Tech-Reviews UK » Headsets

Tritton AX 720 Gaming Headset Review

Matt — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:37:06 +0000

The Tritton AX 720 gaming headset is a 7.1 surround sound headset that features immersive 3D directional audio, separate game and voice controls, as well as deep bass and crisp highs. Based on the description, the Tritton AX 720 should prove to be absolutely brilliant and well worth the £130 price tag. Let’s find out…

Upon removing the headset from the box, it soon becomes apparent that the Tritton AX 720 means business. As well as a detachable microphone and an in-line audio controller, the AX 720 comes with a separate decoder box for the various connections that are supported; including PS3, Xbox 360, PC and Mac.

You receive a range of different accessories with the Tritton AX 720, seen as though it’s compatible with quite a few platforms.

Included in the box:

7.1 Surround Headset
Digital Decoder Box with Stand
In-Line Audio Controller
Removable Microphone
Headset Connector Cable
Optical Cable
USB Cable
Digital Audio Adapter
PC Adapter

The headset itself is coloured white and made from plastic, but has that sturdy and well-made feel to it.

Each ear piece sports the Tritton logo and has the typical adjust-ability. The earpieces fit around the ears, rather than over them and have just the right amount of padding so that they sit comfortably.

The microphone is detachable rather than being typically fixed to the headset, which I found to be a great feature because the microphone doesn’t get in the way when not in use.

The in-line audio controller has separate volume controls for the microphone and headset. Also featured on the audio controller is the connection for the Xbox 360 Controller and microphone mute switch.

The ear pieces are well padded, but it does seem to weigh a lot for a set of headphones, but we shall see how that affects the experience.

The decoder box is for use with the optical cables, presuming you have a port on your audio card to use an optical cable.

The decoder box features an on / off button, which also doubles up as the volume knob. To the right, you’ve got the various LEDs, which indicate the setting that the headset is on. There’s also the port to connect the headphones to as well.

Moving around the sides, you’ve also got the optical port and USB port, for hooking the decoder up to your PC. The underside of the decoder features four rubber feet as well, if you didn’t want to use the included stand.

Jawbone Prime Bluetooth Headset Review

Matt — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:16:04 +0000

Introduction and Product Overview

The Jawbone Prime Bluetooth Headset is a high quality Bluetooth headset that features military-grade NoiseAssassin 2.0 technology that claims to be the best noise cancellation technology that money can buy. Sporting a sleek stylish design and a £50 price tag, let’s see whether the Jawbone Prime Bluetooth Headset is all it’s cracked up to be.

The packaging for the Jawbone Prime is very stylish, made out of a durable hard plastic, with the package split into two different sections; the top half housing the headset and the bottom housing the included accessories including six ear buds, an optional ear loop and charger.

The Jawbone Prime sports a simple black design, whilst still looking stylish and sleek. The Prime NoiseAssassin is also available in seven other “dazzling colours” including red, purple and green. With the Jawbone Prime also being very compact, it’s not going to be taking up much room at all when not in use.

The top of the headset acts as the answer call button when pressed, and the charging port can be seen on the end of the headset. The Voice Activity Sensor (white rubber tip) can also be seen at the bottom of the headset.

Head-Direct HiFiMAN HE-300 Headphones Review

Brandonsalt — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 12:03:47 +0000

Introduction

Head-Direct have been manufacturing high quality headphones and personal audio products since 2006. They pride themselves in delivering the highest quality possible for all of their products, and the Head-Direct HiFiMAN HE-300 headphones are no different. The HE-300s are Head-Direct’s lowest headphones to drive and can be used with any device that sports a 3.5mm jack.

The box sports a fairly plain design, but at the same time looks very sleek and impressive. The box also features a clip on the front to allow access to the inside. After opening the box, you’re presented with the HE-300s, which are sat on a velvet cushion; definitely the most impressive box I’ve seen for a pair of headphones!

Specifications

Driver: 50mm diameter Dynamic drivers

Impedance: 50 Ohm

Sensitivity: 93 dB @ 1KHZ, 1mW

Rated Power: 30 mW

Frequency: 15 to 22000 HZ

Weight: about 270 g

Jabra SUPREME Bluetooth Headset Review

Matt — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 13:00:56 +0000

Priced at £99, the Jabra SUPREME is among the most expensive headsets around at the moment. Being a product designed and developed by Jabra, we shouldn’t see any problems at all though. The Jabra SUPREME features active noise cancellation technology and the ability to connect to two devices at the same time as well as a feature called HD Voice, so we should see some impressive results.

