Eight 5.1- And 7.1-Channel Gaming Headsets, Reviewed

[SinisterSalad]

[citation][nom]PaperBoy[/nom]Still what does on topic and these pseudo surround headphone have to do with a quality sound standards which is first basic importance far before mucking it all up with emulator software's and EQs to create a quasi emulated synthetic unnatural surround effect reproduction performance.[/citation]
My point is that, aside of a few people, your arguments are falling on deaf ears. This is not a forum for audiophiles. If we were all audiophiles, the review would not have needed to be done, because we'd all be like you, and already know these were all "crap". /sarcasm

 

[PaperBoy]

[citation][nom]caedenv[/nom]Oh, that's what's wrong with you! You like Klipsh equipment! lol I suppose you think Bose to be a good quality company too lol.In all seriousness, Klipsh and Bose are not 'bad' simply overpriced for what you get. Which is understandable as you obviously know nothing about audio theory.[/citation]
PS I dont need to understand theory I let my unbiased or trained by ( theory ) virgin ears be the judge. and Bose is great at one thing MARKETING and par at making great sounding equipment and that is sometimes giving them to much credit for some of there junk products the Companion 2 come to mind. Klipsh is all around solid.

 

[restatement3dofted]

[citation][nom]caedenv[/nom]Oh, that's what's wrong with you! You like Klipsh equipment! lol I suppose you think Bose to be a good quality company too lol.In all seriousness, Klipsh and Bose are not 'bad' simply overpriced for what you get. Which is understandable as you obviously know nothing about audio theory.[/citation]

How's the view from up there, bro?

 

[KT_WASP]

As an owner of a pair of Creative Tactic3D Sigmas, I agree totally with the review posted here.

They are awesome bang for your buck. Like the review states, they do have a "cheap" feel to them and I think if you are particularly rough on your gear, you may want to pass them by. That said, I have run over the flat ribbon-type cable with my office chair (over hardwood flooring) a few times and it did not damage anything.

I bought these after sending back the Corsairs I originally ordered (one of the first generation sets, not the newer ones). I found the Corsair headset to be really well made.. but the Bass was a bit lacking and didn't give that "boom" I was looking for when gaming (like tanks blowing up sounded kind of lame, thing like that). Also, on the Corsair headset, the in-line controls were a crazy distance from the phones and had no clip.. you kind of had to reel it in when making adjustments. I bought the Creative Tactic3D Sigma instead and I feel it was a superior headset in sound and function. The Cosair was built much better though, I will give it that.

Try the Sigmas if you have the cash and want a decent sounding set on the cheap. The USB sound card included is actually very good and I like it 10-times better then my motherboards onboard chip (Asus Crosshair IV).

 

[cleeve]

@cleeve
Just wondering, but did you try the blindfold experiment using a stereo headset with good quality surround emulation?

Just the headsets in the roundup.

 

[PaperBoy]

[citation][nom]sinistersalad[/nom]My point is that, aside of a few people, your arguments are falling on deaf ears. This is not a forum for audiophiles. If we were all audiophiles, the review would have needed to be done, because we'd all be like you, and already know these were all "crap". /sarcasm[/citation]
Well I do not say I am audiophile I just like clean sound doesn't have to be as close to perfect as humanly possible for me. I guess as a novelty or kids toy these headsets could be fun for a short time but they would get overbearing and tiresome for any real uses cause of the lack of sound quality and the abundance of unnatural emulations and synths EQs and the price kills them etc.

 

[shoda]

I have been looking for a pair of headsets so this article helped me out a lot. Thank you! I have been looking at the Steelseries Siberia V2 and the Corsair Vengence 1500. I would have liked it if you guys would have included the SteelSeries 7H also... I was really hoping you guys would have included one of these Steelseries headsets.

My biggest question is if using a sound card over USB is that beneficial? I am planning on getting the Corsair SP2500's along with an ASUS Xonar DX 7.1 so I wanted a pair of headsets that could run off of the sound card.

