Medusa 5.1 Surround Headset

Page 12 - Seeking answers? Join the Tom's Hardware community: where nearly two million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
Hi Bildo.

If you have X-Fi I'd stay away from Trittons. Why you ask? Because, as far as I know, they take digital inputs only and X-Fi cards are crippled outputting digital sound. X-fi SPDIF can only output 2.1:
http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/FI-digital-AVI-AC3-ftopict187002.html

Hence if you have X-fi like me you are pretty much stuck with analog minijacks for all of your surround stuff.

Edit: I stand corrected. It seems tritton provides and adapter to convert to analog minijacks:
http://www.trittonsales.com/products/TRIGA600.htm
In light of this I'd say try it and let us know how well it plays with X-Fi.

The thing with Medusa and X-Fi that I've found is that they still sound pretty darn good. After numerous adjustments I got bass down from fronts and back to a level where I can't discern the difference during a heated BF2 game.

If you are determined to get a different pair of headphones I'd suggest looking at Zalman's 5.1s - a number of people on this forums got them to work well with X-Fi.
 
These would be useless for Noiruuk as Tritton dont pay return shipping fees if anything goes wrong.
http://support.trittontechnologies.com/contact/rmapolicy.html

:)

Perhaps, Alphamale, but if you cared to do a little research you would notice that other places that sell the Tritton headset, such as tigerdirect.com will pay for the shipping on exchange for defective items.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/sectors/help/return.asp

At our discretion TigerDirect.com may reimburse shipping charges related to the EXCHANGE of DEFECTIVE products

That, my friend, is the kind of service I hope for. The consumer shouldn't be stuck paying for the manufacturer's or the reseller's lapse.
 
Convenient you left this bit off...

""Postage and handling charges, both to and from our warehouse will be paid by you, the customer, and is non-refundable. At our discretion TigerDirect.com may reimburse shipping charges related to the EXCHANGE of DEFECTIVE products.""

Once again selective reading but I am sure if you cry enough they will change their MAY rules just for you.

From what I read on the previous page at least Medusa would have paid to get the replacement back to you.
 
Don't be absurd. I left the link to the page, so I didn't leave anything off. I copied over what made it a better policy, in my mind. You do understand that a reimbursement is them giving you money, right? If, when all is said and done, I end up not having to pay for the shipment of defective merchandise, then what do I care?

Alphamale, if you are content with paying for the shipping on defective merchandise, then please, feel free to do so. I do not wish to.
 
but left off the bit that made it a worse one. Typical. Only show the side that suits your arguement.

Absurd... What a cheek. Your the absurd one going to all this hooharr over 4 bucks. What a muppet.

Nothing makes it a better policy until such time as you are advised exactly what MAY actually means.

You do understand that non-refundable is them not giving you money, right ?

Once you accept delivery of anything it then belongs to you. If you are not prepared to pay for shipping your own belongings then in reality why should anyone else. It leaves very few companies you can purchase off on the net. Why not stick to your local wallmart and then you can ring them and ask them to pop round and pick up the bit that is broken as you refuse to pay the gasoline involved.
 
Hey you 2 calm the hell down..... Alpha was just making a joke... lets not nitpick at fkn TigerDirect return policies ok.... i mean seriously.

I heard the Zalmans suck, compaired to the medusa. How long did it take you to get your medusa headset to work with BF2... cuz thats what Ill be using it on.

IF ANYBODY TRYS THE NEW AX360 LET ME KNOW!!!!!!!!!

-BILDO
 
BILDO,

All in all I figure it took about 4 full evenings to get it to a level where I'm content.

Read my earlier posts. Basically I tried the crossover described here, and worked my way from there. Since BF2 is pretty much the only game I play nowadays (Oblivion from time to time) that was the only game I tweaked Medusa/X-fi with. Current non-beta driver + High settings in BF2(not Ultra-high) works for me.

Good luck.
 
Okay Guys I am with Bildo on this one, lets not all fall out and completely destroy this thread.

Noiruuk has made his point perfectly clear, he is not happy to pay return shipping fees. Others have made it clear its not a problem and perfectly normal to expect to pay them.

Every Company has their own Policies which they set to fit in with the way they operate. If potential customers do not approve of them then they make their own minds up wether to shop there or not.

Noiruuk and I have emailed each other and have agreed to differ over Medusa-USA policies. End of.

Call a truce and lets get back to replying to the postees on this Medusa thread who actually own a set of Medusas and assist them in getting the best out of their systems.
 
Sorry Matt I just thought that he was making a huge issue out of it especially when I saw the NEW thread he created specifically telling people not to buy either the headsets or from you just cos he had to pay for returning a headset that you could not possibly have known was faulty. I could have understood if you had asked him to send it back to you in the UK or the manufacturer in Germany, I would have been pis**d too, but not the same state.
 
