Retail Gamers

I, junkfoodtony, have recently purchased this particular headset made by Turtle Beach and I have to say that I am thoroughly impressed. They make many models to choose from but the one I chose was the Ear Force X1 and that was mainly due to the fact that I had no idea they made more or for that fact who Turtle Beach was.

Okay, so what sets this headset apart? The headset has many features that I was curious about including the very cool ability to play video games on your T.V. but have all audio coming through a headset. This headset has great audio too so if you don’t have any kind of speaker system hooked up to your T.V. then this headset will blow away your T.V.’s audio. The headset can also hook up to your computer for playing computer games, listening to music or maybe, I don’t know, recording podcasts (I talked about the headset recently on Podcast #1 at the end of my whatcha been playin’ segment). Oh yeah, and the length of the headset’s cable is over 16′ long. I am talking LONG!

Some people might be wondering why you would want to have your sound only go through a headset and the answers to that question are: you want simulated surround sound, parents or roommates are sleeping and you want the sound up or you are playing Xbox Live and have to put something on your head anyway. If you have Xbox Live, there is an attachment to the headset for voice chat that plugs into your 360 controller instead of using the crappy headsets you can buy in stores. What is nice also is that audio from players talking in-game and audio from the game itself are independent and so if the game is to loud and people are talking to quietly you can adjust either of them. What is also cool is that the piece you hook up to your T.V. is a seperate attachment that you just plug your headset into when you want to use it and the cords can stay hooked up to the T.V. at all times to minimize hassle. Now! the last cool asset for the T.V. is say you were using the headset but now you want the T.V.’s sound intstead (maybe for a friend to hear or something) you just turn up your T.V. and take your headset off. You don’t unplug your audio to your T.V. you just add the ability for sound to go through a headset too.

The day I got this headset I tried Grand Theft Auto 4 with it on and I was floored as to how good it sounded. I could hear every footstep clearly, it added bass to the gunfire (which makes the game sound more hardcore), and I could even hear the radio stations clearly when driving around. It is also nice to know when a car or person is to the left or behind you instead of just around you somewhere cause T.V. audio is kind of generic. What is awesome too is that I immediately noticed how nicely the headset fits to your head. It is very comfortable and would not fall off even with a good shake of the head (in case you really get into your games).

All in all, I see no downsides or weaknesses to the headset so I give it 5 out of 5 junkfoodtonys and a Frank Johnson. The headset runs $60 and is available at Best Buy, Circuit City, and has been spotted at Game Crazy as well though the headset is not listed on their website nor on GameStop’s website but you could still try there to find one if they’re closer than the rest. If you’re thinking, MAN, I wish I could spend more on a headset then try Turtle Beach’s $100 wireless Ear Force X3 for a true gamer’s experience…I just realized I must not be a true gamer…

Click this link to see a list of components that the X1 headset has that I have comes with and their benefits.

Click this link to see a diagram as to how to set it up.

-written by junkfoodtony

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