 

[restatement3dofted]

[citation][nom]PaperBoy[/nom]Well I do not say I am audiophile I just like clean sound doesn't have to be as close to perfect as humanly possible for me. I guess as a novelty or kids toy these headsets could be fun for a short time but they would get overbearing and tiresome for any real uses cause of the lack of sound quality and the abundance of unnatural emulations and synths EQs and the price kills them etc.[/citation]

Pretty sure the target audience for each and every one of these headsets is gamers and, to a lesser degree, movie watchers (who are also likely gamers). The headsets are designed primarily for those limited purposes. If you wanted purely high quality audio - i.e., for music, or even a dedicated set for movie watching - you wouldn't buy a headset made by Creative, Corsair, Razr, etc. You'd buy Grado, Beyerdynamic, high-end Sennheiser, AKG, etc.

These headsets target a particular audience, and a particular purpose. For that audience and that purpose, they are great. For all-around audio purposes, they are acceptable, but there are far superior alternatives - obviously. And if you wanted a headset for those other purposes, you'd buy a different headset.

 

[Spectreman75]

Would have liked to see headsets from Turtle beach, Tritton, and Astro. I'm pretty sure these can be used on the PC, so why the prejudice?

 

[CaedenV]

[citation][nom]restatement3dofted[/nom]How's the view from up there, bro?[/citation]
The view isn't that great, but the music sounds good
Actually I have gotten all my stuff for free or cheap. It is amazing what people throw out due to a misunderstanding of what is 'better'. Most of my equipment is actually Pioneer at the moment (which is surprising as I am not their largest fan). I am running onboard audio of an ASRock extreme3 gen3 through optical to a Pioneer receiver which I got for free because (in the words of the previous owner) "the surround sound is s***!" (and he is absolutely right, something wrong with the surround sound decoder and the volume flutters when the bass kicks in... really annoying, though it was a wattage issue at first, but after some testing it seems not to be the case). For speakers I have some home build boxes (actually made by my dad back in the 60's) which I have restored with some 12" subs, and high quality titanium dome tweeters, and better quality dampening pads. I am still running the original mid-range drivers as they are awesome and still in good condition, as is the home made crossover which was a stroke of genius on his part. So the amp was free, the speaker boxes were free, the optical cable was free, and over the last 15 years I spent $150 on a pair of subs, and $30 on a pair of tweeters. System runs mostly flat with just a slight bump in the lower-midrange ~250Hz which is fine for recording and editing, and I can really pump the bass when I want to listen to music or movies. When I really need to be picky I have some studio grade headphones which I got from a going out of business sale for $150 (regularly $400).

Quality audio does not have to be expensive, you simply need to know what to look for and how to set things up properly. Is there better equipment? sure. But I will put my system up against any system in the sub $800 category and am fairly confident I would win on most counts (with the exception of the aforementioned surround sound issues, which I do not use as 99% of my work is stereo).

 

[restatement3dofted]

[citation][nom]spectreman75[/nom]Would have liked to see headsets from Turtle beach, Tritton, and Astro. I'm pretty sure these can be used on the PC, so why the prejudice?[/citation]

Probably because they already tested eight different headsets from a range of companies? You can't compare everything from every company in a single outing - obviously you have to choose a few to exclude. It hardly seems like prejudice - just a need to keep the number of sets tested within a reasonable range.

 

[CaedenV]

@cleeve
How would you stack these up compared to $100-150 surround sound speaker setups?

 

[Computer guy]

[citation][nom]restatement3dofted[/nom]Pretty sure the target audience for each and every one of these headsets is gamers and, to a lesser degree, movie watchers (who are also likely gamers). The headsets are designed primarily for those limited purposes. If you wanted purely high quality audio - i.e., for music, or even a dedicated set for movie watching - you wouldn't buy a headset made by Creative, Corsair, Razr, etc. You'd buy Grado, Beyerdynamic, high-end Sennheiser, AKG, etc. These headsets target a particular audience, and a particular purpose. For that audience and that purpose, they are great. For all-around audio purposes, they are acceptable, but there are far superior alternatives - obviously. And if you wanted a headset for those other purposes, you'd buy a different headset.[/citation]
Great sound quality across the whole audio spectrum of frequency applies to all sound that emanate from a speaker why would music, movies or games be any different they all operate within the same audio frequencies so why not make them grate quality LOL. There is no one for all or all for one specific instrument for the job bit nice sound quality is nice in music movies and games how you prefer the EQ is up to owns own description.