Arriving in a typical Jabra black and yellow themed box, the Jabra SUPREME is accompanied by a USB cable, AC charger, car charger, 1 extra Eargel™, 1 extra Earhook and a quick start guide. A vast range of accessories, but at the high price tag hopefully the performance will somewhat represent that high price.

The Jabra SUPREME sports a slightly different design compared with its other relatives and friends in the Jabra product line. Instead of the sleek, clean look that Jabra have always gone for much like the Stone range, they appear to have abandoned their previous ethos on the consumer side of products The Jabra SUPREME has a more traditional Bluetooth headset feel to it whilst also looking professional and more suited to the business user.

The SUPREME features a flipping microphone boom, which also acts as the on/off function, and large speaker to accommodate the new technology inside.

It weighs just 18g and is encased in black-and-grey plastic and rubber.

The flipping boom arm feels very solid and well made, however, housing feels quite cheap compared with other Jabra products and definitely not worth the £99 price tag.

There are a total of four buttons all together on the Jabra SUPREME.

We have the volume up and volume down buttons, answer/end button and volume control button.

As well as these four, there is the Micro USB charging connector (in between the volume controls) and status display that shows the Bluetooth status and battery.

Sennheiser RS 170 Headphones Review

Matt — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 17:00:32 +0000

The Sennheiser RS 170 Headphones, similar to Audio Technica, feature a completely wireless system to bring you extremely portable high quality headphones, don’t let the wireless fool you though, the Sennheiser RS 170 Headphones still deliver the highest possible quality by utilising Kleer’s uncompressed digital wireless audio transmission. This effectively enables you to be up to 80 metres away from the transmitter (whilst still in line of sight) and still receive the same high quality audio that we’ve come to know and love from Sennheiser products.

The RS 170′s are feature a black and silver design. The Sennheiser logo can be seen a few times whilst taking a look around the headphones.

With the RS 170′s being full size headphones, you’d expect them to be rather heavy and intrusive, but they are actually quite light and don’t take up too much room at all thanks to the desktop transmitter that both charges and allows you to dock the headphones.

You’ll notice on the right headphone that there are a few different buttons. These allow you to turn the volume up / down, power on the headphones and turn the bass / surround settings off.

The Sennheiser RS 170 Headphones feature leatherette earpads and headband cushions to provide outstanding comfort whilst in use. The circumaural design also helps in preventing sound leakage.

The desktop transmitter’s design is completely black and again features the Sennheiser logo a few times.

The rear of the transmitter is where all of your cables and plugs go, as you can see there are only two places to put cables; the audio-in and power port. In between both of these, we have the attenuator, which basically acts as the opposite to an amplifier allowing you to reduce the power or amplitude of a signal (the music) without distorting the waveform.

The front of the transmitter features the Sennheiser logo at the top. The bottom has the power button, surround button and bass button, much like the buttons we saw on the headphones.

Located just above these is the charge indicator, which glows red whilst the headphones are charging and green when they’re charged. A full charge will take about 16 hours so it’s best to leave them in overnight.

As you can see on the top of the transmitter, we have the dock for the headphones.

Sennheiser have bundled in quite a few accessories so that you can enjoy your music from any device and wherever you may be.

These include UK, US, EU and AU wall adapters, detachable audio cable, RCA cable, 3.5 / 6.3mm adapter, 2 AAA NiMH rechargeable batteries (for headphones), cable dresser, cable binder and instruction manuals.

Turtle Beach Ear Force X12 Gaming Headset Review

Brandonsalt — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 18:51:55 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

I’ve had two Turtle Beach headphones in the past and both of them broke, so when I got the Turtle Beach Ear Force X12′s to review I was thinking it would end up the same. A lot of gamers will have heard of Turtle Beach as its one of the most common gaming headphone manufactures out there, they have stereo headphones, dolby digital surround sound, wireless headphones and more for all gaming platforms.

