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Headset
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My Razer Chimaera 5.1's arrived earlier today. I've posted this on the IRL clan forum but thought I'd share it here too.
First impression of the box was that it wasn't packaged as well as the other Razer stuff I've got before.
Inside the box, the usual Razer documentation of authenticity, stickers (I've ran out of places to put all the stickers!) and of course the base station and headset.
The base station is made of shiny black plastic that looks like the surface of an expensive piano... you know the type... normally with a blonde drapped across it. Checked the box, no blonde supplied
I decided to plug the base station in first. The bottom of the base station is raised about half a centimeter which allows it to emit a neon green glow and surround the area in a gorgeous soft light. Plus the Razer logo lights up in the same neon green colour. Have to admit, it's pretty impressive sight. Razer really know how to appeal to the inner boy-racer
So, on to the headset...
First impression is that they're big compared to the Turtle Beach x41's. In reality, they're not really much bigger at all. It's just that the chunky headband and squarer shaped ear cups gives you that impression. They're finished in a matt black on the outside but with that piano black finish on the inside of the ear cups and headband.
They look solid and give the impression of quality. You'd imagine a stealth bomber fighter wearing these to communicate with his co-pilot I moved the x41's over beside the Chimaera's before picking them up. Don't get me wrong, I love the x41's but they don't look as good as the Chimaera's... not even close...
Deep breath as I picked them up but I was quite surprised at how light they were. I was expecting them to be quite heavy, for some reason... probably back to the impression that they look bigger than the x41's. Again, after holding both at the same time, there's very little in the difference, if anything. This is good news, as I don't want the problem of the Tritton's where they get very heavy and uncomfortable on long sessions.
The construction of them seems to be very simple and very solid. It's almost like they consciously decided not to make them fussy. I guess the less gimmicks, the less to fall off or break. There's 10 levels of adjustment on each head band, allowing you to extend the distance by up to 3-4cm on each side.
Underneath the top of the headband are five small charging points which allow you to sit the headset onto the base station for charging. This brings me to the next point, I was afraid that they would have a sealed battery pack for charging. I was delighted to see two AAA rechargeable batteries included in the box. So, once they stop taking charge or I run out of power mid session, I can simply replace them just like with the x41's.
The built-in mic is placed into the right earcup and allows you to fold it down and angle it towards your mouth. Pushing it back up out of the way also mutes it, alternatively you have a mute buttom on the right earcup too. All I know is that it works, no idea what the quality is like. Spoke to Shoveltooth briefly earlier and he said it was fine... after telling me it was crap initially... funny guy
On the right earcup you'll find a full mute button and a button to switch between xbox live and linked Chimaera's during tournament play. On this subject, each Chimaera gets sync'd with the base station which means you can probably have numerous headsets and base stations in the same room working independently to each each.
This is a major disadvantage of the x4's and x41's (possibly the x31's too) from Turtle Beach. Every headset picks up the same signal, so if you have two Turtle Beach base stations and two headsets, you'll have a complete mess of a signal. Hence why I ended up with one x4 and a x41.
Putting on the heaphones for the first time, I was surprised at how well they fit. I'm used to the x41's just laying over the top of your head and the earcups just laying against your ears. With the Chimaera's, I found the headset has actually gripped my head with a slight amount of pressure and the cups fit snuggly over my ears. I read a review before that claimed the Chimaera's were too big and loose and that the earcups never pressed against your ear, so outside noises filtered in. What a load of garbage! Either the person was making this up or had recently visited the Shuar tribe in the Amazon and had their head shrunk to the size of a pebble
Finally, I'll get to chat about the sound quality. Let's face it, everything I've written about already is pretty pointless if the quality isn't up to scratch. I decided to test both the x41's and the Chimaera's out on the 360 first and then on the PC listening to various music... Adele, for the voice and low background instruments; Marlyn Manson for the crazy intense sound and some classical music to finish off... perhaps my favourite adagio "Suite for orchestra No 3 in D major, BWV 1068: Air" by Bach (a true test of audio quality which the X41's can't handle without sounding hollow and tinny).
I've spent the last three hours listening to music, movies and playing some games on the xbox. I thought this was going to be a close comparison and I'd have to give lots of detail to explain the differences, if any. Up to now, I thought the x41's were a 8.5/10 and my old Tritton's were a 9/10 for sound quality... reserving the 10/10 spot for the fictious perfect headset. I now realise that my scoring system was complertely wrong. If I was to give the Chimaera's a 9/10 then the Tritton's's would be around a 7/10 and the x41's around 6.5/10. Seriously, I'm that impressed!
