3D Audio & Passive Noise Reduction

{mosgoogle}Any serious gamer would tell you that having good sound is as vital as having good frames. Most first person shooter games these days use 3D sound technology, which allows you to determine where the source of the sound is coming from. Since you can not visually determine where your opponents are at all times, you must rely on sound to get a general sense of where they are. How much of an advantage do you have by hearing your opponent around the corner before they actually take that turn? A big enough advantage such that 4 times out of 5 you should be able to take out your opponent since you know he’s coming and he has no clue where you are. How does one obtain such good sound you might ask? A decent soundcard and most importantly, good headphones!

Today we will be looking at Altec Lansing’s new top of the line AHS-602i Gaming Headset. At a retail price of $99.95 this headset is one of the most expensive units in the market. Does this headset give you the best bang for your buck? We'll find out but first the specs.

Features/Specifications:

• Connection: Two 3.5mm plugs
• Frequency response:
• Headphone: 20Hz – 20kHz
• Microphone: 100Hz – 10kHz
• Microphone Sensitivity: -38db (0 dB = 1V/Pascal)
• SRS Headphone 3-D Audio technology
• High Performance 40mm neodymium drivers deliver a wide frequency response and bass you can feel
• Closed ear-cup headphone design improves clarity and minimizes ambient sounds
• Noise-rejecting microphone helps minimize background noise
• Multi-function controller regulates volume, surround effect, and microphone volume (High-Low-Mute) to maximize communication control.

Where To Buy It

The Altec Lansing AHS-602i retails for $99.99 but most of Altec Lansing's dealers sell it for significantly less than that. You should be able to buy it at most resellers for less than $70.00. Not cheap by any means, but for the serious gamer, it's not outrageous either.

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SRS Headphone 3-D Audio technology

{mosgoogle}SRS Headphone technology is an audio enhancement technology that provides a realistic and spacious listening experience through standard headphones. Based on the same psychoacoustic research as the patented, Sound Retrieval System (SRS) and further refined for use with headphones. This technology uses the spatial information from recordings to restore the original three-dimensional sound field. This process repositions the sound from inside the listener’s head to outside the listener’s ears, creating a more natural listening experience without relying on special recording techniques or manipulation of the audio signal.

Quality of Sound

To test how good these headphones were, I started off by listening to some music. At first the quality of the music felt like any other pair of headphones I’ve used until I used the controller and turned on SRS. Once on, the music became a lot more vivid and clear.

Microphone

A microphone is probably just as important to the adept gamer as is the sound. When playing at a competitive level in a team game, you must be able to communicate with your teammates fast and effectively. Typing will not cut it because by the time you finish relaying what you want to say, the advantage your teammates could have gained from that valuable intel would have been lost. One of the most annoying things about cheap microphones is that you pick up a lot of unnecessary noise. Nothing is worse then having a heavy breather, or a person with a fan turned on in the background while you’re using voice over IP communications. After some thorough testing with my trusty fan, and friend and speakers, this microphone passed the test. I was unable to pick up much background noise when I was talking.

Where To Buy It

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Comfort

{mosgoogle}The first thing I noticed about this headset was that it was a little uncomfortable at first. I guess my ears are a little bigger then most people, but after a few hours of testing either my ears started to adjust to the shape of the headphones, or my mind got used to it.

Conclusion

There are a lot of good things to say about this headset with all its excellent features. This is very specialized product and it has a price tag to match. The AHS602i was designed for gaming and not making VoIP calls on Skype. Mind you, if that is really what you want to do, you can use the headset for that purpose. but that's like using a nuke to kill a fly.

The headphones feature excellent sound quality in music and in games. We were very impressed by the amount of bass these puppies are able to put out. While the headphone is great a producing sound, the microphone does an equally good job keeping unwanted background sound out, so the person on the other end can hear your clearly. If you're a serious gamer looking for a serious headset then check out the Altec Lansing AHS602i gaming headset. Once you tried it, you want the whole clan to have it.

Where To Buy It