Every Company has their own Policies which they set to fit in with the way they operate. If potential customers do not approve of them then they make their own minds up wether to shop there or not.

Thank you Matt, I guess that's *ultimately* what I'm trying to say. I'm trying to let people know that you don't HAVE to get stuck with paying return costs on a defective product. When I read the return policy from tigerdirect.com, it tells me that had the same scenario happened with them, I possibly would have gotten a refund on shipping costs for a defective product.

Alpha seems quite ferocious to defend this practice...I honestly can't see why. So it's $4...so what...it's either right or wrong regardless of the dollar value. I'm not a criminal for trying to change this practice.
 
😀 I just received my Medusa 5.1 progamer a couple days ago and I'm quite satisfied with them. I had previously owned a set of Zalman's 5.1.

Here's my setup:

Dell Inspiron E1705 17in Widescreen Laptop
XP Media Edition
Duocore 2ghz
2gb Ram
Nvidia 7800go
Wolfclaw Type II Keyboard and Logitech G5 (Not important for this comparison, but they sure are some cool peripheals! 😛 )
External Creative Soundblaster Live 5.1 (This laptop does not have a PCMCIA slot or I would have gotten the PCMCIA soundcard)

For starters, I just don't see how you guys can stand to have the bass redirect all the way to the right. I have mine on about 86 and it sounds great! I listen to hip-hop, rap, rock, and country. Lots my tunes have some hard bass in them and it feels like the headset is going to bounce right off my head sometimes. 😀

Between fooling around with the bass redirect and equalizer, I'm very satisfied with the way I have it sounding now.

As far as compared to the Zalman's...?

In the music and DVD category, the Zalmans don't have a chance against the Medusa Headset. The Medusa is by far the superior headset for listening to music and watching movies.

As far as gaming goes, I will say that the Medusa is a better headset than the Zalman's, but not by much IMO. It does have the integrated mic, which is nice. It's sound is marginally better. (To my ears) Other than that, I felt the Zalman's gave just as much positional awareness as the Medusa headset does. My game of choice is Unreal Tournament 2004.

All that being said, I am very happy with this headset and I plan on keeping it for awhile.

Lastly, the Medusa's have ALOT (read as a WHOLE LOT) more soundbleed than the Zalman's. This however is not an issue to me though it may be to others.

p.s. It sounds better with CMSS enabled to me. ymmv.
 
This is slightly off topic as it is not really the Medusa I think is the problem. I posted this elsewhere but this thread seems to be more lively :0

I have the ASUS A8N32-SLi mobo with AC97 on-board sound. I am hoping the depth of knowledge on this thread may bring an answer.

I am having problems with the woofer output in 6 channel mode. I have used the ASUS 'Sound Effect' icon in the tray and tested the Speaker Configuration and 3D Audio Demo. The six channels work ok except for the woofer output.

These outputs are connected to a Medusa amplifier with surround sound headset. There are two inputs and outputs on the Medusa and I have tried both. I am sure the Medusa is ok because when I connect a pair of ordinary PC headphones into the mobo Centre/Woofer socket and run the Speaker Configuration test I hear 'Centre' ok in one ear but no 'Woofer' in the other, so I am sure its the mobo output that is faulty. Swapping Medusa inputs around I can get a very faint subwoofer through the 'rear' speaker (could only be 'bleed' though).

How can I get the subwoofer output working on the mobo? (The Centre and Subwoofer are enabled and maxed in the WinXP sound controls.)

Now about the Medusa in the above setup. In IL-2 the forward facing sound is definitely reduced compared with when I turn my head, a bit like the grenade test someone else wrote. Is this because the subwoofer is not coming through?
 
Wow, I've been following this thread for some time now, in my hunt for a good headset. I am totaly thrilled that Medusa has one of their CEOs on here as well, to personally offer support. BUT.... I'm abit confused on which pair to buy. I decided not to go with the Gamer's headset, so that leaves me with the Classic or Home Edition. Is there any differance/improvements between the two pairs? I've mainly been reading the first half of the pages of this thread, and rarely anyone posted what model they purchased.
 
klem - If you connect ordinary headphones to the center/sub jack god knows what you might hear. It's not really a valid test of whether or not the center/sub channel is working.

Since you have on-board sound unlike most of the people here, but you seem to be experiencing bass problem nonetheless, I'd suggest first trying bass crossover, and if that doesn't work using the hardware sub/center reversal that is described in medusa FAQ. I think on-board sound typically comes with those two reversed.

generalandrew- I think home edition is pretty much the same thing as the classic cmedusa in terms of the headphones, but the amp is different. I.e. it features more input jacks for multiple sources, external mic. etc. Don't really know whether the wiring inside the amp for 5.1 is any different.

