WwtD

Yesterday the package from Amazon arrived, nice brand new headset.


But after my first try i am about to send at least 3 back. To be honest, i am a bit disappointed about the sound quality and comfort.

So far i can tell the best one for me, is also the cheapest one, which is the Plantronics GameCom780 actually a successor of my good old Plantronics GameCom 3 "something".

I would like to clearly state out that there is nothing wrong in general with all of the Headsets. They are all well build, have excellent finish and the content of the packaging is absolutely fine.

The things i don’t like are all subjectively and from my point of view.




What i did not like about the 3 bad boys:

Starting with the

Corsair Vengeance 1500

actually this was for me the second best one but at the end the sound performance was simply tooo pure.

The Headset, as i said before is well build, if does feel good and has a great comfort. The ear cushion are covered in Velour which i do like very much. The adjustment range is absolutely fine for me and most important the force this Headset is pressing my ears is perfect or me.

So in terms of comfort and build quality this will get a 1 from me.

In Terms of Software it looks a bit different but thanks to google and to the corsair forum i figured out how to proper install the headset at Win8.
The main point is you must install the driver, otherwise the headset will not become a Surround Headset and also the sound itself will not be proper.

For software and handling the Headset will get a 3 from me, it could be way easier.

The sound performance/quality.
That’s unfortunately the other side of the medal. After installing the driver the sound quality is fine, Chat works well no problem BUT i was definitely missing any kind of bass.
One of the amazing things aboput Battlefield3 is the sound, if you are pumped with lead, trying to escape and then i front of appears a Tank could be really impressive IF the sound is according to the visual effects. For the Vengeance 1500 this is not the case.
To get a feeling what i am talking about, listen to this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kcLptanoI0

I know, YouTube is not known to have high quality audio but for this it is more than enough. At second 55 there will be a nice dry bass. In this particular Headset, you will almost not hear it. I’m not joking. A read this already in some other reviews, but i was not expecting that it is that bad.
The rest of the sound spectrum is absolutely fine, clear voice, really proper music and sound quality but NO bass.
I am not addicted to bass i am far away from that to turn the high frequency’s down to have more bass. But even for me that is a straight 5.

Result for Corsair Vengeance 1500:
Build quality and comfort: 10/10
Software handling: 5/10
Sound performance/Quality 2/10
:-(


The next one.

Sennheiser PC 333D

To make it very short, i unboxed and inboxed it directly.
Why? For me it’s simply to small, the ear pads are to small for me, they are as wide as my ears and so they are squeezed with a force against my head that is far away for being comfortable for me.



Also i don’t like the faked leather skin.
I did not even give it a try. Sorry


Next will be the

CM Storm Sirius 5.1

First impression: hopefully it will perform better than it is to unbox. Whoever unpack this knows what i am talking about.
I can’t understand why they have to make unboxing that complicated. But at Least after unboxing it is a nice piece of hardware.

This Headset has two parts:
1. The Headset
2. The volume control soundcard cable connection unit

The headset is some kind of huge but from my point of view it fits nicely. It does come with two types of ear cushion, one in Velour one in leather, very nice.

Because this headset is the only one of this 3 which come with 4 speakers per site it also comes with a insane amount of connectors and cables.

The Headset itself does only have one cable of course but it is not a simple 3,5mm jack it’s a special one with 8 connectors? one cable for each speaker? should work.

The Build quality and finish is beast of bread, its looks good, it feels good and it is good to wear and well balanced.

Then there is the base station/control unit, it looks like it is made out of plastic, of course it is, but the must have put some iron it because it really feels solid and valuable.

This controller unit does have 3 buttons and one dial to set different parameters.
With 2 buttons you can mute your headphone and the mic.
With the 3trd button you can switch between the single surround channels to adjust the volume.

While using it with BF3 and Mumble i figured out that the sound is a bit dull and the sound is not as crisp and clear as i would have expected it.

Over all the Surround sound performance was ok but it looks like that i do prefer the virtual Surround sound more.

A bit strange is the fact that the control unit does need 2 USB ports. I can understand the fact that 8 speakers do need power from somewhere but i am simply not used to it, and for me it’s a waste of USB ports.

Result for Corsair Vengeance 1500:
Build quality and comfort: 10/10
Software handling: 8/10 Windows8 driver available
Sound performance/Quality 6/10


The last one, my choice out of this three one.


Cheap and simple, easy to use AND with the best sound.

The

Plantronics GameCom 777

To be honest there is not really a lot to say about this. It comes in a relatively simple box, its well build but does not feel expensive. The styling is not very exclusive and bling bling.
This is a solid Headset, for me it is perfectly comfortable (the ear cushion could be a bit bigger), the adjustment is fine and the Sound, and i think that is the most important is superb.
Using the same YouTube link the second 55 sound 200% different. There is a proper and dry bass like i do like it but still the other frequency’s are perfectly balanced, that’s the way how i would like to listen to music.
The Driver package i have to install is the same than the one from the Corsair headset, instead of "please connect you xxx1500" this is asking for the Plantronics and it has some Plantronics picture in it, but the naming and the files are the same.

What can you do with the software? Almost nothing, but again you must install it otherwise you cannot turn on the Surround mode.

And that is almost it what you can set in the software.
1. Surround on/off
2. Sound mode: Music or Film/gaming
That’s it.

The controls which you can find at this headset are also very simple.
One button to mute the mic and one switch to adjust the volume.
That’s it.

Clean, Simple, easy to use.

If you like it fancy and with a lot of effects and light, the Plantronics is not the right peace of Hardware for you, if you are looking for a Headset that just works and that extremely well for a really affordable below 50€.

Take this and be happy.

Result for Plantronics GameCom780:
Build quality and comfort: 10/10
Software handling: 9/10
Sound performance/Quality 9/10