Ghost Recon: Future Soldier 7.1 Surround Sound Headset Review

Product: Ghost Recon: Future Soldier 7.1 Surround Sound Headset

Manufacturer: MadCatz/Tritton

Price: £159.99

If you throw a rock into the video game peripheral market these days, you’ll probably hit a headset or four. There’s no doubt that there is a plethora of the ear-hugging devices out there right now, and with good reason. More and more of us are playing video games, whether it’s a quick match or two on FIFA 12, a couple of rounds on the latest Call of Duty game or just a simple twelve hour session on whatever your current gaming addiction is; we’re all playing games. When you’re playing those games into the early hours of the morning, or maybe you just want an audio experience that your TV simply isn’t capable of, you’re going to need a set of headphones – or a headset if you’re actually planning on socialising while playing your games – and that’s where companies such as MadCatz come in with their Tritton range of headsets.

The Ghost Recon: Future Soldier 7.1 Surround Sound Headset is exactly what it says on the tin, it’s a hugely comfortable over-ear headset, complete with all the connections that you’re going to need to perform the usual voice-chat functions over both Xbox LIVE and PlayStation Network, branded with the now famous Ghost Recon icon, which glows bright white while you’re using it.

That gets me onto my complaints about the headset (it’s probably better to get the bad stuff out of the way to begin with). Firstly, there’s no way to dim the brightness of those Ghost Recon logos on the ears, which isn’t really a big deal 90% of the time but when you’re playing your favourite game in the pitch darkness at 2am and all you can see is the reflection of your ears in the TV screen, it can get a little annoying. Just having the option to turn them off would have been nice, but it’s not really a deal breaker and is something that most people would get used to after a couple of hours of play. My other complaint – and again, I’m being really picky here – is the fact that the headset doesn’t quite feel tight enough. This could well be a personal complaint – and you may find no such issue occurs – but I prefer headphones to fit tightly to my head, not so tight that it’s painful but tight enough that they wouldn’t fall off if I went to pick something up off the floor. The Ghost Recon: Future Soldier 7.1 Surround Sound Headset doesn’t ensure that.

Now onto the good points. The short summary of the good aspects of the headset would be to simply say “everything else”, but I won’t do that. The audio coming from the device, especially when you’re using something that’s capable of outputting the full 7.1 surround sound, is nothing short of amazing. Sounds will be more full-bodied and warmer than you ever thought possible, the 3D sound is amazing too. On one occasion I was adamant that I’d forgotten to mute my TV because the sound, even though I had muted the TV and the only sound was coming from the headphones, still sounded like it was coming from the direction of the TV. From that moment I was sold.

The amplifier that comes with the headset in order to provide the 7.1 surround sound experience does a fantastic job of enveloping the user with 3D sound. If you’re playing games where it matters which direction a sound came from, such as a First Person Shooter for example, you’ll never want to play it again without these headphones. The amplifier even comes with two modes, Game and Movie, so you can even enjoy all your favourite films in glorious 7.1 surround sound too. The only cables that need to be plugged into the amplifier are a USB cable for power and the optical audio cable for sound. This means that you can plug the device in to anything that has an optical-out port; your TV, your Blu-Ray player, even your audio system. Tritton and MadCatz have really pushed the boat out to make sure that you’re getting the best audio performance you can possibly get, for whatever devices you may want to use it with.

The Ghost Recon: Future Soldier 7.1 Surround Sound Headset is one of the best headsets on the market today and if you’re serious about your gaming then you owe it to yourself to get a pair of them. They’re not perfect – not much is – but if you’ve got the money to splash out on a fantastic set of headphones that have all the bells and whistles you could wish for, great sound quality (if you want to hear the quality just listen to the last two episodes of the Ding! podcast) and a great look – even if the lights can’t be dimmed – then you shouldn’t need to look any further than the Ghost Recon: Future Soldier 7.1 Surround Sound Headset from Tritton.

Features:

• Selectable Voice Monitoring (SVM) enables you to hear your own voice
• Immersive 3D directional audio using Dolby Headphone surround sound
• Selectable EQ settings for Movies and Music
• Separate game and voice volume controls
• Includes everything needed to connect to any Xbox 360 or PS3
• Ergonomically designed for extreme comfort and extended gaming sessions
• Durable performance microphone can be removed when not in use
• Game and microphone mute buttons are easy to find at a moment’s notice

Specifications:

• Cable Length: 13ft / 4m
• Xbox LIVE® Communication Port: Yes
• Audio Input Type: Optical
• Speaker Diameter: 40mm
• Frequency Response: 25Hz–22kHz
• THD: -97dB
• SNR: 106 dB/V
• Magnet Type: Neodymium
• USB Powered: Yes

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