Allow me to put this in context, up to now, I considered the headsets I've had as high quality and some of the best available on the market at the time. I now realise exactly what I was missing! There's a depth to the music and game sounds that's been missing from all the other headsets. Sure, it has something to do with the bass but it's more than that. It's the overall sound quality that's immensely powerful. I'm totally stunned, I seriously wasn't expecting this. I had myself resigned to the fact that I'd probably spent a wad of cash on something that wasn't really going to enhance my audio experience at all... but would look funky... how wrong I was! I seriously can't believe this headset is wireless!!!
My final words of advice, if you don't have a spare €230, then don't try out the Chimaera 5.1's, as you'll never be happy with the sound quality of your old headset again while knowing these exist! Remain blissfully ignorant with cash still in your pocket and buy someone you love something nice.0 -
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corcaigh07 wrote: »any opinions on the x95s? never heard of Plantronics, is it better to spend the extra 30 pound on the surround sound on the x41s?
Plantronic's are a very good brand, they specialise in making headsets and mics. I bought their Halo headset/mic years ago for the original xbox and have owned various Plantronics mobile phone headsets over the years. I can't give an opinion on the x95's but I'd guess they'd be of decent quality.
The x41's are fantastic and I believe they are coming down in price now too. They're down to around €145 on Limex360 now. Probably find them cheaper elsewhere too.
http://www.limexb360.co.uk/product/Turtle_Beach_Ear_Force_X41_Wireless_Surround_sound_Headset_TBEFX41
However, the x41's are tried and tested and they are excellent. Just make sure to have your wireless router more than four foot away from it so as to avoid interference in the form of pops and crackles... maybe the odd snap too
Once I had positioned it correctly, it worked faultlessly.
Also make sure to have spare rechargeable AAA batteries for it. It's designed to suck every bit of power out of the batteries, so one second you have perfect sound, the next they just power off without warning. You'll get about 20 hours of gaming out of a set of batteries so it's not like you'll need to change them regularly or anything.
The best feature of the x41's is the fact that it filters your own voice back through the headset. You wouldn't notice it but it avoids you feeling like your voice has disappeared. Highly recommended headset.0 -
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If you can afford it get the astro A40. I borrowed my friends last night and wow:eek:
I have the turtle beach x11's which I was pleased with when I got them. But after using the astros i'm saving up. The surround sound is unreal. takes getting used to cuz you keep turning around when you hear lil things behind you.
yes they are very expensive but i'v been keeping on eye on ebay and the wireless a40s(the ones im gonna get) usually sell for about 80 euro less then the brand new ones so they keep their value for sometime.
if you can afford them I recommend you get them
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DARK-KNIGHT wrote: »Garv garv garv I have a nice collection of your gold tags now:) me getting your gold means so much more than you getting my grubby bronze ones
when you do it outside of the knife only private matches it might mean something :P
44 of yours now and your still only bronze :P shameful0 -
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DARK-KNIGHT wrote: »Well only bad thing I have heard is that the headset is huge and doesn't sit right on the head???
Trittons are a great headset to fit while I didn't like x41 fit on the head!!
Do they fit properly is wireless really that good and are they true surround sound or imitation surround sound??
Have u played bc2 with them yet?? That's my main game
In my review I mentioned the fact that I had read about them being huge and not fitting right... I also thought that was complete nonsense. They fit really well, grip your head just enough to be secure and not enough to be uncomfortable. Whoever posted that must have been five years old
It's simulated surround sound but it works. You couldn't have a wireless headset with five speakers in each ear cup and expect the batteries to last longer than an hour or two.
Briefly played BC2 with them on and was impressed with the sound quality. That game has the best ingame sound of any console game that I've played... a decent headset does it justice.0 -
DARK-KNIGHT wrote: »Got yours about 4 or 5 times outside stab matches and u got 26 of them from me in last nights match I would imagine u got me ten times outside stab matches!!!
you had me twice actually before my stats updates after the first knife match.
i'm loving the x'11s i got. can now use the xbox without the tv on mute. one problem is the talking very loud with them on0 -
you had me twice actually before my stats updates after the first knife match.
i'm loving the x'11s i got. can now use the xbox without the tv on mute. one problem is the talking very loud with them on
I know it was 4 deny it all u want:)
Mmm gold tags lol!!!
Was looking at x11s too any use? Are they stereo or surround imitation?0 -
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