Eight 5.1- And 7.1-Channel Gaming Headsets, Reviewed

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There's another option to get virtual surround sound without buying a headset: buying a sound card that supports this technology. The Sound Blaster Recon3D cards feature the same THX TruStudio PRO technology as the Tactic3D headset. With them, you can use any stereo headset/headphones/earphones and get the surround effect. I have bought the USB Recon3D because it works with consoles too, connecting the optical output of the PS3/360 to the unit's input. For solo play, I use standard earphones. It may seem crazy to lose all the bass power that headsets provide, but I really get tired of wearing any of them. I prefer to be comfortable; and thanks to this card, I don't lose the surround effect.
 
[citation][nom]Gamer Dude[/nom]The built in or inline USB sound card is the determining factor of sound quality here.[/citation]

in most situations it is just pass through; most processing is complete before it hits the inline, from there it is simple decode.
 
[citation][nom]jackbling[/nom]in most situations it is just pass through; most processing is complete before it hits the inline, from there it is simple decode.[/citation]
ya from generic onboard processing if anything the usb sound card would clean up onboard sound albeit not as nicely as dedicated sounds cards and receiver.
 
:😛uke::

Gaming headsets suck. You're better off getting a pair of nice headphones and using an amp/soundcard with Dolby Headphone.

Personally, I use a pair of Sennheiser HD595's with an Astro Mixamp. For mic, I attached a $10 Harmon Kardon. Cost about $300 total, and the sound quality DESTROYS any gaming headset in games and especially with music.

Stop getting ripped off.
 
I facepalmed after I read the article title. Everyone knows a single driver on either side combined with something like Dolby Headphone is superior to cramming 5 or 7 tiny, crappy drivers into a headphone.
 
[citation][nom]moonshire[/nom]PaperBoy *TROLL ALERT* *TROLL ALERT* *FANBOY ALERT*[/citation]
Funny how the more truth people speak the more they get labeled a troll or fan boy, terrorist or commie etc LOL.
 



This, too.
 
Is Turtle Beach still around? They used to have half decent 5.1 gaming headsets. It's been a while since I've seen anybody mention them.
 
[citation][nom]Cleeve[/nom]I understand that the Logitech 930's are simply a wireless version of the G35, so no difference there.Sennheiser refused our invitation to the roundup.Roccat, well... can't find them for sale in the USA, and this is a US-based publication.[/citation]

sennheiser refused a tomshardware invite? awh man. i love my senns; would of been nice to see a comparison.

eitherway, great review. thanks
 
[citation][nom]taylor422[/nom]Also, one last comment: I've read every single page in the following thread. These guys know their *** - they've tested it all.http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/sho [...] 6&page=142Turtle Beach is pretty much considered to be a joke.[/citation]

I have the EarForce Z6 and they're decent if you max the volume on your PC first like you're supposed to. If someone finds a review on these somewhere let me know--I was always curious how they fared compared to the others. (Good or bad.) Thanks!
 
Hey guys I have owned the Tritton ax pros for true 5.1, the vengeance 1500, the senn HD650, and the Sony MDR-DS7500 yes the 7500 not the 6500 and for gaming and positional audio the corsair vengeance 1500s were incredible and to my (not too audiophile) surprise their ability to position was a lot better than any true 5.1 set did. The mic on the 1500s are great too. For comfort the corsairs were very good considering they are 1/5 the price of the Sennheisers. Trittons broke in 6 months. Overall I highly recommend the corairs. As an aside: For blu-rays I thought the true 5.1 would win again until I tried the MDR-DS7500s mainly because they are the first true HDMI lossless (DTS HD MA and DolbytrueHD) headphones out there. Usually Sony doesn't make the greatest audio products but these headphones are awesome.
 
I'm objectively skeptical of USB input for surround sound. because the game/movie has no DISCRETE way of delivering 7.1 sound via USB to the headsets.
Now the fact that there is only one driver per ear in the virtual headsets is one thing, I can believe that the positional processing can emulate 3D sound via 2 drivers. but that those headsets are only receiving stereo signals to work with means it not only needs to emulate surround sound with 2 drivers, but also derive surround sound from a stereo signal.
Considering most games/movies offer discrete channel technology like EAX, Dolby Digital, DTS etc, there must be a disadvantage to lacking those discrete signals.
Even the true 5.1 drivers with USB input will lack those discrete signals.

