Sunday, February 13, 2011

Turtle Beach Ear Force X41






I Personally got a pair of these suckers about a month ago, and i have DEFINITELY noticed the improvement of game play when i can hear all of my surrounding, definitely a great buy for people who love to play search and destroy, or race with the sound of your engine RIGHT behind you. Lets see what the experts have to say about them.


The good: Great-sounding and accurate 7.1 surround sound wireless headset with Xbox Live chat; removable boom mic; optical audio cable included.
The bad: Occasional audio pop and dropout; can interfere with other devices on the 2.4Ghz spectrum; requires two AAA batteries (included).
The bottom line: With their accurate 7.1-channel separation, the Turtle Beach Ear Force X41 headphones are great surround-sound headphones for the Xbox 360--or any other home theater component.
Wireless headphones have been around for a while, but it's only been in the past few years that quality has gotten high enough for discerning listeners to consider using them. Many manufacturers, for instance, have turned to infrared (IR) technology for wireless signal transmission, which powered the Turtle Beach X4 we looked at last year. Overall we felt the IR radius was a bit narrow and we really disliked the fact that they didn't work well while using a plasma TV.
The Turtle Beach X41 headphones are essentially the same product, but instead of using an IR signal, this headset takes advantage of an RF (radio frequency) to provide wireless audio. Besides a few hiccups and a hefty price tag, the X41s are one of the best wireless gaming headsets around.
While the Ear Force X41s are designed with the Xbox 360 in mind--they include a removable microphone and connections for chatting on Xbox Live--the headphones will actually deliver convincing surround sound from nearly any home theater source, thanks to their built-in 7.1-channel Dolby Digital processing.
The Ear Force X41 headphones include two main components: the wireless headphones themselves and a base station that houses most of the necessary jacks. The base gives you the option of either using a digital audio connection or an analog signal via a set of stereo RCA cables (red/white). That means that they will work with pretty much any audio source--anything with an optical digital output (such as a DVD player or the Apple TV) or standard analog line outs (pretty much everything). You could easily use the X41 headphones with a PlayStation 3 or Wii, but just don't expect to take advantage of voice chat--that'll only work with the Xbox 360.
The system boasts both Dolby Digital and Dolby Pro Logic IIx processing; the former handles the bit-stream surround soundtracks on DVD and Blu-ray movies and most video games, while the latter does a decent job of creating a faux-surround effect from any stereo source. The X41s' transmitter base also have a line-in volume control allowing you to just adjust the level of the incoming source. Up front there's also a headphone jack with a volume adjuster that will play the same audio being broadcasted. Finally, the base also features a "bypass" button that will allow you to hear unprocessed audio.
Setting up the Ear Force X41 headphones is fairly simple. For Dolby Digital processing, you'll use the included 7-foot optical cable to connect your Xbox 360 (or another digital source) to the "digital in" port on the transmitter base. If you're also using an AV receiver and surround speakers, don't worry; there's a digital out port for passing the signal on, so you don't have to constantly unplug and plug in wires whenever you want to play using the headphones.

Read more: http://reviews.cnet.com/headsets/turtle-beach-ear-force/4505-13831_7-33785941.html#ixzz1DquT0LcU

6 comments:

  1. I dont think my addiction to games is that great t warrant that kind of purchase.

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  2. heh, i think i need a cheaper headset, cant afford this one.

    was a good read tho.

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  3. These looks great! I need some new headphones, mine are falling to pieces lol :(

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  4. sure makes it sound like heaven but i'm not in my room enough to get this

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