@aegies: I have heard so many conflicting views and opinions on the tritton pros vs 720s vs turtle beaches vs a40s that it's just all noise now. It came down to the 720's working with 360 and ps3, having a good price in my range, and decent feedback from the users.
These sound really interesting. My only issue is that if I run my optical cable from my xbox to the headphone unit, how will I listen to audio when I want to use my normal 5.1 system? Is there an optical pass-through?
I am very interested in hearing about the Astros -- I have been in the market for a few months for a wireless headphone however I am also quite dumb when it comes to this. I have a 360, HDTV using a Xbox wireless adapter.
@BergenCountyJC can edit his name?:
The Astro A40s are still wired, but are quite nice. I've had a pair since they first came out & found them to be very comfortable, plus they put out some great sound. Their customer support group is also quite friendly.
@BergenCountyJC can edit his name?:
The headset itself has an option for a 10 ft cable. If you have the mixamp as well, it connects via toslink to the system, so however long of an optical cable you feel like having.
I originally got the a40s for my pc, but since i game more on the 360 now, it lets me play later at night without pulling too much wife aggro. ;)
I bought a set of one of their older wireless models a couple years ago. The sound was OK, but when you tried to use them with Xbox live the things went to shit. I could either hear my teammates or the game, not both. (and no, this was not a settings issue). They were a huge waste of money.
I'm really glad to hear they have gotten better. Are the chat/sound effect issues gone?
I had an Ear Force HPA2 set...
Sound quality was decent, but not really good... like nicer external earbuds. Then within a week or two, one of the screws that holds the ear cup to the headband came loose and fell inside the cup, so it couldn't be retrieved. What junk...
Now I forgo surroundsound phones and use Sony MDR-XD100s. They're almost on par with Shure E2Cs, or Sony EX-70LPs.
@fuchikoma:
How the hell do you make a comparison between in-ear and soupcans? AFAIC, they are very different each with their own pros and cons...
Also, atleast on PC, surround sound gaming does make a difference. Especially in FPS.
@TheGerk: Pretty easily actually... I go on the quality of the sound reproduced.
Using either of the in-ears I mentioned, it's like having a line input jack on your skull. With the HPAs, it was like using cheap plastic earbuds with a hollow sound and no lower end to them. Using XD100s, I'd hear everything from my upper limits (around 18kHz) down to feeling bass pressure sensations I couldn't really classify as a tone (21Hz), with hardly any bias toward any given range, other than Sony's typical slight bassy skew (which I'm a fan of since it never causes secondary distortions like clipping...)
Also I agree sound is a very major component of gaming - without it I feel half blind, but in even an FPS, as long as I'm able to rotate I find I can locate sound sources quite accurately without problems without thinking about it. Echo effects don't quite sound as rich an impressive, and it is fun hearing bullets strike behind you in surround, but if I need to locate someone and I have headphones on, stereo isn't a problem for me...
The 2.5mm jack on the controller works with standard cellphone headsets, and you can get Live Chat to come over the console audio out. Has anyone used that instead of one of these expensive solutions?
@dingus: But the cellphone headsets don't offer the game audio.
Sure, you could use a cellphone headset connected to your controller- but all you'll get is voice chat. You'd have to do something clunky in order to get Game audio tied to your cellphone headset- and those aren't going to offer sound quality worth a damn.
@styrofoam: I forgot to mention that you don't put the headset on your ear, just use the mic. I'm thinking of the earbud type headset with the clip-on mic, not the alien earhugger variety.
@dingus: i think you missed the point. as an X4 owner, all of these improvements are welcomed but i am not buying another pair anytime soon. 7.1 means full killzone audio support!
I've tried out quite a few wireless headsets, and *always* got more interference via RF than IR. In fact, I only started getting anything significant in the way of IR interference once I got my roomba, strangely enough.
My RF headsets, though, were always staticky at best, regardless of range/other devices.
I think their intent is to play off of "air force", but somehow "ear force" doesn't bring to mind pleasant things. "Hmm this q-tip won't go in any further...it's time for EAR FORCE!"
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
#speakup
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
The Astro A40s are still wired, but are quite nice. I've had a pair since they first came out & found them to be very comfortable, plus they put out some great sound. Their customer support group is also quite friendly.
11/19/09
11/19/09
The headset itself has an option for a 10 ft cable. If you have the mixamp as well, it connects via toslink to the system, so however long of an optical cable you feel like having.
I originally got the a40s for my pc, but since i game more on the 360 now, it lets me play later at night without pulling too much wife aggro. ;)
11/19/09
I'm really glad to hear they have gotten better. Are the chat/sound effect issues gone?
08/10/09
Sound quality was decent, but not really good... like nicer external earbuds. Then within a week or two, one of the screws that holds the ear cup to the headband came loose and fell inside the cup, so it couldn't be retrieved. What junk...
Now I forgo surroundsound phones and use Sony MDR-XD100s. They're almost on par with Shure E2Cs, or Sony EX-70LPs.
08/10/09
How the hell do you make a comparison between in-ear and soupcans? AFAIC, they are very different each with their own pros and cons...
Also, atleast on PC, surround sound gaming does make a difference. Especially in FPS.
08/11/09
Using either of the in-ears I mentioned, it's like having a line input jack on your skull. With the HPAs, it was like using cheap plastic earbuds with a hollow sound and no lower end to them. Using XD100s, I'd hear everything from my upper limits (around 18kHz) down to feeling bass pressure sensations I couldn't really classify as a tone (21Hz), with hardly any bias toward any given range, other than Sony's typical slight bassy skew (which I'm a fan of since it never causes secondary distortions like clipping...)
Also I agree sound is a very major component of gaming - without it I feel half blind, but in even an FPS, as long as I'm able to rotate I find I can locate sound sources quite accurately without problems without thinking about it. Echo effects don't quite sound as rich an impressive, and it is fun hearing bullets strike behind you in surround, but if I need to locate someone and I have headphones on, stereo isn't a problem for me...
08/10/09
08/10/09
Sure, you could use a cellphone headset connected to your controller- but all you'll get is voice chat. You'd have to do something clunky in order to get Game audio tied to your cellphone headset- and those aren't going to offer sound quality worth a damn.
08/10/09
08/10/09
08/10/09
08/10/09
My RF headsets, though, were always staticky at best, regardless of range/other devices.
08/10/09
08/10/09
08/10/09