Tt eSPORTS Shock One Gaming Headset Review
Simon Telford / 13 years ago
PerformanceWhile this headset certainly packs a lot of features and we expect it to perform well, we will first talk about the comfort. The headset is a fair weight when you pick it up, mainly centred around the ear cups, but you don’t feel the weight when you are wearing them, this is mainly due to the headband having a rubberised padding section which feels as though it is made up of a gel type material. As well as this the earcups are a sensible size, fitting all the way over the ear without squashing your ears, this also helps to take the weight off your head as it spreads it out over the sides. Having two sets of earcups is certainly another plus, while the leather ones are probably more comfortable, the velvet ones feel nicer to wear for longer periods of time. At the very least it gives you the choice, although I doubt that you will want to switch the earcups once you have settled on one set.
Moving to the convenience of the in-line remote, we found that while it is nearly pointless to turn the lighting on and off, and to lock the front buttons from being accidentally pressed the features may please some people. That said, being able to mute the headset and microphone independently is certainly a feature some other headsets have missed off and this does make it convenient, especially during Skype calls etc. The volume control is simple, although it does alter your ‘Windows Volume’ and not the actual headset volume, but these are nearly always one and the same now a days.
My opinion on the sound quality is a bit mixed, mainly because when you aren’t using the headset with full surround-sound, like listening to music, it sounds a bit distant. This seems to improve if you turn the volume up, so I expect it is to do with the fact that the speakers they have used within this headset are fairly powerful and its not until you turn it up that you start to feel part of the music. That said, the sound-quality is best described as precise and punchy, and if you do dare to turn it up (cautionary warning, it will hurt), you will be blown back with the power in this headset. Surprisingly, they don’t even distort at full volume, which we measured to be a rather impressive 90dB Sound Level Output when measured between the headsets’ ear cups. Even when its not turned up full you will notice the power from the speaker drivers, and the bass really does have a good thump to it, while still having a bit of richness, depth and tonal quality.
Moving to the surround sound nature of this headset, which is meant to be the defining feature, I was a bit dubious at first. This was as I mentioned before, because basic sounds sounded distant, but my impressions changed when I put on a film to listen to some proper Dolby Digital Surround sound played through this headset, I did also try all other available modes of sound-output (True Theatre etc ). All I can say is wow. As these are not true 5.1 surround sound headphones (they do not have individual speakers for each channel) I guess I was not expecting them to be that good. They do certainly out-perform my expectations as the directional range of the sound is very impressive, you can certainly make out a front and rear channel and then there is the thumping bass. All in all, watching an action-packed film, or playing a game, with this headset on, will certainly make your adrenaline pump, and its been a long time since I can say a headset has had that impact on me. While it is never going to compare to full 5.1 headsets, this is probably as close as you can get, the drivers and software certainly work well to produce a near 5.1 surround sound.
As this is a headset it is also has a microphone and while we didn’t find any faults or problems with it we didn’t think it was the best we have heard, it did seem to be a bit more prone to picking up ‘air noise’ even when positioned correctly. That said, it certainly didn’t let the headset down and voice conversations over skype were still pretty clear.
