Post: Gobble's Gaming Headset Breakdown
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04-09-2010, 11:57 AM
#1
Today I'm going to be talking about Gaming Headsets. I'll be ranging from the Tritton Ax720's to P21's and even adding an experience with a set of Professional Studio Monitoring Headphones. Sert has now added a review for the Astro a30's for you as well. I'm hoping this information can help someone thinking about starting headset gaming.
The gaming headset market seems to be on the HUGE rise! With nearly all new generation of consoles with Dolby Digital Surround games created as standard, the Market's opened up to a whole range of headset ranging in prices and technologies.
In the beginning.....
My first encounter with a full headset was with a pair of p21's at a friends house. He'd bought a headset after being recommended to buy one from a PC gamer friend and with the p21's being at a reasonable price and available in the UK, he decided to go with them. The p21's are quite a simple headset. They're an over head design, comfy headphones with a flexible mic and controls on the cable. They are powered through the USB, which is also the mic connection and bingo, you're off!
The p21's have a good sound, quite a rich bass to them. As they are stereo, I found it quite hard to completely judge where a person is, but it was a lot better then your TV speakers. When you first use any headset, you will hear sounds in the game you've not heard before, which is quite freaky and it will really help you with those 1 on 1 sneak up encounters.
All in all, if you're looking for a good pair of gaming headphones, that are cheap (in gaming headset world) and will help your gaming. Then they're good to go with!
The Damn Mrs!!!
So time went by and although I liked my friend p21's, I didn't rush out to buy any. Soon enough though, the lady of my life started moaning about "world war 3" going on when she was trying to sleep, so having a pair of Studio Monitoring Headphones, I decided I connected my headphones up for playing at night.
Now these headphones are not designed for gaming, but for studio monitoring. With this in mind, the quality of the sounds that come from these are unreal, but they're not meant for a gaming situation. They were quite similar sounding to the p21's in the way they handle sound from angles (being Stereo), but they handled mid and low frequency's a lot better.
The downside of these were, the p21's tended to make sounds quite central at times, but with the most of sound coming from the side that it should, these however, were very "Left or Right" at time, which is strange sounding.
The Cons of course was the Headphones do not include a mic and were not designed for gaming in mind, however if you do have some good headphones about and can live without a mic, then do try them out. It's still a lot better then playing just through the TV and will give you a start in the Headset gaming world.
Hello... I'm Dolby Digital
Finally, I come to the Trittons.
The Trittons were designed as a gaming headset capable of using Surround sound technology. They differ from the p21's in that they have a box that requires a power source. This box is what takes the optical signal from your ps3, converts the Dolby digital sound into the headphone format, then sends it down to the phones.
When first putting these on, it's quite a leap from those of the Stereo Headphones. There's a much better sense of where someone is around and the distance that the person is. After a whole night of gaming with these on, I'm still not used to the sound of footsteps all the time and at times, getting a little paranoid and trying to shoot team mates - whoops :p
The Headset themselves are quite cheap in comparison to say the Astro's, but use the same technology.
As for a design, the cups actually surround your ears rather then sitting on the ears. They have the Dolby Box, Optical in and USB for the Mic, which is detachable.
For anyone willing to put some extra money and looking for a new edge to gaming, then I really do recommend trying some Trittons, or indeed another Surround sound Headset. You will hear things with a lot more depth and colour with these and you can tell they were designed for the serious gamer.
The cons I have with these headphones is you have to have another box on your TV stand, but this isn't so much of an issue for me and is apparent with most Surround Sound Headsets.
Also after long time gaming, it's nice to take them off and just let your ears breathe, but you'll find this with all headsets.
P.s Thanks to Sert (Re-Insertion) for sending me the Trittons
Astro time Gentlemen?
Re-Insertion[/U][/color] here to add my thoughts and experiences with the Astro Gaming Heasdet A30, as well as the Astro Gaming Mixamp...
I have owned the Astro A30 for about a month now and have absolutely no complaints with it, other than the premium pricetag ($225 for A30 headset and mixamp combo). The A30 model is supposed to be the "travel" version of a superior surround sound headset. In my opinion, this headset delivers crisp sound coming from any direction just as if you were listening to an actual Dolby 5.1 system. The smaller size, compared to the A40 or Tritton's, is very suitable to my wants and needs. It's lightweight, very versatile and doesn't look like you are Air Traffic Control
This is the best set of headphones that I have ever owned, but not too far above the Tritton's. As with the Tritton Ax720 model, all Astro headsets are simulated surround sound, which is where the mixamp comes in. The Astro Mixamp is a very unique device in that it is one of the few devices capable of converting PS3 sound into simulated surround sound. This device can take just about any sound input from a PC, XBOX or PS3 and convert it to go through any headset (must be capable of surround sound). The volume is adjustable for both voice and game volume, which is nice. Trust me when I say these things will rock your world and command ALL of your attention.
