews unless its a HUGE factor. You are right though, I should have mentioned that the price difference between the two was very large.
"we Plan for Tomorrow, but we Live for Today"
Submitted by billysundays on Mon, 10/13/2008 - 10:49am
My bad. Weird that i missed that. I must have read the article 4 times before i posted a reply, i just didn't correctly parse what you were trying to say.
Submitted by sirphunkee on Mon, 10/13/2008 - 4:00pm
I think the Sennheiser's have dropped in price, they're widely available now for $160 online (but the plantronics model is holding steady at $90-$100)
Saw Reed sporting the
Submitted by Sever on Fri, 10/10/2008 - 12:42pm
Saw Reed sporting the Plantronics GameCom 777 at Nvision they were sweet would get a pair but i have 2 steelseries 5H v2 and i love them. Great review Reed hope to see more.
Submitted by captrespect on Fri, 10/10/2008 - 12:14pm
Great reviews!
Anyone have a recomendation of a good mic I can clip to my headset or shirt? I've already got a good pair of headphones I don't want to give up, but I still have that stupid desktop mic that came with an old computer.
Submitted by whisp on Mon, 10/13/2008 - 4:10am
I have a few different recommendations I could give, but none of them are anything special when it comes to quality..
"we Plan for Tomorrow, but we Live for Today"
What kind of mic?
Submitted by Skiplives on Fri, 10/10/2008 - 1:38pm
If you want a good stand mounted mic, go for something like the Blue Snowball - B&H offers it as a kit with a stand, shock mount, and pop filter. You can also get a wide choice of clip-on mics. Go to a music store rather than a computer store for this. If you are an instrument/gear-head, take a breath and don't walk out with a pro ADC and boom for your new Neumann U87. :p
The Snowball, eh? Last I
Submitted by TheMurph on Fri, 10/10/2008 - 2:10pm
The Snowball, eh? Last I checked, that didn't work on Vista whatsoever.
what about zalman?
Submitted by killerxx7 on Fri, 10/10/2008 - 11:49am
you missed out the zalman 5.1 headset brialiant headset for the price!!
Submitted by whisp on Mon, 10/13/2008 - 4:12am
I contacted Zalman and they told me the headset was no longer being supported really and had nothing new to send.
I forget "exactly" what they said, but it was something along those lines..
"we Plan for Tomorrow, but we Live for Today"
Submitted by Velcrow on Fri, 10/10/2008 - 11:33am
I had a pair of the Creative Fatal1ty's and loved them. Damn cat ate the wire. But I'll be ordering another pair for sure. They were very comfortable and sound was good for the price. Mic picked up everything I said well. Can get a pair of the analog version for around $45 on Amazon. I prefer analog since it runs directly through my sound card.
Submitted by sirphunkee on Fri, 10/10/2008 - 11:32am
"...flush against your shoulders."
"...flush with the headband."
It's "flush", not "plush"
Submitted by norman on Fri, 10/10/2008 - 11:53am
fixed, thanks!
-- Norm
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