Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Disclosure:
- I received this headset as part of the Amazon Vine program.
- I'm using these on Vista 32bit system so your mileage may vary.
- I write Windows drivers for a living, so know my way around Windows and hardware installation.
I have several headsets, most of them acquired in the last couple months to play Team Fortress 2 and listen to music without disturbing others in the house.The first set was a Plantonics analog set that were cheap on ear style but these killed my ears after 20 mins.Next I upgraded to the gigantic Creative Labs Fatality headset which did not hurt my ears but made me feel like a pilot.The cord on the Fatality is heavy and was always in the way.
A wireless headset was just what the doctor ordered.These headphones are compact, just barely covering my ears.They are very similar to the Bose on ear models.The don't surround your ear, but instead sit on them.This can be misleading in the picture as they look like giant over the ear phones, but they are not.Luckily these don't hurt my ears and are nice and light.
The Good:
- The sound quality is fantastic, much better than I was getting out of either headset I mentioned above.Both Music and in game sounds are fantastic.I was really surprised how much better the sound was over my built in sound card.
-Wireless range is way more than I expected, I have to go outside of my house to lose the signal and when I come back in to the house it immediately reconnects with no intervention.
- Mic works fine. I played Team Fortress 2 for a couple hours and according to the people I played with the microphone sounded fine.To confirm this I used Sound Recorder to test; confirming that microphone levels were fine.I don't use Skype or messenger but based on recordings I'd imagine those would sound fantastic.
- The rotate the mic up to mute feature is clever and suits the way I use the headset perfectly.
- Drivers installed fine, I had no issues with pairing and the battery seemed charged out of the box.You will need to know how to adjust the microphone levels in Windows to get things where you want them.This is pretty much the same for every headset.
The Bad:
- While the driver installation was fine, I can't get many of the installed Creative programs to work.The Creative volume control app, the console app, and the console launcher, all refuse to run claiming they can't find a supported device.This is puzzling since the driver for the headphone is clearly installed and working.I can live without these applications (I think) but it's annoying and is really the only thing preventing me from giving my review 5 stars.UPDATE!See below but this is no longer a problem for me.
- The charging cord is attached to the receiver but it's fairly short so you can't stash the receiver behind your monitor or PC becase you're going to need access to it for recharging.I would have preferred a seperate charging station or cable like my Logitech mouse has.
- There's no mic boost in the driver panel.
- The Play button on the headset will pause music playback (which is cool) but when you press it again it does not un-pause the music.You have to use the mouse and open media player and click the play button. Lame!
- There is no support page on Creative's website for this product.This is pretty pathetic.I'm certain this product just needs a few minor software updates to truly shine, but this has always been a problem with Creative and there's no guarantee those updates will ever come.
Other things:
- It's important to note that this is a USB sound card in a headset package.This means if you have a big fancy sound card in your machine then it's replaced and unused.On the plus side, if your machine has cheapo onboard audio then this works in your advantage.Switching between sound devices on your machine will require that you either unplug the USB receiver or manually switch the devices in the Audio/Sound control panel. Creative also allows you to switch playback device in their software.
Wrap up:
- To wrap this up, I'm very happy with the headphones.They sound great, wireless is awesome, but the included software is a mess with no updates in site.I'm not sure if my software issues are Vista only or specific to my setup. I'd easily give this 5 stars if the included applications only functioned properly.
UPDATE!
I'm happy to say that for whatever reason today when I booted my PC, all was well and the extra applications that were giving me problems are now detecting the headphones and work fine.If Amazon would let me, I would change my star rating of these to a 4 now that this issue has gone away.UPDATE 2
I recently got a Mac with OSX 10.54 and was surprised to see that OSX supports this headset just fine.I just had to select it as my sound output and it just worked.Pretty awesome bonus that I was not expecting.
UPDATE 3
I switched over to Windows 7 (64bit) and these headphones continue to work great.No drivers to mess with, it was built into Windows 7.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Creative Labs HS-1200 Digital Wireless Gaming Headset with Sound Blaster X-Fi Technology (Black)
Product Description:
Digital Wireless Gaming Headset HS-1200: Experience the performance of a premium gaming headset-without the wires. Give yourself the freedom to move around while you enjoy crystal-clear communication with your teammates by using the first fully bi-directional headset designed for full-out gaming. Send and receive in-game sound a voice communication simultaneously, with no interruption, and envelop your ears with superb Sound Blaster X-Fi audio. Powered by Sound Blaster X-Fi: Using SoundBlaster X-Fi gives you the competitive edge. Realistic audio environments enhance your entire gaming experience and accurate surround sound over your headset lets you locate your targets with sound alone. By reducing listening fatigue, Sound Blaster X-Fi keeps your mind sharp and focused -- truly an essential tool in every gamer's arsenal. Take control and start winning with Sound Blaster X-Fi today!
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