A Closer Look
Now that enough hype has been built up, let us prepare for the examination *snaps glove*
Thermaltake understands that first impressions are everything, and it shows. The outer layer of the box is mostly black and red, but with a nice overlay of the headset and a signed snapshot of the famous White-Ra. The top and bottom sections use a black and grey camouflage style, and I think it sets the mood nicely for something meant for competitive gaming.
It seems most mobile tech now comes with a carry bag for long trips or to protect them from the elements. Most likely the elements of your usual gaming cuisine, but that’s neither here nor there.
At first, the carry bag reminded me of a sweat shirt so, again, it seems to fit the competitive persona. It’s nice and cozy like a sweat shirt, so I like it.
As for the headset itself, I’m very happy to say manufacturers have made a step in the right direction by making the audio cables detachable and easy to store. This, for the most part, precludes the possibility of annoying tangled-up cords when transporting them…really anywhere, from state to state, or from your bedroom to the living room. Structurally, the Cap’n uses hefty plastic, so the occassional drop probably won’t do much damage. As you can tell from the box, the color scheme is all black and red, which is nice enough; I’m not really a huge fan of a thousand clashing colors, but if you prefer a more personalized skin, you’ll most likely have to shell out a few more dollars.
It comes with the cable setup with a 3mm jack that plugs into the headset piece and goes onto the volume control which then splits off into the headphone and microphone jacks. Word of advice though, make sure the main headphone plug is all the way in. Why mention it? Well let’s just say while it feels like it’s secured with only a slight effort, it’s really not, and the port puts up a bit of a fight before it’ll let you connect completely. If you don’t, then you’ll obviously experience either very low audio, audio in only one ear, or both.
The earphones themselves feel as though they were tilted more horizontally than vertically like most models. I’m not sure if this is supposed to be more comfortable, but it feels a bit awkward to me. And no, I don’t have large ears, not that it would matter because these are full cans. After a while, they start to wear down and almost pinch your ears. That’s not after wearing them for have a day either, it only takes about 30-45 minutes to get slightly uncomfortable. However, a simple adjustment or break from listening to music or playing games can easily remedy that situation.
Oh yes, this thing has a microphone. I suppose if it didn’t it wouldn’t really be a headset, would it? Since communication is absolutely vital in competitions at any level, it makes sense to invest in a solid mic. I’ve never used a studio-grade microphone before, but I can say with some confidence that this mic (which is bendable by the way) is sensitive and clear enough to provide good quality voice chat capability to your teammates.
Now lets get on to the testing…