Specifications

50mm diameter speakers with neodymium magnets
Speaker Frequency Response: 20Hz – 20kHz, >120dB SPL @ 1kHz
Condenser Microphone Frequency Response: 50Hz – 15kHz
Cable length: 16 ft. (4.87m)
Weight: 6.4 oz (233g)
Headphone Amplifier: Stereo DC-coupled, 35mW/ch, THD <1%, Frequency Response: DC – 30kHz
Bass Boost: Variable up to +12dB@150Hz
Mic mute switch
Maximum analog input level with volume control on maximum setting: 2Vpp (700mV rms)
3.5mm plug for line input
3.5mm plug for mic output
2.5mm XBOX 360® controller input jack
USB connector for power (5VDC @ <60mA max)
Dimensions: Height .5in (1.27cm), Width 2in (5.08cm), Depth .75in (1.905cm)
8.75 x 6.75 x 3.75 (inches)

Product Overview

The design of the headset looks pretty average, but it defiantly has that ‘Turtle Beach” look to it. Its ear cups are slightly slanted to give it a more comfortable feel, inside the ear cups it has the turtle beach logo, it has a nice chunky head strap which is always nice. It has a non detachable mic which is very flexible.

The padding around the ear-cups are top notch, they are very soft and fit around the ear very well, I have wore this through some long gaming sessions and I have no problem with them being uncomfortable and for me its extremely hard to find a gaming headset that you can wear hours on end without taking them off to rest your ears. Also the ear-cups are very flexible as they can rotate slightly at almost every angle so it can fit nice and snug on your head.

Jabra Halo Bluetooth Headset Review

Rhys — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 17:13:19 +0000

Introduction & Overview

The Jabra Halo, designed essentially for the iPhone and iPod touch, utilises Bluetooth audio streaming in order to deliver a portable, wireless headset. The unit, at first glance, appears pretty simple, with a single plastic band forming the outer structure.

However, the Halo is anything but a simple, run-of-the-mill headset. Two foldable arms allow the lightweight headset to fold-up and fit easily into a pocket or bag and what’s even neater is that, when the arms are locked out, the Halo automatically turns on ready to use.

A quick note on the accessories: Jabra bundles a series of manuals alongside a carry-case, charger and cable for using the Halo as a wired device.

As just mentioned, the headphones are extremely lightweight – the total weight measures in at 80g. Yet, this takes nothing away from the comfort: the fabric padding and adjustable size ensuring it fits well.

The earpieces are essentially just an extension of the headband; the insides formed of the same black material. Whilst, in appearance they are almost identical, one side has a single, round button for turning the device on and a volume slider. Note also, that double-tapping the ends of the volume control act as track skipping buttons.

Pairing the Jabra Halo is an easy task; simply enable Bluetooth on the iPhone and search devices to find the Halo. Once connected, tap into the default 0000 passcode and you’re ready to roll.

Features:

Enjoy wireless music and answer phone calls in crystal clear stereo sound
Corded option for MP3 players etc
Extra audio enhancement with Zirene® Power bass
Remote control your music via touch sensors
Convenient carrying style – Folded in a soft protective pouch
Noise Blackout™ technology with dual microphones – For clear communication
Multiuse™ – connect to 2 devices at the same time

SoundMAGIC E10 In-Ear Earphones Review

Matt — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 14:45:44 +0000

Here at Tech-Reviews, we like our headphones a lot. We believe that until you own an awesome pair of headphones, your life just isn’t complete! The SoundMAGIC E10 In-Ear Earphones might just be the headphones you’ve been craving. Sporting a unique metal mechanical design with well balanced sound and extremely powerful bass, the E10s should be absolutely amazing. Let’s take a look…

Features

Unique entire metal mechanical design
Well balanced sound with powerful bass
Comfortable design and distinctive look
Robust construction

Accessories

Small / Medium / Large silicone eartips
Double flange silicone eartips
Cable clip
Travel pouch

MEElectronics RX11-BK In-Ear Headphones Review

Matt — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 15:31:08 +0000

Finding a decent pair of headphones for a good price is always a difficult task, but with the RX11s from MEElectronics you get the best of both worlds. Retailing at only $25 (£15) and boasting “Premium Sound”, most of you’ll be thinking, “Yeh, I’ve seen cheap headphones that say they have awesome sound quality before, and I heard more static than actual music”. However, you’ll definitely be pleasantly surprised with the RX11s overall build and sound quality.

As you’ll see, the packaging is very minimal with the headphones on display in the top half and the box situated below, which contains four sets of eartips (I’ve already attached one set to the headphones).

