Quality Communication (Microsoft Xbox 360 Headset)

Member Name: DocDan3

Product:	Microsoft Xbox 360 Headset
Date:	28/07/09 (43 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great Sound, Comfortable, Cheap, Great Design, Clear Quality, Reliable

Disadvantages: Not The Best Quality Materials

The Xbox 360 headset is pretty much a necessity for use with Xbox Live. Xbox Live is an online service, which you must pay for if you want a gold subscription. This subscription enables you to play games with others, chat to others and enjoy the full range of features over Xbox Live. If not, you will have a silver subscription automatically for free, but you won't be making much use of the headset. The latest version of the headset is improved from the original one and the quality seems slightly better, as well as the fact it's more reliable.


Design
******

The headset comes in plastic packaging like the other Xbox 360 goods. The packaging is really tough to open, which is annoying. I almost ripped apart the wire from the sharp plastic edges mixed with cardboard. It's very unpractical to open, but it makes it look good on the shelf.

All you get is the headset with a load of instructions and leaflets. The headset fits over your head and has an elongated microphone coming down right in front of your mouth. The top of the headset is grey and made of plastic. It fits over your head and the size can be adjusted easily by pulling it out and in of the white bit it's connected to. One side just goes over your head and rests above your ear with a padded part for comfort.

The other side leads to a rather large earmuff, which rests on your ear. The white plastic extending down to this earmuff from the top has the Xbox 360 logo in green and dark grey. The earmuff has a grey wire leading down from just beside it, which connects to your Xbox 360 controller. The wire has a white plastic box half way down. There is a sliding grey switch on top, which shows a green colour when the microphone is on and red when you want your voice muted. It also has a volume control on the side, which can be slid either way to adjust the volume. The box has a clip, so it can clip onto your clothes rather than hanging down. The clip doesn't work very well, but it's a useable feature. The wire continues down with a single part that plugs into the bottom of your Xbox 360 wired or wireless controller.

The microphone extends from the earmuff in white plastic before a grey rubber part towards the end. This enables you to move and position the microphone to your liking. It can be positioned exactly next to your mouth so you can be heard well. This is done by simply bending and moving the extension. The microphone has a spongy muff over it as well to help block out background sounds.


Sound
******

The microphone has very good sound. I used to have the wireless one, but this one has sound, which is three times as good. For a start, people's voices are a lot louder so you can hear them easily and clearly. People don't have to speak very loud for you to hear them and you can adjust the volume as you wish if someone is too loud. The sound is very clear compared to the wireless headset, and I found this really good when I first started using this.


Microphone
***********

From what I've heard from other gamers, the sound of my voice through the microphone is crystal clear and I have found this with other players who use this standard microphone. As the microphone can be situated right beside your mouth, my voice comes through loud enough too. The spongy muff works really well in blocking out background noises. You can tell this as the microphone symbols do not show you are talking even if you have some music in the background or someone talking to you. This is great and good for other gamers as you aren't annoying or distracting.


Price & Availability
*****************

The RRP of this product is £14.99, which isn't too bad as it should last a long time. However, you can buy it for around £10.00 or less online through sites such as Amazon.co.uk. You can buy it offline in shops like Game for the RRP. There are many other shops that sell this like Zavvi, Tesco, Asda and more. The price isn't too bad even if yours does break.


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Overall, this is an excellent microphone and well-worth buying as the wireless one seems to be of the same quality but with worse sound quality. This one has a great design and fits your head very well. It's comfortable to wear and very easy to use. You can hear everyone else very well and they can hear you clearly too. The quality isn't first-class but it is good enough to last a while if you take care of it and don't chuck it around. Highly recommended over the wireless headset!

Thanks for reading,

Dan ©

Summary: A superb headset that gives clear sound, which is overall better than the wireless version