 

[cleeve]

@cleeve
How would you stack these up compared to $100-150 surround sound speaker setups?

I dunno, that's like comparing apples and oranges.

I don't know if I've ever really tried a surround set less than $200, so I can't make a credible statement on that anyway. Sorry, not trying to cop out but I don't have any answer for you there.

It'd be an interesting test though.

 

[jaquith]

[citation][nom]Cleeve[/nom]No, as they all have their own built-in chipset via USB (except the Psykos)[/citation]
That's the point. USB vs Onboard and not to mention USB Headsets/Headphones are, most of them, junk. Further, trying to reference Psykos with the inferior onboard to USB absolutely makes no sense.

Pair up the Psyko Carbon with a decent Sound Card and you'll be singing a different song aka Concluding a completely different conclusions.

The problem is 'Comparative Method' and thereby the Conclusions -- sorry to say are near worthless. It's no ones fault other then yours unfortunately.

You can (-1..-100) me all you want, and I'm sorry folks simply either don't get it are Tone Deaf. Next time compare 'Apples to Apples' USB to USB and Analog to Analog with a decent sound card, perhaps you'll learn to appreciate good sound quality.

 

[Computer guy]

I dunno, that's like comparing apples and oranges.

I don't know if I've ever really tried a surround set less than $200, so I can't make a credible statement on that anyway. Sorry, not trying to cop out but I don't have any answer for you there.

It'd be an interesting test though.

I trust in your opinion the Creative product performed well in testing um ?

 

[Computer guy]

That's the point. USB vs Onboard and not to mention USB Headsets/Headphones are, most of them, junk. Further, trying to reference Psykos with the inferior onboard to USB absolutely makes no sense.

Pair up the Psyko Carbon with a decent Sound Card and you'll be singing a different song aka Concluding a completely different conclusions.

The problem is 'Comparative Method' and thereby the Conclusions -- sorry to say are near worthless. It's no ones fault other then yours unfortunately.

You can (-1..-100) me all you want, and I'm sorry folks simply either don't get it are Tone Deaf. Next time compare 'Apples to Apples' USB to USB and Analog to Analog with a decent sound card, perhaps you'll learn to appreciate good sound quality.

+1 ^ and could not have said it better myself.

 

[cleeve]

Pair up the Psyko Carbon with a decent Sound Card and you'll be singing a different song aka Concluding a completely different conclusions.

The problem is 'Comparative Method' and thereby the Conclusions -- sorry to say are near worthless. It's no ones fault other then yours unfortunately.

I'm pleased to point out that you're wrong as I tested the other analog headsets against the Psykos for just that reason in order to isolate the sound card as the variable.

Turns out your assumption is worthless, no one's fault other than yours I reckon.

 

[Computer guy]

[citation][nom]caedenv[/nom]You would be wrong there. The nice thing about USB audio is that you are getting a purely digital signal that is then processed by a DAC and amp that is specifically designed for your headset. I am no fan of surroundsound headphones (have tried a few out and have been so far unimpressed, granted it was ~ a year ago), but USB is THE way to go for these types of devices. Really, if you are on optical/SPDIF or USB you can be on any crap sound card and still get amazingly clean output to your amp. If you are stuck on analog equipment... then you would need a good quality sound card.Think of a sound card for digital audio like gold plated HDMI cables for your TV. It is cute, you get bragging rights, and you pay more for it, but as the signal is digital the medium makes absolutely no difference. There is an argument however for buying audio conditioning software like THX TruStudio, just not the hardware aspect of it.[/citation]
USB audio is considered low end like On board audio and the PCI sound card with pre amp is in the middle and an external dedicated amp/receiver is of course the best. Try and tell someone whom is an audio expert that USB is a good interface and they will laugh you outta town.

