(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Ok, so some of this I have copied and pasted from an old, old [s]wooden ship[/s] thread of mine from a long time ago, but having bought a new Headset and having more to bring, I thought this needed a cut, chop and an overhaul!

Today I'm going to be talking about Gaming Headsets AND surround sound systems for gaming. If you've been playing away with just your TV for audio and getting annoyed that some gamers seem to be able to pin point you without any UAV, then they probably had this.

I'll be ranging from the Stereo headset of the P21's, the simulated surround sound of the Tritton Ax720+ and Astro A40's, the true 5.1 headset of the Tritton AXPR0's and finishing up with a full surround sound setup with Amp and speakers. I know when I first put a review in, headsets weren't 10 a penny like today, but I'm hoping this information can help someone thinking about starting the surround sound gaming world.

And in the beginning God created Stereo?

My first encounter with a full headset was with a pair of p21's. A friend had bought a pair 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. At the time, headsets weren't as widely available as they are today, but still the p21's are still going strong as a headset. 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 also carries the mic connection and bingo, you're off!

The p21's have a pretty good sound to them, quite a good bass for a cheaper headset. 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. The mic on the p21's is actually a lot better sounding than some of the better headsets on the market. I can't exactly say why, but if I was to guess I would say it had something to do them trying to do things like "background noise reduction", rather than being just a simple mic. Who knows?

All in all, if you're looking for a cheap pair of gaming headphones, they will improve your gaming experience and it's plenty for most with a tighter budget. If you're budget has more flex, then it's time to enter the Jedi.



Virtual Surround Sound? What is this Voodoo?

I'm going to start with the lower end of the price scale with the Tritton Ax720+

Now this is not the first pair of Trittons I've had. I actually had a pair of the original 720's back in 1989... or something like that.

The Trittons were designed as a gaming headset utilizing a technology known as Virtual Surround sound technology. There is several types of this, ranging from headsets to soundbars and several other things, but the general idea is that using modified sound freqencies, they mimic the effect of having speakers sat all around you. They differ from the p21's in that they have a box that requires a power source (thankfully this is now powered through USB). 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 your first night of gaming with these on, you'll still not used to the sound of footsteps, guns and weird noises you didn't seem to hear before and sometimes find yourself getting a bit paranoid! This does pass and once you're used to it, you'll find you're sneaking up on anyone even sneezing round a corner like a ninja!

The Headset themselves are quite cheap in comparison to say the Astro's, but use the same exact 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.

Now the question all you hardcore people will be wanting to know is how they compare to the high and mighty Astro A40's of which I owned a pair. To cut it short, the Astro's were comfier. Quite a lot comfier actually, but as far as sound is concerned there isn't much in it. I would say the Astro's can handle certain sounds better and the Trittons can sound a little muddier, but nothing to get upset about. All in all, a good headset and a good price.



ASTROS DA BEST LIKE FYEA!

So the Astro's I owned were actually the BXR edition, which at the time was the 5.1 edition, whereas the 720+ I have now and the Astro's are now 7.1. Is there a diff? Well... if there is a slight diff it's only slight. Remember the signal into your Mixamp, Tritton box is a 5.1 signal max (as limited by optical), the headset then simulates this 5.1 and pushes it into your ears. So for 7.1 it takes the already simulated 5.1 sound and then just tries to simulate 7.1 so if you're not mind f.....d it's not going to be leaps and bounds above the other.

The astro's have some nice features about them though that I miss, the simple light design and comfort, the ease of using the Mixamp do give it some plus points above the rest. I like that Trittons for the ease of changing something with the cable remote, but it doesn't seem as simple and easy to tweek to that exact setting like you get with the Astro's.

For the money, you expect a great headset and I can promise you will not be disappointed with them. Wireless vs Wired? The simple way I will put it is wired is ALWAYS better. It doesn't matter what frequency you use, or how close you are, the wired is always going to be a cleaner option, but if wires are the work of the devil and wireless has to be used, I would opt for something using 5GHz or more. The simple reason is that your house is already pushing out 2.4Ghz, and probably half of your street, so the airwaves (if you can imagine) are crowded, so you might experience drop outs/lag and who knows what else.

Well that's as much as I can bore you with on virtual surround sound, so hopefully that will give you some insight into the headsets and what to expect if you do take the plunge.



5 Speakers in a cup?

So the AXPRO’s or the AXPRO+ (is this the same headset with caffeine?) are as far as I know, the only True 5.1 headset for a console that you can buy. What do you get for this?