Oh, and definitely don't go for Gamer, unless you don't have a sound card.
 
thanks anthonybsd

I swapped Centre and Subwoofer but all that dopes is give me an 'empty' front centre section when I run the 3D audio demo, i.e. when it comes to the subwoofers turn to be the 'centre' it ain't there.

With it still swapped and in the Speaker Config test the headphone sound output is good when the 'Subwoofer' icon lights up (centre is redirected there) but of course when the 'Centre' lights up (redirected subwoofer) it does nothing.

I have also loged te poblem with ASUS. I don't want to pre-judge but I have read a lot about their bad response.
 
generalandrew- I think home edition is pretty much the same thing as the classic cmedusa in terms of the headphones, but the amp is different. I.e. it features more input jacks for multiple sources, external mic. etc. Don't really know whether the wiring inside the amp for 5.1 is any different.

Oh, and definitely don't go for Gamer, unless you don't have a sound card.

Thanks. Yeah, I guess Home Edition is more entertainment centre friendly than PC spicific. And it seems by reading all of the problems that occured with the power adapter, etc. have been cleared up as well. I'll post my review once I get it.
 
I had a reply from ASUS. "Update the audio drivers and try again". I did. No change.

Am I really going to have to send the ^%** thing back?

🙁
 
Just buy a cheap 5.1 sound card!

lol I've got one but I don't use it.

I just fixed the problem:

The AC97 on-screen connector panel image has a different designations for the audio sockets from the Manual. I found this out when I removed the mobo to see that nothing was amiss and in reading the manual for reconnecting various plugs I noticed the Manual jack designations were different. wtg ASUS!

I re-connected as the Manual and found I now had all six channels but Rear and Centre/Woofer were interchanged. I swapped them and then realised it appeared to bring them back to the on-screen setup !

BUT!
a. Did the on-screen designations change when it re-sensed the connections?
b. Was there something wrong before which refitting the mobo cleared?
c. Is the Medusa wired wrongly?

I haven't a clue, but it works :)

Thanks for the ideas.
 
😀 I just received my Medusa 5.1 progamer a couple days ago and I'm quite satisfied with them. I had previously owned a set of Zalman's 5.1.

Here's my setup:

Dell Inspiron E1705 17in Widescreen Laptop
XP Media Edition
Duocore 2ghz
2gb Ram
Nvidia 7800go
Wolfclaw Type II Keyboard and Logitech G5 (Not important for this comparison, but they sure are some cool peripheals! 😛 )
External Creative Soundblaster Live 5.1 (This laptop does not have a PCMCIA slot or I would have gotten the PCMCIA soundcard)

For starters, I just don't see how you guys can stand to have the bass redirect all the way to the right. I have mine on about 86 and it sounds great! I listen to hip-hop, rap, rock, and country. Lots my tunes have some hard bass in them and it feels like the headset is going to bounce right off my head sometimes. 😀

Between fooling around with the bass redirect and equalizer, I'm very satisfied with the way I have it sounding now.

As far as compared to the Zalman's...?

In the music and DVD category, the Zalmans don't have a chance against the Medusa Headset. The Medusa is by far the superior headset for listening to music and watching movies.

As far as gaming goes, I will say that the Medusa is a better headset than the Zalman's, but not by much IMO. It does have the integrated mic, which is nice. It's sound is marginally better. (To my ears) Other than that, I felt the Zalman's gave just as much positional awareness as the Medusa headset does. My game of choice is Unreal Tournament 2004.

All that being said, I am very happy with this headset and I plan on keeping it for awhile.

Lastly, the Medusa's have ALOT (read as a WHOLE LOT) more soundbleed than the Zalman's. This however is not an issue to me though it may be to others.

p.s. It sounds better with CMSS enabled to me. ymmv.



Do you mind showing screenshots of the settings that you have changed?

And others that have it fixed by changing settings, mind posting screens?

Also, with the redirection thing..can't find it.
 
Hi there. On their site they now offer both the headset and amplifier box seperatly on the "Accessories" page, but I'm not sure if the cables that are needed come with it. I guess this is their way of offering OEM products?
 
Hi there. On their site they now offer both the headset and amplifier box seperatly on the "Accessories" page, but I'm not sure if the cables that are needed come with it. I guess this is their way of offering OEM products?

Which site is this? I need to buy a new amplifier box as mine has stopped working after 1 year. The headset itself works fine though, and I cant get a response from SpeedLink for a returns address so will probably be quicker to buy the amplifier box separate.