Tritton AX Pro headset ?99 instore in PC World

[Brad]

Currently ?175 at Amazon so despite the high price I think these are actually a relative bargain at the moment.

Quite rare (I think) in that they offer true surround sound (4 speakers in each side) and contain everything you need for surround sound + mic on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. PC system uses 4 x 3.5mm jacks, Xbox and PS3 use optical into the small decoder box. The box only decodes Dolby 5.1, not DTS. Headset is very large but comfy and has swappable pads for the earpieces and the headband - velvet style and fake soft leather style. Mic is detachable.

Overall I'm impressed although I still think ?100 is a lot of money for a headset but if you want proper surround sound through headphones for gaming then you're gonna have to fork out a bit nomatter what.

No idea if this is nationwide. Their website no longer lists this model so I'm guessing they're clearing old stock.

[Digfox]

Word of warning. I bought some of these last summer and sold them in February of this year. I paid ?140 from Argos for them so the price is good. In summary I wasn't overly impressed.

Whilst they provide OK positional awareness and heavy bass (great impact on sounds like explosions), the sound quality isn't particularly great. Not particularly clear, and 'muffled'. They are also a mess of wires and you can't use your own headphones with the decoder.

I've since bought the Astro MixAmp 2011 set, and have a pair of Sennheiser HD598's (unfair comparison I know because of the price difference of both) along with a few other Audio improvements. Even the Astro A40's give a much better positional sense (i.e. far easier to pinpoint the direction of the sound), clarity and better sound quality. In the same range the AX 720 (virtual surround) get a better write up and are cheaper. Although I've noticed Tritton have newer hardware revision out on both of these.

In general the 5.1/7.1 headsets are a bit gimmicky in that whilst they are meant to give a 'true' surround experience, a similar if not a as good effect can be reached with a Dolby decoder and a quality set of headphones. Even Razer's new 7.1 (more expensive) headsets get pulled up for this in reviews to. Personally I would save the pennies and get a good set of headphones and Mixamp (or Dolby encoder). With the PC it's far easier because with a decent sound card you've potentially already got the Dolby sound processing and headphone AMP already.

Again, this is a good price - but beware imo.

[Brad]

I think they sound fantastic. I also have some HD595s for music listening and they aren't as good as those obviously but considering they job they try to do and their versatility I'm still impressed. The positional stuff if way better than the Dolby headphone surround that my Yamaha amp has. Thanks for the impressions though, always nice to hear of alternative solutions to these sort of things.

EDIT: I agree about the mess of wires though. It's not exactly an elegant solution. More like they grabbed a bunch of off the shelf components and just left it at that!

[Digfox]

To be fair I'm comparing a ?210 Astro A40 set-up to the much cheaper Tritton. However I did actually run MW3 and BL1 side by side one day to compare, and the difference was very noticeable between the two. I'd personally go with the 720's or a decent set of stereo headphones over these; muddy, lacking in as much clarity and the positional audio was weaker - which is surely the whole point of separate drivers in the headphones. But I know the Astro Mixamp makes a difference too.

But as mentioned by you, with a newer model now's time to buy if you must have these. Also I know the 'branded' Tritton's based on the same innards (Ghost Recon ones for example) often drop price quicker if you time it right.

And they just seem to use more wires to do the same thing as the Astro's. Very fiddly in that regard.