Only the headesets with the discrete front, rear, and center analogue inputs can benefit from discrete output of your soundcard.

I'm surprised there is no headset with SPDIF optical inputs.
 
[citation][nom]killeeeeer[/nom]It would of been great if you tested the Roccat Kave but other than that great review. Been searching for headset for long time , now ill go with the Corsair Vengeance 1500 for sure .[/citation]

That, i'm looking forward too. Could you do us a favor and include the Logitech Z5500's even though they still aren't produced and maybe some other older flagships to have as a reference of over time improvement or not.
 
@hixbot

Why do you think a USB connection can't deliver discrete 5.1 or 7.1 sound to the headsets? As far as I know, you can deliver whatever you like via USB. It's the headset driver's job to convert the 5.1 discrete signal to a bitstream, and the headset's job to get that bitstream from USB and convert it back to 5.1 discrete signals. I see no problem with headsets with four drivers per ear.

I share your concern about virtual surround headsets receiving stereo signals and deriving surround sound from them. Again, it's a driver issue. If the driver tells Windows it outputs sound through stereo headphones, games may ask Windows about the audio setup, see it is stereo output, and produce stereo sound. So the driver has to derive surround sound from stereo sound, which is bad. A good driver should tell Windows it outputs 5.1 sound, so that games always produce surround sound, and the driver can properly emulate it via stereo headsets.

Finally, there are lots of headsets with SPDIF optical inputs. They are marketed as PS3/360 headsets, although they can of course work with PCs with optical outputs. This article is focused on headsets for the PC, so it only reviews the headsets that work only with PCs, which are cheaper than the console-compatible ones.
 
[citation][nom]Soil_ES2[/nom]@hixbotWhy do you think a USB connection can't deliver discrete 5.1 or 7.1 sound to the headsets? As far as I know, you can deliver whatever you like via USB. It's the headset driver's job to convert the 5.1 discrete signal to a bitstream, and the headset's job to get that bitstream from USB and convert it back to 5.1 discrete signals. I see no problem with headsets with four drivers per ear.I share your concern about virtual surround headsets receiving stereo signals and deriving surround sound from them. Again, it's a driver issue. If the driver tells Windows it outputs sound through stereo headphones, games may ask Windows about the audio setup, see it is stereo output, and produce stereo sound. So the driver has to derive surround sound from stereo sound, which is bad. A good driver should tell Windows it outputs 5.1 sound, so that games always produce surround sound, and the driver can properly emulate it via stereo headsets.Finally, there are lots of headsets with SPDIF optical inputs. They are marketed as PS3/360 headsets, although they can of course work with PCs with optical outputs. This article is focused on headsets for the PC, so it only reviews the headsets that work only with PCs, which are cheaper than the console-compatible ones.[/citation]
If it's emulated its not proper.
 
I greatly appreciate the microphone reviews on these headsets. I've read far to many reviews that only focus on sound quality of the drivers and completely ignore any subjective testing of the mic. The mic quality is of significant importance for me. Anyone who has ever used Skype understands that over time mics that pick up too much noise fatigue the caller on the other end. And a mic that doesn't pick up your full voice make it difficult to understand you.
 
thank you for this write up.

would like to see more ofn this coverage and also monitor coverage. a 24" high end monitor round up...$400 and up.
 
WAIT...

Toms... you do realize that you just did an audio review using ONBOARD sound right??

Pretty much all of your headsets have driver impedences of 32 Ohms. Why didn't you just plug in a cheap ASUS Xonar DG that has an built-in headphone amp and drive it to 32 Ohms? I'm using my Creative Tactic 3D Alpha on that soundcard and once I amped it 32 Ohms the difference was like night and day compared to un-amped.

Bass became thunderous, voice grew crystal clear. Every sound detail was enhanced and clarified. Why would anyone spend so much money on your listed expensive headsets just to plug it into onboard sound? They review is incomplete.
 
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