I will note that any game in which many things and/or sounds that are happening frequently, such as Domination or Ground War on Call of Duty, it is very tough to focus with so much going on. However, when you play games where not so much action is happening, Hardcore SND on Call of Duty, a surround sound headset will help tremendously. As I have told Gobble when I sold him the Tritton Ax720's, it takes a bit of getting used to when you go from about 25% of the sound from just the TV sound, to 100% of all sounds everywhere around you, in the game.
I hope this helps some of you out there in the market for a nice headset. If there's anything that I may have missed with this short review, feel free to PM me with any questions. Thanks.
Check out the Astro Gaming Website You must login or register to view this content. for more info...
-Sert
In Closing.......
If you're thinking about using a headset in your gaming, then I hope this has given you a little bit of an incite into what the differences are between the high end, the bottom end and indeed, the beauty of using a headset in general.
Stay Classy NGU!
Gobz
The following 22 users say thank you to Gobz for this useful post:
04-09-2010, 03:33 PM
#12
JKLAZ
Who’s Jim Erased?
Used a bluetooth for the longest time... kinda uncomfortable and could only hear gaming good out of the other ear.
once i got my tritton ax 180s my k/d went wayy up. i could hear people from everywhere.
i was sitting in the room in Skidrow where you can climb up the boxes and jump in the window. I was looking through the little whole out onto the ledge, and heard a guy coming through the window for the game winning kill. Everyone was wondering how i heard him.. Trittons are beast
once i got my tritton ax 180s my k/d went wayy up. i could hear people from everywhere.
i was sitting in the room in Skidrow where you can climb up the boxes and jump in the window. I was looking through the little whole out onto the ledge, and heard a guy coming through the window for the game winning kill. Everyone was wondering how i heard him.. Trittons are beast
04-09-2010, 05:54 PM
#14
GQGK
Skillz
Originally posted by zzuBuzz
Trittons look sexy 
think I might get some .
think I might get some .
Originally posted by legz
sweet ass review gobb, i really want to buy trittons but im sure my turtle beach will be fine +28 rep
+28 rep
i have the trittons. i have to say they're super comfy and sound quality is great. and all the issues they had with the old model they fixed in the new 2010 model. i get the sixth sense accolade every game now because i can hear when someone tries to come up from behind. its almost unfair. if you want i know the cheapest place to buy them. let me know if you need any info. i'd be glad to help lol
---------- Post added at 01:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:52 PM ----------
Originally posted by Blurr
Its going to be expensive but it's sooooo gonna be worth it.
i really recommend you dont get those unless you're going to be doing lan tournies. the sound quality is a little lower than the trittons. the only advantage is plugging it directly into your ipod. other than that trittons out perform now.
04-09-2010, 06:09 PM
#15
ONEster
I’m too L33T
Originally posted by GQGK
i really recommend you dont get those unless you're going to be doing lan tournies. the sound quality is a little lower than the trittons. the only advantage is plugging it directly into your ipod. other than that trittons out perform now.
Are you saying they sound quality is lower than trittons because you've personally tried them or just because you already own the trittons and are in LOVE with them.
The trittons look enormous and I don't wanna look like You must login or register to view this content..
04-09-2010, 10:57 PM
#16
LOL i remember you castrating me for telling you to not hate on my bluetooth...
they are crap though (i broke one of those headsets in a nerd rage xD)...
those tritons look damn comfy though....
i should so save up for those
they are crap though (i broke one of those headsets in a nerd rage xD)...
those tritons look damn comfy though....
i should so save up for those
04-09-2010, 11:33 PM
#17
InSaNiTyPlEa
Hurr Durr
Nice review, I have the Turtle Beach X1's, and lemme say, they're the best sound quality I've ever heard out of any electronic device xD
04-10-2010, 06:22 AM
#19
Doctor Stan
Banned
I'm impressed bro, thats one hell of a review! When I first stared getting serious about online gaming (COD4) I never used a headset (I guess not to serious then). Id say I didn't really use them until World at War came around. Even then I mainly used them while playing zombies. Now its a totally different story when I game. Its a must while playing any fps. I first started out with a pair of Sony behind the head headphones and quickly came to the conclusion that I wanted more out of my headset so I went and ordered a the P21's. I absolutely LOVED them until my puppy decided to use them as a chew toy and slightly deformed them. I have been hearing alot of great things about the Trittons and they look sexy as hell!
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