The box also lists the RX11s features, which are:

Premium sound in style!
In-ear design blocks out ambient noise
Compatible with iPod, iPhone, iPad, MP3/CD/DVD players, computers, and all devices with a standard 3.5mm jack

The colour scheme for the RX11s is a red and black one which always looks very sleek and stylish on pretty much any product. With the RX11s being so small and compact, transporting them around isn’t a hassle either. Just pop them in your pocket or bag and you’re good to go.

Unlike the standard iPod / iPhone headphones, the RX11s feature silicon eartips. Generally with eartips, they provide a snug and comfortable fit that blocks out most outside noises meaning you can actually enjoy the film you’re watching or the music you’re listening to. Because of the silicon eartips, it also means you can listen to your music for hours upon hours, which I find pretty impossible to do using standard iPod headphones.

Now, most people like to wear headphones whilst they’re out and about in town or perhaps on the bus going to work. The RX11s feature a handy clip so that you can clip the headphones onto an item of clothing such as the edge of a shirt just so that the cable is nice and secure. Trust me, the amount of times I’ve had headphones in and they’ve got caught on a door handle and the cable has broke, this is definitely a much needed feature is you’re prone to accidently destroying almost every pair of headphones you use.

A feature we normally see a lot of on computer peripherals is the gold-plated USB. Well MEElectronics decided it would be a good idea to use this, now increasingly common practice, on the RX11s. For all of you that don’t know, a gold-plated connector is generally more responsive and enables a more stable and high quality connection between your device and the headphones thus ensuring that don’t have a dodgy connection.

Sennheiser PMX 680i Sport Headphones Review

Rhys — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 12:32:01 +0000

Finding a good pair of headphones for sporting activities can often be a challenge. Designing for security and comfort without compromising sound quality isn’t an easy task, but Sennheiser have gone one step further with the Sennheiser PMX 680i Sports. Also water-resistant and including a remote control for iPod / iPhone usage these headphones have got plenty to offer. Let’s take a closer look…

Immediately from glancing at the packaging you should notice the Adidas logo, a big brand in the sporting industry, which have most likely helped with the design of these headphones. All the features are listed over the product packaging and various cut-out sections allow you to view key features such as the remote and design. According to the packaging these PMX 680i headphones are water and sweat resistant, although Sennheiser haven’t clarified just how water resistant they are – or at what depth. However, they have assured us that you can use these headphones safety when running in torrential rain, should you wish to do that sort of thing!

Along with the Sennheiser PMX 680i headphones are a pouch to keep them in, a cable clip and an instructions manual. The instructions manual covers everything you need to know, from how to put the headphones on correctly, to how to use the remote and clean the headphones. Useful if you’re a bit anal, like myself and want to make sure you’re doing things correctly so that you don’t void the included 2-year warranty.

As you can clearly see the Sennheiser PMX 680i are neckband style headphones. The bold luminous yellow cabling, which wraps around the headband and the yellow ear plugs achieves a very distinctive colour scheme, which confirms to others that these headphones are not the ordinary. Furthermore, for added durability and strength, this cable is Kevlar reinforced so you can be certain the cabling on these is not going to fray or break!

One very important aspect of sports headphones is comfort and fitment. The last thing you are going to want to do while training or exercising is adjusting your headphones, it interrupts your activity and wrecks your timing. To ensure that these fit correctly, Sennheiser and Adidas have designed the PMX680i Sports so that the headband is rigid, so that the earphones clamp to your ears securely but is also flexible enough to fit any size head. Depending on how large your head is, the headband will overhang at the back, by about an inch or so on me, so its safe to say these headphones will fit most people quite easily. Additional detail has also been spent on designing the section of the headband that rests against your head above your ears; this entails a dimpled texture to help the headphones grip well.

The earphones themselves are plastic with a silicon band around each one for where they seat into your ears. The fitment of each one is a little out of the ordinary, rather than fitting flat above your ear canal, they sit on top at a slight angle. This feels rather a little strange at first, but means the sound is directed better (like the Bose IE2 Headphones we reviewed) and is more comfortable.

Now the difference between the standard Sennheiser PMX 680 Sports and the PMX 680i Sports is very clear, the 680i model features a remote and microphone. This can be used with most Apple products (also worked on my Mac) to take calls, use voice control, adjust volume and of course, play and control music. This is specifically essential as these are designed for sports, taking your iPod out your pocket every two seconds is just annoying and frustrating when your pumping iron!