Well instead of the virtual surround sound I talked about before, you actually get the same kind of setup as if you actually had a full surround sound kit. So in short, you have speakers firing at you from several angles. The plus side is of course, it’s not virtual; it’s actually giving you the full depth that a proper system would give you. The minus is that you have 5 speakers in there, so the weight just got a whole lot bigger and you’ve also got much smaller speakers, so clarity is somewhat to be desired.

For me personally, I found this headset too much and even weirder to get used to than a normal headset, but doing sound tests the placement of objects is better than your virtual setup. Is it enough to make me take the pain? Not for me I’m afraid. I’m not going to totally shoot this headset down though, I know several people using these and they swear by them! Maybe someone on here who’s used them longer than I have can shed some light?

For now, I'm going to say that I prefer the virtual setup, it just seems to do the job better than these for me.



Headsets are for pilots!

So now we move onto the full surround sound setup. Obviously compared to the headset market, the technologies, the setups, speakers, amps etc is so varied the end results will change from person to person. However, I will give you my view from what I would call a mid-end home setup.

So the difference straight away is nothing on your head, so if you need a mic it’s the old Bluetooth jobby you oh so love to hang on your ear. Now with that out of the way, let’s talk about sound.

Like the AXPRO’s the sound is real, you have speaker placed around your room shooting sound waves at you from all angles, so sound placement is top notch. Sound quality is another thing that blows you away. Instead of the grainy and sometimes muddy sound of a headsets small speaker, you have a proper speaker with more power to push the sound right at you. So right now it sounds perfect, but there are the downsides.

NOISEEEE. I find that I have to blow the house up to get the sound at a level that I can hear all the small things I could in a headset, at which point the explosions are loud enough that the house is shaking and don’t get me started on when an EMP goes off and the sub!

Sound placement is great, but if something else is happening at the same time the footsteps are just drowned out by the noise of gunshots and explosions blasting in your ears. So with all this taken into account and the fact you need the Bluetooth headset on to talk to anyone, I’m actually going to say I prefer the headset when it comes to FPS gaming.

Sure, the sound isn’t as nice on a headset and the sound is virtual, but if it’s the FPS gaming you’re playing then the simplicity and the ability to hear slight things without the need to blow your house up just tips the scales for me. If you’re not playing FPS and it’s just sitting back on the telly and admiring the noise that surrounds you then there is nothing, and I mean nothing that will take the place of a proper surround sound setup!



So I’ve rambled on a lot and I’ve probably bored a lot, but if you’re still with me? I hope this has been helpful and I will try and get some of the guys on here with other headsets to add there experience with headsets and dare I say a paged thread? But for now…

Stay classy NGU

GobzYou must login or register to view this content.

astros are great but only best for gaming.

I have atros a40s and I can second they are the best headset out there and I'v had most.

I have a pair of Turtle Beaches, the 60$ pair, wired for PS3. Work better then any other headset I've had, even Astros. Although Turtle Beach are cheaply made, I recommend buying the insurance on them haha.

I have surround sound set up in every room with a TV in my house, and I much prefer it over a headsets surround sound, I only use the Turtle Beach for chatting.

I have astros and trittions i like them both

real surround sound with speakers will always shit on headsets its proven but all these pro kids still buy there astros and talk em up

Wow this thread was an amazing read, and actually describes how I went up the totem pole of headsets lol. I myself started with the P21s on Mw2, which were amazing and allowed you to soundwhore effectively especially when playing Search and Destroy. Sadly they ended up breaking because I didn't really put them in a safe place. Then I moved up to the old Tritton AX720s. The difference was phenomenal, they sat over your ears, the sounds were better since it wasn't stereo but simulated surround sound. Then recently I picked up the Tritton AX720+'s, which are nice. Design is a bit constricting especially if you have a massive head.

I recently started thinking about buying the new 2013 Astro A40s or even the Tritton AXPRO+'s... however I'm still pleased with my 720+s. Good post Gobz and it was definitely worth the read.

I own the Tritton Ax Pros (for PS3 gaming, but I have used Astros) and a Plantronics 780 (7.1 surround sound for PC gaming) I'll just say it all comes down to whether or not you want virtual surround or true surround (audio quality wise, the Trittons and Astros are too similar.) If you had a choice I'd choose anything that is virtual surround (meaning one big speaker on each side.) You got to look at it like this, you only have two ears, so truly you aren't hearing in a surround environment, your brain is manipulating the sound to make it seem like you're hearing in surround. So you'd want a virtual surround headset because the speakers would be bigger and generally speaking because of that, they are able to produce better and more crisp sound. Still, if you're gaming on console you only got two choices; Tritton or Astro (don't fool yourself with Turtle Beach, they're garbage.) See which one is more comfortable and whether or not you want to pay that Astro premium fee.

thanks