 

[Earnie]

The Roccat Kaves are available at NCIX usa.Last week they had 5 in stock at there LA warehouse,One is now in pennsylvania as of today.And I bought the last ones in CANADA.

I also found the old Corsair HS1A's were really good,super comfy(1300's now)

Are the 930's not the replacement for the G35's now?or just a wireless version?

 

[Computer guy]

[citation][nom]caedenv[/nom]The view isn't that great, but the music sounds good Actually I have gotten all my stuff for free or cheap. It is amazing what people throw out due to a misunderstanding of what is 'better'. Most of my equipment is actually Pioneer at the moment (which is surprising as I am not their largest fan). I am running onboard audio of an ASRock extreme3 gen3 through optical to a Pioneer receiver which I got for free because (in the words of the previous owner) "the surround sound is s***!" (and he is absolutely right, something wrong with the surround sound decoder and the volume flutters when the bass kicks in... really annoying, though it was a wattage issue at first, but after some testing it seems not to be the case). For speakers I have some home build boxes (actually made by my dad back in the 60's) which I have restored with some 12" subs, and high quality titanium dome tweeters, and better quality dampening pads. I am still running the original mid-range drivers as they are awesome and still in good condition, as is the home made crossover which was a stroke of genius on his part. So the amp was free, the speaker boxes were free, the optical cable was free, and over the last 15 years I spent $150 on a pair of subs, and $30 on a pair of tweeters. System runs mostly flat with just a slight bump in the lower-midrange ~250Hz which is fine for recording and editing, and I can really pump the bass when I want to listen to music or movies. When I really need to be picky I have some studio grade headphones which I got from a going out of business sale for $150 (regularly $400).Quality audio does not have to be expensive, you simply need to know what to look for and how to set things up properly. Is there better equipment? sure. But I will put my system up against any system in the sub $800 category and am fairly confident I would win on most counts (with the exception of the aforementioned surround sound issues, which I do not use as 99% of my work is stereo).[/citation]
Definition of a true audiophile is one whom aspires to attaining the best sound quality in any given budget or market segment weather that be $100 in real world or $35,000 on a pair of floor standers.

 

[shiftmx112]

I had the HS1 that I really liked. The mic broke on me about 11 months in so I sent it back to Corsair and they sent me a brand new vengeance 1500 to replace it. My friends say they can hear me better with the 1500 than they could with the HS1 which is great because my only gripe with the HS1 was the mic was pretty mediocre. Both sets were definitely tight when I first got them but the deathpinch does go away.

 

[Computer guy]

[citation][nom]Cleeve[/nom]I'm pleased to point out that you're wrong as I tested the other analog headsets against the Psykos for just that reason in order to isolate the sound card as the variable.Turns out your assumption is worthless, no one's fault other than yours I reckon.[/citation]
USB audio interface is a low end option fitted on low end headphones have you seen a high end headset with a USB interface yet cause I haven't and the reasoning for that is sound no pun intended because it is a low end interface. This is not up for debate because industry agrees that USB audio interconnect is not a high or even mid end standard how do we know this because no proper headsets use this jankey interface connection thanx for being highly subjective and narrow as always nothing less than that out of you.

 

[cleeve]

Are the 930's not the replacement for the G35's now?or just a wireless version?

G35's are still a current product and have the same drivers as the 930 from what i can see, so just a wireless version methinks.

 

[Spectreman75]

[citation][nom]restatement3dofted[/nom]Probably because they already tested eight different headsets from a range of companies? You can't compare everything from every company in a single outing - obviously you have to choose a few to exclude. It hardly seems like prejudice - just a need to keep the number of sets tested within a reasonable range.[/citation]

That's a poor reason. Talk to any gamer about headsets and the three I mentioned will pop up. I didn't even know cooler master made a headset. And I've never heard of Arctic sound. I was just hoping to see a comparison of sets that that I've thought about buying.

A better reason is that the vendors didn't supply headsets for testing. Since they cost a lot more. It would be nice to know if the cost is worth it (probably not). Which is probably why they're not being tested.